Attack was Not an Accident

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 72, 17 December 1937, Page 5

Attack was Not an Accident

—PresB ABsn.-

PROOF FROM CHINA

Japanese Boarded Panay After Firing on Her U.S. ATTITUDE STIFFENS

(By TeleKrSMi

-Oopyright.)

(Received 17, 9.55 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Dec. 16. Mr. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, officially confirmed that Japanese on land machine-gunned the American gunboat Panay after she had been bombed from the air. . The United Press emphasises the eytreme significance of Mr. Hull's announcement that officlal dispatches from the American Government representatives aboard the Panay confirm that the Japanese machine-gunned the vessel from the shore. The United Press says: "This is considered to be the most serious development in an already strained situation and is expected to lead to an inevitable stiffening of the United States indignant protest. The satisfaction demanded by the Government is expected to be broadened considerably as a result, since it is considered to have proved beyond doubt that the attack was not an accident. "Moreover, Japanese went alongside the Panay after the machine-gun-ning and boarded her while the American flag was still flying." Mr. Saito, the Japanese Ambassador, stated that he could say definitely that President Roosevelt's message to the Emperor Hirohito, would reach the Emperor.