Peiping, June 2.
The arrest of the British Military Attache, Lt.-Col. C. R. Spear, M.C., Mv.0., by the Japanese military authorities on his arrival in their lines after his long trek across China from Chungking has excited considerable comment here, The facts, as far as they are known-to date are roughly as follows:—
Some time ago the British Embassy authorities here were advised that they might expect at any time the arrival of Colonel Spear who had left Chungking about two months ago and was travelling overland to North China through Chinese-controlled territory. It seems that when Col. Spear arrived in the Western Hills, which is guerilla territory, he got within less than ten miles of Mentowkow, the first Japanese post west of Peiping, but had to turn back as fighting was going on between the Japanese and the guerillas, He managed, however, to get a message through to the effect that he would in consequence have to come out by a different route, ie. considerably further north, somewhere on the Peking-Kalgan railway. On May 25, It. Cooper, a language officer attached to the Embassy was, therefore, sent up along the line to try and contact Col Spear. Before leaving, It. Cooper called on the ghpanese military authorities in Peiping and asked for a pass both for himself and for Col. Spear. The former, he was told, would take some time, while the latter was refused out of hand, with the remark that the colonel having come so far without a Japanese pass, did not require one at this late hour. It. Cooper then left on the Kalgan railway without either pass and has not been heard of since. newspaper Report The gext phase in the story is five days later, when on the morning of the, 30th the Japanese-controlled "Hsin Min Pao" brought the report of the arrest of a mysterious foreigner, of which the following is a translation:—"On May 26, Japanese troops garrisoning Shuangshutsun, south of Hsiahuayuan, a station on the Kinsui railway, arrested a mysterious foreigner in a Catholic church there. The foreigner in question wore very shabby clothes and appeared like a rascal. Because Shuangshutsun is under the jurisdiction of Kalgan, the arrested person has been extradited to the Japanese gendarmerie in Kalgan, in order to verify his nationality and to be informed of his travelling experiences.
"The foreigner is quoted as saying that he had close relations with Rumania Determined to
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