893.112/41: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 9—1:40 p.m.]
401. The missionaries from Shansi referred to in Peiping’s number 395, August 6 [8], 2 p.m.,36 last substantive paragraph, apparently did not arrive last night. However, a British missionary from Hungtung, Shansi, recently arrived, informed me late yesterday afternoon that the anti-British feeling apparently stimulated by the Japanese at Hungtung and other places in Shansi, is very strong. He reported that Mr. and Mrs. Scoville, American citizens connected with the China Inland Mission at Hwohsien about 90 li north of Hungtung, were forced to leave their mission; that Mr. Scoville was called to Japanese military headquarters on July 6 and put through a gruelling examination for 3 hours to ascertain if he had any political affiliations with any anti-Japanese society. He apparently was suspected because a British subject had been associated with the Scovilles in their mission work. Scoville was given a military pass and proceeded with his wife to Kiehsiu. Informant stated that Mr. and Mrs. Mellows and Miss Rand, all American citizens, are also now at Kiehsiu. Informant also stated that agitation in Shansi is in varying degree anti-British, anti-church, and anti-foreign, with the latter predominating, according to missionaries with whom he had talked.
Repeated to Chungking, Shanghai, Tientsin, air mail to Tokyo.
- Not printed; the missionaries mentioned were British (393.112/37).↩