393.1163Am3/85
The Consul in Charge at Swatow (Smyth) to the Minister in China (MacMurray)22
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Legation that the Acting Superior of the American Catholic Mission at Kaying has reported to this Consulate in a letter, dated November 13, 1929, that on November 1, 1929, the mission station at Shak Chin, Kwangtung, was looted by communists.
As reported in my despatch of November 16, 1929,23 the communists attacked Kaying on October 31st but were defeated. They retired to the northwest, reaching Shak Chin, a town some thirty miles front Kaying, on November 1st. Father Malone, an American Catholic missionary, had a narrow escape from capture, and the mission station was thoroughly looted by the communists, who destroyed everything they could not carry away. Father Malone estimates the losses, in church property and personal effects, at M$4,000.
I have requested the mission to furnish details concerning the losses suffered and will report to the Legation when this information is received.
I have [etc.]