Arizona republican., 1919-04-19
JAPAN INSISTS SHE
 |S CONS|DERATE IN
 HANDLING AMERICANS
Jap Statement Hints U. S.
 Missionaries Are Con cerned In Uprising But Denies Any Were Arrested

SAN FRANCISCO, April '1s.-Revo- lutionary demonstrations are spreading throughout Korea, and Japanese sol diers and gendarmes are firing upon the people without warning" according to letter received by prominent ko- rean today from his wife in Korea. The letter was given out by the Rev. David Lee, general manager of the Korean National Association here.
 NEW YORK, April 1S.-The Japanr csc government suspects "one or tW6 American missionaries of a connection with the present uprising in Korea, but has followed the most considerate method of dealing with the matter and has not arrested them,' according to an officia. cable message from Toilio' made public today by Chonosuke Yada, Japanese consul general in New York.
 The cablegram denied reports that at Pingyang "a Japanese soldier struck an American lady missionary with the butt end of his gun,' or that at Noburu -Kawa "our soldiers searched the home of an American missionary and forced their way into the bedroom Of his wife"
 Thorough investigation of the Ping yang incident, the message said, showed the report originated from the action of Japanese soldier trying to force back the passage of a crowd with his gun held horizontally"
 Asserting that the riots have been sponsored by "one Son Heiki, who is at the head of a cult called 'Tendo-kyo'
 (Heavenly way,) and harbors mutin-
 ous ambition of bringing about coup detat," the message continued:
 Tt is a matter of exceeding regret that a certain portion of the missionary
 body has inspired the suspicion that
 they have indulged in words and ac- tions susceptible to political construc i tions. But the authorities have ever
 respected the freedom of faith and al
 no time and in no instance have they closed the churches conducted by the missionaries. Only those among the
 leaders of the Tendo cult and the Kor- can missionaries who have had an in innate connection with the present rioting have seen put under arrest"
 The message asserted the reason cer- tain native christians and Korean
 students had joined the movement was because they misinterpreted the sig
 nificance of the league of nations and the doctrine of self lf-determination. Leaders of the uprising, the message added, had forced them through threats
 to join the rioters, in order to gain 1 public sympathy
 After denying reports of cruelties
 practiced on the Koreans, the cable gram declared armed forces had been
 employed only in the remote sections where police powers are inadequate Despite the official denial that any American missionaries had been ar rested, an Associated Press dispatch from Tokio dated April said officials 1 of the Japanese war department had confirmed reports of the arrest at Ping yang of Rev. Eli M. Mowery, of Mans i field, Ohio, an American Presbyterian missionary.
 1 Dispatches from Seoul. quoting off 1 cial advices from Pingyang, said the l Japanese authorities charged that Ko- reans engaged in editing and circulat- 1 ing news of the independence move
 ment had been hiding in the mission ary's residence and issuing newspapers 1 and circulars from the house. The i Seoul dispatches also asserted that the l houses of seven American missionaries 1 at Pingyang were searched by the Jap- l anese at the time of Rev MT. Mowery's i arrrst.