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poor mother frantic with fear, and before sitting down had to run with two of our fellows to chase soldiers out of Gee's and Daniel's houses where they were just beginning to rape the women. We had to laugh to see these brave soldiers try- ing to get over barbed wire fences as we chased them. Bates and Riggs had to leave before they were through with tiffin to chase soldiers out of the Sericulture building several drunks. And on my arrival at office there was an 8.0.S. call which habe and I answered from Sperling and Kroeger who were seriously threatened by a drunk with a bayonet. By fortunate chance Tanaka of the Embassy together with some general ar- rived at the same moment. The soldier had his face soundly slapped a couple of times by the general but I don't suppose he got any more than that. We have heard of no cases of dis- ciplineso far. If & soldier is caught by an officer of M.P. he is very politely told that he should not do that again. In the evening I walked home with Riggs after dinner -- & WO- man of 54 had been raped in his house just before our arrival. It's cruel to leave women to their fate, but of course it is impossible for us to spend all our time protecting them. Wu engineer in the power plant which is located in Hsiakwan, brought us the amazing news that 45 of the 54 employees who had so heroically kept the plant going to the very last day and nad finally been obliged to seek refuge in the Interna- tional Export Co. a British factory on the river front, had been taken out and shot on the grounds that the power company was a government concern which it is not. Japanese officials have been at my office daily trying to get hold of these men so that they could start the turbines and have electricity. It was small comfort to be able to tell them that their own military had murdered them.
Kr.
Thursday December 23rd. Sone was the one to get manhandled today. At Stanley Smith's house he found an of- ficer and a soldier who had just removed the American flag also the Japanese proclamation, forced the refugees living there out and said they must use the place as a registration centre. He must have had a pretty uncomfortable time of it, for he was finally forced to sign a paper giving them the right
to use the place for two weeks. And Sone is not a man to take things lying downi A protest to the Embassy finally got the soldiers out of the place. Seven men were taken from our camp at the Rural Leaders Training School and shot.
No sys- tem soldiers seize any they suspect. Callouses on hands are a proof that the man was a soldier, a sure death warrant. Ricksha coolies, carpenters and other labourers are frequently taken. At noon a man was led to headquarters with head burnt, cinder black eyes, and ears gone, nose partly a ghastly sight. I took him to the hospital in my car where he died a few hours later. His story was that he was one of a gang of some hundred who had been tied together, then gasoline thrown
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