393.112/45: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in China (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:20 p.m.]
403. Peiping’s 401, August 9, 5 p.m. Mrs. Gertrude Chaney Pye, American citizen connected with the American Board Mission at Fenchow, Shansi, arrived here from that city today. She reports that Americans in Fenchow have not been molested and that there is no anti-American agitation but that she observed a poster in a police station in Fenchow reading “Great Britain and America are the countries responsible for the prolongation of hostilities in the Far East”.
Six British missionaries arrived here yesterday from Taiyuan, Shansi, having been forced to leave through threats to themselves and to their Chinese Christians if the British did not leave. They report that Miss L. Jane Shock, American citizen with the Church of the Brethren Mission at Taiyuan, remains there and has not been molested; they say that anti-American items have appeared in the local vernacular press since the notice of termination of the American-Japanese treaty, but no demonstrations have occurred.
Four British missionaries arrived here yesterday from Sinchow, 40 miles north of Taiyuan, Shansi; they report that they were compelled to leave by direct threats from the Japanese military as well as Japanese coercion of their Chinese Christians. They say that, in addition to the usual anti-British propaganda, posters were affixed to their mission gates stating “Kill the British”.
Repeated to Chungking, Tokyo, Tientsin, Shanghai.