393.1123 Seymour, Walter F./4: Telegram
The Minister in China ( MacMurray ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:58 p.m.]
298. My 274, April 25, 7 p.m.
- 1.
- Following from Shanghai:
“May 1, noon. With reference to the Legation’s April 28, 8 p.m. The following report received from a missionary at Tenghsien through the Presbyterian mission is considered important: ‘Advices from the North state that Dr. W. F. Seymour of Tsining, Shantung, was shot by soldiers, presumably of Feng Yu-hsiang’s army, on April 16th; that army had surrounded the city, the mission premises being in the eastern suburb, and the soldiers were about to enter the premises of the women’s or girls’ school. Dr. Seymour went out to attempt to prevent their doing so, when they cut the parley short by shooting him through the heart. The fact that the soldiers did not molest the other foreigners in the mission would indicate that their hasty action was not due to any rabid feeling against the foreigners as such.’”
- 2.
- With a view of [to] avoiding any possible embarrassment, it is suggested that the Department keep confidential the source of the foregoing report.