Japanese earthquakes

The earthquake's devastation was unbelievable, but the firestorms that followed were horrific. The flames spread through the cities, incinerating victims who were trapped in the ruins of their buildings and those who sought shelter in the supposed safety of the open squares and parks. Perhaps the worst example of this was the incineration of nearly 30,000 people who sought refuge at the Military Clothing Depot in downtown Tokyo, only to be trapped by the flames and perish horribly.

Though the acts of Mother Nature were horrendous, they paled in comparison to the behavior of humankind. Because it was nearly lunch, many of the Japanese mothers and wives were cooking when the earthquake struck -- the subsequent fires were primarily due to these small stoves. However, rumors quickly spread that Korean activists, in league with the Japanese socialists, were responsible for the fires and the poisoning of wells. These rumors spread just as quickly and were just as deadly as the firestorms.

Newspapers in the United States were filled not only with the accounts of the horrible devastation in Japan, but also with the massacre of Koreans that followed.

On Sept. 4, The Dunkirk Evening Observer reported: "Rioting has broken out at Tokio [sic], adding its horror to those of the flames. The population is in desperate need of food. Koreans are reported to be taking a leading part in looting and pillaging and martial law, which has been proclaimed after the disaster has been extended." Other newspapers reported that 200 armed Koreans were driven from Tokyo after battling with the Japanese military, Korean looters were being shot, and that the Japanese population was being armed by the police to deal with the Koreans and the socialists.

Reverend H.V.S. Peake noted that the young Japanese men were armed with "heavy sticks, sections of pipe, and in some instances with antiquated swords," but very few firearms. One newspaper described them as "wildly excited mobs of 'young men's societies' -- a sort of Ku Klux Klan-Fascist combination."

Miss Martha Johnson, an American tourist aboard the steamship Empress of China in Yokohama harbor, told of her own experiences in the days that followed the quake: "A Korean caught by [the] Japanese and tied to a pole at the edge of the city [was] beaten by every passing native as reprisal for the terrorism carried on by robbers alleged to be his countrymen."

A reporter noted that: "A Korean's life wasn't worth a plugged nickel that night. They were bumped off where they were found -- beaten to death with clubs, hacked to pieces with swords; pierced with spears. Just to be a Korean -- or to be a Japanese 'Red' or Socialist -- was sufficient to sign a summary death warrant at the hands of the roaming bands of frenzied 'loyalists.'"

Not all the victims were Korean. Roderick O. Metheson witnessed a young Japanese man, possibly a Socialist, who was beaten to death by a crowd of young Japanese men (18-25 years old) armed with crowbars......