Hongkong, Jan. 11.
Four British steamers were forced to flee at full speed downriver from Canton yesterday morning when Chinese. guns of the Bocca Tigris forts fired on a Japanese armed trawler, it was learned here this morning.
British seamen saw Japanese troops in small boats attempting to land at Sanpanchau near the Chinese forts. The Japanese were protected by the banks of the river, but they were forced to retire in their trawler although the boat did not appear to have been hit.
A British steamer later observed a Japanese cruiser steaming in the general direction of Bocca Tigris, Chinese circles here professed ignorance of the attempted Japanese landing.—United Press.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.