493.11 Ekvall, Henry/39
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 24.]
Sir: With reference to the Legation’s telegram No. 1009 of August 26, 11 a.m. and previous telegrams concerning the representations made by this Legation in regard to the disappearance on July 23rd, 1932, at a point near Sian, Shensi of Mr. Henry Ekvall, an American citizen, and three other persons who were travelling with him in his motor-car en route from P’ingliang, Kansu, to Sian, I have the honor to enclose herewith for the Department’s information, a copy of the confidential detailed report74 submitted to me on September 1st by Lieutenant Robert H. Soule, U.S.A., the attaché of this Legation, who, on August 6th was sent to Sian to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Ekvall.
I am fully in accord with the conclusions reached by Lt. Soule as to the actual facts in this case which I consider one of the most atrocious outrages upon foreigners that has been committed in China in many years. From Lt. Soule’s investigation and from those made by Mr. G. Findlay Andrew and Mr. Oliver J. Todd of the International Famine Relief Commission, there appears little reason to doubt that Mr. Ekvall and his travelling companions were seized by uniformed Chinese soldiers in broad daylight on the main and busily travelled highway a few miles west of the west suburb gate of Sian; that they were held prisoners in a nearby village until nightfall, and that they were then taken by uniformed soldiers and murdered in cold blood at a spot almost within sight of the city walls, the motorcar and its valuable contents being then disposed of by the murderers.
There are also enclosed for the Department’s information, copies [Page 528] of the urgent telegrams addressed by this Legation direct to General Yang Hu-ch’eng, Provincial Chairman of Shensi, under the following dates: August 7th; August 22nd and August 26th, 1932.76 As currently reported by radio to the Department, these emphatic representations from the Legation to the Provincial Chairman were supplemented by similar ones addressed to him, under the Legation’s instructions, by the American Consul General at Hankow, and by urgent representations made to the Foreign Office in Nanking through Counselor Peck. The replies made by the Shensi Provincial authorities under dates of August 14th, 17th, 24th and 31st, (copies of which are enclosed)76 were evasive and quite unsatisfactory in every way as exemplified by the following incidents. On August 23rd the authorities orally informed Lt. Soule that a certain Chinese had reported that he had seen four bodies placed in the Wei River (about 4 miles west of Sian) but following Lt. Soule’s request for definite information in the matter, the authorities stated that they could not find the witness or anyone else who had seen the alleged incident. The official letter written to Lt. Soule on August 24th refers ambiguously to a motor car and a corpse seen floating in the river and then seeks to link up the party’s disappearance with certain alleged communist plans for disturbing Shensi. In the communication addressed to the Legation by the Shensi Provincial Government on August 31st, it was stated that the chauffeur Ch’en Wei-ch’ing (who is believed by foreign investigators to be the instigator of the crime) had denied any knowledge of a dispute with Mr. Ekvall or of threats made by him (Ch’en) against Ekvall, and therefore the prisoner had been released on bond.
Further evidence of the lack of good faith and studied inactivity on the part of the authorities is indicated in the enclosed copy of Mr. W. Englund’s letter of September first to the Legation.77
The representations made by the Legation at Sian and Nanking and those made by the American Consul General at Hankow have thus far apparently met with no response other than empty promises of strict investigation of the case and dire punishment of the guilty parties once they are apprehended. As pointed out by Lt. Soule and by other informants of the Legation, the Provincial Chairman, an ex-bandit leader possessed of considerable ability, is a sick man who appears genuinely interested in clearing up the case but who is compelled to leave most matters to his subordinates who, if not directly implicated in the murders and robbery, feel that they must protect the bandit troops concerned by advancing the preposterous claim that after the most searching investigation no trace can be found of a [Page 529] motor car and four persons, three of them foreigners, seized by uniformed soldiers in broad daylight on the main travelled highway a few miles west of Sian. In this general regard, the Department’s attention is particularly invited to the enclosed memorandum of an interview on September 8th78 between Lt. Soule and Mr. O. Granzow, a Russian engineer who has been working on the Sian-Lanchow road project of the China International Famine Relief Commission and who delivered to the Legation a letter from Mr. Englund, the American missionary at Sian who first reported that the Ekvall party was missing. Mr. Granzow had discussed the case with Mr. Englund while in Sian and informed Lt. Soule that the missionaries in Sian were of the belief that “if things quieted down a little more they would be able to recover the bodies of Mr. Ekvall and party; that they did not want anyone to come up there at the present time to investigate as it would make it just that much more difficult to get any information as the authorities would simply take more steps to suppress all information; that the son of one of the oldest Christians in Sian, a Mr. Hsieh (other names not known) had come to the missionaries and told them that the bodies of the party were at the present time buried in the yard of the Governor’s Yamen; (Underscoring thfe writer’s) …79 and that they (the missionaries) had great confidence that Mr. Hsieh would lead them to the bodies in the end.”
In view of this expression of opinion, the Legation has, since sending its urgent telegram of August 26th to the Provincial Chairman and instructing the Nanking and Hankow Consulates General to take similar action, refrained from pressing the case. However, the Legation is now preparing an emphatic note to the Foreign Office, giving a full outline of the evidence obtained by Lt. Soule and stating that the American Government is quite unable to accept the preposterous claim of the Shensi authorities to the effect that in spite of their most vigorous investigations not the slightest trace of the missing party and the motor car can be obtained. The Legation is then insisting that without further delay effective action be taken by the responsible authorities and that the guilty parties be punished to the fullest extent of the law. In this note, it is being made particularly clear that the American Government intends vigorously and persistently to press this case until it has been cleared up and the guilty parties punished. It is further being suggested that failing effective action by the Shensi authorities, the Nanking Government depute special investigators to proceed to Sian to act with a representative of the American Government in thoroughly investigating [Page 530] the case and in re-hearing the evidence which is still available from foreign sources. It is not to be expected that the Chinese villagers who have been threatened by the soldiery will dare to repeat the frank statements which they originally made to the missionaries and which were so damaging to the soldiery who were thereby definitely implicated in the actual murder of the party. The Legation’s suggestion that special investigators be sent into Shensi from Nanking will undoubtedly be most unwelcome to the Shensi authorities and the suggestion is being made more for the purpose of spurring the Shensi authorities into effective action than in the expectation that Nanking will ever send representatives to Shensi where the bandit soldiery will undoubtedly continue effectively to block every attempt to conduct a real investigation of this most atrocious crime.
The Department has been kept promptly and fully informed by radio of the chief developments in this case and the Legation will continue to keep the Department so informed.
Respectfully yours,