Rev. W. A. Reimert of New Tripoli, Reformed Church Missionary to China, is Reported Killed
Mission Attacked and Looted by Insurrectionary Chinese Troops - No Word as to Rev. Reimert's Wife and Children - Son a Member of Morning Calls Reportorial Staff - At Desk When the Word is Received.
Representations Made to Chinese Government
Washington, June 16 (A.P.)
Strong representations have been made to the Chinese government by the American Legation at Peking as the result of the killing of the Rev. W. A. Reimert, an American missionary, in an attack on the Reformed Church Mission at You Chow by Chinese northern troops.
The legation informed the state department of its action in advices which were received late today and which reported that the troops, commanded by General Chang Ching Yao, military governor of the province of Hunan, also looted the mission quarters.
Relatives and friends are anxiously awaiting further word about the Rev. W. A. Reimert, a native of New Tripoli, who, according to Associated Press dispatches from Peking, China, was killed by insurrectionary Chinese troops when they attacked and looted the Reformed Church mission at Yo Chow. No word has been received as to the fate of Rev. Reimert's wife and three children. A son, William, Jr., is a member of the Morning Call reportorial staff, having become a member following the completion of his term at Mercersburg Academy where he had prepared to enter Ursinus College next fall. Young Reimert was at his desk in the Call office when the apparent confirmation of the death of his father came from Washington, and it was the sad duty of one of the editorial staff to break the news to the youth, one of the most trying experiences of the lot that fall to a newspaperman.
Rev. Reimert is the son of W. A. Reimert, Sr., and the late Mary, nee Snyder [sic-Mary Snyder was his wife, mother was Jane (Follweiler) Reimert who d. 1912], of New Tripoli. There are six sisters and two brothers: Mrs. Claude Lutz, 526 Green Street, this city; Mrs. Mahlon Hamm, 522 Green Street, this city; Mrs. George Snyder, 533 Washington Street, this city; Mrs. Clinton Fetherolf, Wanamakers; Mrs. Charles A. Schaffer, New Tripoli; Mrs. George A. Weida, Stines Corner; Abner Reimert, Stines Corner; Harvey Reimert, Palmerton. The missionary's father has just completed arrangements to make his home in this city with his daughter, Mrs. Lutz, 526 Green Street, but was at New Tripoli yesterday when the first news of his son's reported tragic fate was received. All relatives of the missionary were looking forward to a reunion with the latter and his family this summer, Rev. Reimert having made all plans to sail with his family for America on July 17. None looked forward more eagerly to this reunion than William, the 18 year old son who himself had spent the early sixteen years of his life in China, and who realized the danger that always beset his loved ones.
Rev. Reimert was born at New Tripoli on February 7, 1877. He received his early education in the schools of Lynn township. Following a course at the Keystone State Normal school at Kutztown, he taught school at New Tripoli. He then entered the Reformed Church Theological Seminary at Philadelphia which was later incorporated with Ursinus College from which institution he was graduated. He accepted a charge at Summit Hill, Carbon County, but soon answered the call to the foreign mission field. He was the second missionary of the Reformed Church to go to China, the first having been Dr. William E. Hoy.
When Rev. Reimert and wife left eighteen years ago for China with their three months son, they immediately located at Yo Chow, a city that now has a population of about 40,000. For ten years, Rev. Reimert did evangelistic missionary work in the surrounding territory. Following the expansion of Huping College, the Reformed Church institution at Yo Chow, Rev. Reimert accepted a professorship of sociology, political economy and English as was also made vice president of the university, which was moved to a 25-acre plot four miles outside the city of You Chow. He was also superintendent of the ten preparatory schools that had been established in the territory, and in addition, was acting president of the college.
Two of the Reimert children, Samuel, 16 years old, and Katherine, 13, had been attending school in Kuling, a summer resort town, 300 miles distant from You Chow, but may have rejoined their parents to prepare for the return of the family to America in July. Marguerite, 11 years old, was with her parents. The eldest son, William, who was a babe in his mother's arms when the first trip to China was made, as before mentioned, is now in this city. Mrs. Reimert was, before her marriage, Mary Snyder of Lynnville.
Rev. Reimert made two trips to America since taking up his life work in China, in 1910, and last in 1915.
At the Reformed Church Foreign Missionary offices at Philadelphia last evening, it was stated that as yet no answer had been received to messages which had been sent to China on receipt of the first news of the attack on the mission.
