793.94/5013
The Consul General at Shanghai (Cunningham) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 9.]
Sir: I have the honor to report the following incident of the mistreatment of a Chinese pastor of a Christian church by Japanese marines on January 29, 1932. This man, with his wife and son, nephew, secretary and two men servants, were seized by the Japanese on that day and up to the present time, despite efforts of their foreign friends and representations made by the Consular Body, no trace of [Page 612] any of them has been found. The supposition is that they have been killed. This is of course not an isolated case but was repeated probably numberless times during the first few days of hostilities, and later. The fact that the Chinese pastor had a large number of foreign friends is the reason for this particular case being given the prominence which it has received.
The facts of the case are briefly as follows: The Fitch Memorial Church is a Chinese self-supporting institution, built about six years ago, partly with American funds. The pastor of this church was Chiang Shih-hsu. According to statements of eye witnesses, on the afternoon of January 29th Mr. Chiang and his family, together with several other Chinese, were in the church manse which adjoins the church building. The group numbered nine men, twelve women and nine children. At about 4.15 some fifty Japanese marines and civilians entered the premises and after striking the pastor and his wife took them away, together with six others, to an unknown destination and they have not been heard of since. The remainder of the group remained in the place all night under a guard of Japanese.
The matter was first brought to my attention on February 9th, by the Reverend A. R. Kepler of the Church of Christ in China. I informed the Consular Body and we communicated with the Japanese Consul General on the subject. He informed me, under date of “February 28th, that while it was true that a party of Japanese naval forces and civilians had entered the manse of the Church in search of snipers, the other statements were denied by the naval authorities, and that the Consul General had no information regarding the pastor and his family.
There is enclosed,16 as of interest to the Department and the Legation, a copy of Senior Consul’s circular No. 73, circulated on February 20th, containing a copy of the Senior Consul’s letter to the Japanese Consul General on that day, with enclosure; a copy of Senior Consul’s circular No; 117 of March 7th, containing a letter to the Senior Consul from Mr. George A. Fitch, General Secretary of the Foreign Young Men’s Christian Association; and a copy of Senior Consul’s circular No. 120 of March 7th containing a reply to the Senior Consul from the Japanese Consul General dated February 28th. The enclosures to circulars Nos. 73 and 117 containing the accounts of eye witnesses to the affairs.
According to Mr. George A. Fitch, who also took up the question with the Japanese Consul General, the reason for Mr. Chiang’s arrest appeared to be that in the school connected with the church the children had previously been singing anti-Japanese songs and this fact had been reported to the naval authorities by Japanese living in that [Page 613] vicinity. Whether this is true or not, I have no means of verifying but if true, it illustrates very well the utter ruthlessness of Japanese action on the flimsiest provocation. Certain it is that other and equally outrageous acts were committed by the Japanese with no more excuse than in this case.
Respectfully yours,
- Enclosures not printed.↩