793.94/1942
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Nanking to the Chinese Legation61
With reference to the charge made by Japanese that our soldiers attempted to destroy a bridge of the South Manchurian Railway, the Superintendent’s office of the Peining (Peiping-Mukden) Railway [Page 55] reports that on the night of the 18th Japanese troops started the trouble by blowing up the Liu River bridge of the South Manchurian Railway and afterwards scattered dead bodies of our soldiers nearby so as to fasten the blame upon us for the destruction of the bridge.
The fact is that before destroying the bridge the Japanese had built a siding around this spot so that there would be no interruption in the running of trains. There was on the bridge a signal tower from which a strict watch was always kept.
This mode of manufacturing evidence defeats its own ends.
- Copy of telegram handed by the Chinese Chargé to the Secretary of State, September 28.↩