Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/268

 him heavily upon the station platform. The Korean arose with difficulty and picked up his cane to go. The Japanese then threw him backwards off the platform on to the rails, and then stood back and laughed, as did all the other Japanese. Apparently there was not a single Japanese in all that company who saw in this event anything but a good joke. The old Korean was too severely hurt to rise, but some of his Korean friends came and picked him up and took him away. The reader will wonder why the American gentleman did not interfere. Well, the fact is, he knew he would be uselessly sacrificing his own life. If he had raised a finger in the Korean's defence, the chances of his getting away without being killed would have been less than one in a hundred. At another station there is a little side-path where Koreans are forbidden to walk, but there is no sign whatever so to indicate. A Korean stepped out upon this walk, and was instantly attacked by three or four Japanese and pounded into insensibility. It was a day or more before he regained consciousness, and he was not able to leave his house for weeks.

The Japanese look upon the Koreans as lawful game, and the latter, having no proper tribunals where they can obtain redress, do not dare to retaliate. If they complain at Korean courts, the magistrate lifts hands of horror and asks how in the world he is to get anything out of the Japanese, and if he applies to a Japanese court he is usually turned away without a hearing. This is hard to believe, but the following facts go far to prove it.

A Korean brought in from the country some Korean money to exchange for Japanese money. He deposited his cash with the leading Japanese broker, taking the latter's note of hand, payable at sight to bearer. Two days later he came to have the note cashed, and the broker said he had already paid it, but had failed in the hurry of the moment to take the note. The Korean tried three times to place the matter before the proper Japanese authorities, but was thwarted each time, and when at last, by