793.94/14220: Telegram
The Consul General at Hankow (Josselyn) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:29 a.m.]
24. Robert Horiguchi, press liaison officer for the Japanese Army, denied last evening in conversation with a member of my staff the local rumor that Kuling has been occupied by the Japanese.
He remarked that blockading the people on Kuling was “as good a method of killing them off as any other.” When asked whether he meant the Chinese or the missionaries, he replied “both”. Questioned as to the basis of the animosity against missionaries, he answered “they report bombing adjacent to their property as being directed at them and they maintain schools which teach anti-Japanese propaganda. This however does not apply to the Catholics.”
Repeated to Chungking, Peiping, Shanghai. Shanghai please repeat to Tokyo.