moved to action and decided
to send out troops in pursuit and it was they who found the British
journalist’s body, today [Friday]. Though the ransom money had been offered in full, the bandits seemed
curiously obdurate and had begun moving by rapid stages towards the
Chahar-Jehol frontier.
Emissaries from the Chahar
Government reported that the bandits refused to accept the ransom offered … The
Chinese and British authorities confessed themselves baffled and when the
bandits were inside the Jehol border in Manchukuo, it was hoped that the
Japanese authorities would have been able to secure Gareth’s release.4
Saturday 17th
August – The
Daily Telegraph:
Verification of the reports
are intensely difficult here [Kalgan], owing to the international situation. The Japanese authorities discount the report
of the death of Mr Jones, and though unaware of the facts, said that the
bandits who were holding him were last seen southeast of Kuyuan, many miles
from the Pao Ch’ang district. Moreover,
the Japanese asserted that the bandit chief had every reason to preserve Mr
Jones in safety.
In Peking, despite the
absence of identification, it is regretfully concluded that the body which was
found is that of Mr Jones.
Monday 19th
August - The Daily Telegraph (sub-headline from their special correspondent):
News held up for four days
I
was the first to receive confirmation of Mr Jones’ death. Although the Chahar authorities knew of it
four days ago, they withheld the news from Lieut. Millar; the British Attaché
here, until I had enlisted the help of Mr Hashimoto, the Japanese
4 Also reported in: the London Evening News,
August 16th,
Manchester Guardian, August 17th.
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