Religion: Dr. Wallace’s Story

One of the best-loved Americans in China was Medical Missionary William L. Wallace, 42, a Southern Baptist of Knoxville, Tenn. When no Chinese would testify against him, the Reds “found” a pistol in his bed in Wuchow, and dragged him off to jail in his pajamas (TIME, March 12). This week in Hong Kong, Father Mark Tennien, Roman Catholic missionary from Pittsford, Vt., and a prisoner in Wuchow before he was expelled from China by the Communists, told the rest of the story.

For several weeks Dr. Wallace stood up well under the sleeplessness and endless questioning. In February he cracked. Night after night he screamed, while prison guards prodded him with bamboo poles to silence him. He grew more & more irrational. One night, after screaming for about an hour, he became quiet, and the Reds discovered that they could no longer hurt Dr. William Wallace. His body was hanging from a strip of blanket tied to the top of his cell door.