793.94/11423: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss)
607. Your 1074, December 3, 2 p.m.22 Press reports from Shanghai carry sensational items to the effect that following the throwing by a Chinese of a hand grenade Japanese troops immediately seized complete control of the area in which the incident occurred; that the Japanese troops aimed pistols at U. S. marines and British soldiers, pushed foreigners about with rifle butts, set up machine guns, extended the area which they seized until it had entered the U. S. Marine defense area; that hot words were exchanged between the U. S. marines and the Japanese; and that later the Japanese officers began giving the command to withdraw. The press reports state also that four U. S. marines, two of them dispatch riders on motorcycles, were threatened with drawn pistols by Japanese officers; that two truck loads of British soldiers were similarly treated; that a number of foreign civilians were pushed about roughly with rifle butts; and that an American and a British subject were beaten.
Please radio Department as soon as possible a report covering the items mentioned above and adding such further particulars as will enable the Department to evaluate the stories in the press.