the korean official report of the general sherman incident clearly states that thomas was killed by civilians, not by park, and this is corroborated by oh mun-hwan's 1926 article. in another account, thomas leapt to shore carrying a bible, which he offered to his attackers while crying, "jesus, jesus!" in korean. this account was also rebutted by others who stated that thomas was waving the official signet of hyon-ik yi which had probably been taken from him when he was kidnapped. hyon-ik yi was later demoted for losing an important official signet.