The sun., 1919-04-10
JAPANESE SAY US.
TROOPS DENIED AID
Siberian Report Helped Pre-
cipitate Recent Clash in
Tientsin.
WOMEN ALSO INVOLVED
Nipponese Soldiers, Led by
Mounted Officers, Invaded
French Concession. =
WOMEN ALSO INVOLVED

WAsHrNorov, April e.-The State De-
psrtment has communicated with the
japanese Government regarding the
Tien-tsin clash last month e.rwson
American troops and Japanese troopa
aided by q japanese mob.
officials here are determined to give
every protection TO Americans who cuf.
fered, ana n necessary 20 insist upon
punishment Of the guilty, but the on
cisl inquiry addressed 20 the Toxic For.
sign ofaos means that q fair and Just
estimate Of all the fscts u desired by
the American Government Japan's ver-
sion OF the case h being awaited.
1T appears now that tho clash had
an International aspect In the sense that
the Japanese attacks on Americans wero
precipitated partly by published reports
In the Japanese Newspaper Niohi Ntchs
stating that American troops In Siberia
refused to assist the japanese troops
attacked by alleged Bolsheviki. Reports
Of comment In this newspaper were re-
printed the day before the outbreak in
the North Chind Stor. an American
newspaper published in Tien-tsin.
Meanwhile IL has developed that some
Japanese policemen had become Jealous
OF the attentions which American SOL
diers were receiving from Japanese
women. This. combined with the Sibe-
rian incident, is now understood to have
stated the trouble.
The article In the NicAt Ntchi said:
During the latter part of February
Gen. Oh, commander Of the Twelfth
Division. with view 20 supervising the
manders OF the American troops at Ha-
barovsk for reenforoements.
IAN answer came from Col. Steyer,
who consulted with Mayor-Gen. Graves.
commander OF the American troops in
Siberia. declining to give any assistance
in the battle proposed by the Japanese
commander on the ground that he did
not recognize the enemy as Bolsheviki
and that the recent uprisings were
sort of peasant rioting, caused chiefly by
the mischievous administration OF Alta
man Gamov's Cossack government In the
district
French Concession Invaded.
"First-Japanese armed troops. led by
mounted officers and accompanied by
the acting Consul General on horseback,
invaded the French concession, where
they attempted to take the law into
their own hands in q manner character
istic Of that Prussian ril,tarism against
which the decent nations of the world
have just been fighting. To realize the
seriousness OF the Japanese action one
has only to ask what might have hap
pened " the American officers also had
lost their heads and. against all law. led
o battalion of American troops In a
friendly concession In order to protect
their soldiers. who were being assaulted
on all sides.
"Second-The Japanese troops, IN
most high handed way and contrary to
all international rights, dragged two
American soldiers from territory under
French jurisdiction to their own conces-
sion and there locked them UP In the
Japanese police station. One OF these
soldiers was a non-commissioned officer
of the Provost Guard. who was knocked
senseless while attempting to obey his
orders and remove an American soldier
from a theatre In which some fighting
had taken place. The other soldier was
dragged half naked from a house in the
French concession and. after being
beaten almost to death. was taken to the
Japanese police station and left lying
In a semi-conscious state In n courtyard
until he was rescued by American civil
fans and officers accompanied by the
American Consul General.
"Third: The oficer in charge OF the
police station when asked II any Ameri-
can soldiers were confined there de-
lfberstely lied to the American Consul
General and after one soldier was found
locked in a cell and another lying half
dead In a courtyard gave not the
n nf da1t sal
falsehood.
"FOurth: When the ambulance car
Tying the wounded soldier, accompanied
BY American civilians and the American
Consul General in motor cars, was re-
turning from the Japanese concession
under D. military escort furnished by
the commanding onicer of the Japanese
troops these soldiers made practically
no effort to prevent their own nationals
from attacking the party.
Last evening (March 49, despite tho
published orders OF the Japanese author
tiles directing their own people 10 re-
main off the street more than two hun
dred Japanese, armed with clubs and
other weapons, entered the French con-
cession still, defiantly searching for
American soldiers and drove fouI mem
bers of the Provost Guard who were
OIL duty to prevent any recurrence OF
trouble, into the Empire Theatre. Only
the prompt action on the part of Mr..
Bari manager of the theatre) pre-
vented the mob from invading the the
atre and dragging the soldiers on.
"The French police had to rush all
their reserves and finally troops to the
acene TO protect tho theatre from the
japanese mob"
L. 5. Missionsries AT.used.
Official cablegrams from the Japanese
Foreign Office received by the embassy
here declare that American missionaries
In Corea have been instigating the ma,
tives to rise and start Independence
movements" against the Japanese Gov
ernment 1t is not known how much OF
this information has reached the State
Department officially. but diplomats re-
gard 1t as certain that the United States
will have to take cognizance of tho
Japanese charge.
There have been press reports that
some OF the American missionaries, i'm
bued with the idea OF translatIng
President Wilson'S self-determination
doctrines TO all parts OF the world, have
become active In Corea. Disturbances
embarrassing to all concerned have re-
quilted from the agitation, and ofricia Ia
here have expressed the hope that
Americans would not be directly identi-
ned with II.
Tho Japanese Foreign OFFICE, however.
has received specific and definite infor-
nation against certain Americans, IL Is
said. particularly against the principal OF