Page 98 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
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GFA – A Different Drumbeat 98
RESCUE EXPEDITION
By the time he returned to Chefoo, he had been away for seven months. The Commission
retained his services till the end of 1930, so his days at the school were over. So he was
actually in their offices in Peking when an entirely new line of work opened to him, that of
rescuing individuals in distress.
GFA was sitting at his desk in the Peking offices of the China International Relief
Commission on 29 November 1930 when he received a telegram to say that Mrs. Hayward
and Miss Gomersal of the China Inland Mission had been robbed and were in the hands of
bandits at an unknown location. To GFA this was disturbing news as no less than five
missionary ladies had been murdered by bandits in similar circumstances during the
previous few months.
He was aware of some of the background to this situation. Mrs. Hayward, whose husband
was away on Mission business, had been diagnosed with cancer at the Bordern Memorial
Hospital in Lanchow. She and her husband had worked there since he was brought in with
life threatening typhus over twelve months before. After he had recovered, they had stayed
at the hospital to carry out refugee and Mission business.
Now Mrs Hayward was the one with a life threatening health problem and she was told to
go as soon as possible to Peking for the requisite tests and treatment. Her travelling
companion and nurse would be Miss Gomersal who had offered to accompany her.
Because the more direct route through Shensi was too dangerous for travel due to the
activities of brigands and renegade soldiers, they had decided to take the long way,
travelling on the Yellow River by goatskin raft as far as the railhead at Paot’o. From there
they would be able to get a train to Peking. Although these rafts looked flimsy, they were
the only type of craft that could negotiate the tricky waters of the Yellow River.
Their daunting and unforgettable journey took them 100 kilometres past Wuhai to Deng
k’ou, where they could go no further and were forced to wait and go overland from there. It
was between Tengk’o and Paot’o that they were captured by bandits, but were able to get a
message through to the missionaries at Paot’o. They in turn had sent the telegram to GFA
in Peking. (See Findlay Andrew’s book.17 )
GFA was deeply concerned about their welfare, as he was aware of the real
possibility of the ladies being killed by the bandits, and he knew that Mrs Hayward had been
diagnosed with cancer and needed to get to Peking as soon as possible. He immediately
went into action. As Miss Gomersal was English and Mrs Hayward American, his first step
was to notify the two embassies in Peking so that they should have the information should
17 G. Findlay Andrew OBE FRGS. Perils in the Wilderness (or the Rescue of Two Lady Missionaries) (China
Inland Mission, Toronto. 1931)
RESCUE EXPEDITION
By the time he returned to Chefoo, he had been away for seven months. The Commission
retained his services till the end of 1930, so his days at the school were over. So he was
actually in their offices in Peking when an entirely new line of work opened to him, that of
rescuing individuals in distress.
GFA was sitting at his desk in the Peking offices of the China International Relief
Commission on 29 November 1930 when he received a telegram to say that Mrs. Hayward
and Miss Gomersal of the China Inland Mission had been robbed and were in the hands of
bandits at an unknown location. To GFA this was disturbing news as no less than five
missionary ladies had been murdered by bandits in similar circumstances during the
previous few months.
He was aware of some of the background to this situation. Mrs. Hayward, whose husband
was away on Mission business, had been diagnosed with cancer at the Bordern Memorial
Hospital in Lanchow. She and her husband had worked there since he was brought in with
life threatening typhus over twelve months before. After he had recovered, they had stayed
at the hospital to carry out refugee and Mission business.
Now Mrs Hayward was the one with a life threatening health problem and she was told to
go as soon as possible to Peking for the requisite tests and treatment. Her travelling
companion and nurse would be Miss Gomersal who had offered to accompany her.
Because the more direct route through Shensi was too dangerous for travel due to the
activities of brigands and renegade soldiers, they had decided to take the long way,
travelling on the Yellow River by goatskin raft as far as the railhead at Paot’o. From there
they would be able to get a train to Peking. Although these rafts looked flimsy, they were
the only type of craft that could negotiate the tricky waters of the Yellow River.
Their daunting and unforgettable journey took them 100 kilometres past Wuhai to Deng
k’ou, where they could go no further and were forced to wait and go overland from there. It
was between Tengk’o and Paot’o that they were captured by bandits, but were able to get a
message through to the missionaries at Paot’o. They in turn had sent the telegram to GFA
in Peking. (See Findlay Andrew’s book.17 )
GFA was deeply concerned about their welfare, as he was aware of the real
possibility of the ladies being killed by the bandits, and he knew that Mrs Hayward had been
diagnosed with cancer and needed to get to Peking as soon as possible. He immediately
went into action. As Miss Gomersal was English and Mrs Hayward American, his first step
was to notify the two embassies in Peking so that they should have the information should
17 G. Findlay Andrew OBE FRGS. Perils in the Wilderness (or the Rescue of Two Lady Missionaries) (China
Inland Mission, Toronto. 1931)
