There was much talk of the honour of the Japanese army and he was left with the impression that the excesses of the Japanese army in such places at Paotingfu, Nanking and Kaifeng were as nothing in importance compared with the slapping of a high Chinese official's wife. He offered to ask his informánt if he would disclose his name and he also immediately offered to publish any official Japanese version of the affair.
There the matter was left unti] he informed the Japanese military authorities that the eye-witness preferred his name not to be known and reiterated his offer to publish the official Japanese version. He was asked by one Japanese officer, "Could you come and see me tomorrow morning?" He said yes, he could and expected to have a private talk with the "officer concerned. On arrival, however, he was amused to find something like a court of enquiry, all dressed up and obviously decked out to impress, Three colonels in uniform, a staff major in uniform, n. captain in uniform and an Embassy official.
A long harangue followed, the staff major acting as spokesman. No such incident had ever happened, the lady in question was not in Peiping that day, the honour of the Japanese army had been vilified, indignation was rampant in army circles and the correspondent in short must retract completely the story he had publish. ed. He stated again that this not possible but he was still willing to publish any official Japanese version of events,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.