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Show Scribe Backs Story on Dairen Edict By WILLIAM H. NEWTON (Representing the Combined American Press) SHANGHAI, Dec. 27 The announcement an-nouncement by a state department spokesman in Washington that a U. S. navy courier ship at Dairen was not given a Soviet ultimatum to get out will come as a distinct surprise to U. 8. navy officials and others who were aboard when the incident took place last Friday. The senior navy officer aboard, Cmdr. Edgar I Yates, Portland, Ore., reported to Adm. Charles M. Cooke Jr commander of the Rev- enth fleet. In my presence, that an ultimatum had been given by Soviet So-viet military officials "to leave within 20 minutes or we will not be responsible for the consequences." conse-quences." - , Confirmed Report ' Cooke cabled the navy department depart-ment and referred to the report of the incident which had been released re-leased to the combined world press ths report was "factually correct" (That report was Newton's first story of the incident) In his official written report of the trip to Dairen, Yates also referred re-ferred to the Soviet ultimatum. Ens. Tilghmann B. Koones, Plainf leld, N. J., U. S. navy officer who Interpreted the Russian order for Yates, told me the Soviets had made their position emphatically clear and that a translation was, In effect "If you do not leave within 20 minutes we will not be responsible for the consequences," At the time the Soviet ultimatum ultima-tum was delivered, armed Soviet troops-appeared in view of ths ship for ths first time in its two-day stay. Obvious Inference They were aground around the entrance to the dock at which our ship was based and while they committed no overt acts the inference infer-ence of their sudden appearance was obvious to everyone aboard. In Washington Thursday, a state department spokesman, Lincoln Lin-coln White, said the so-called ultimatum ulti-matum was "not in any sense a flat-shaking affair." Observers here were at a loss to know the state department spokesman's source of information about the incident No consular official was present aboard ship when the incident took place. Consul Arrived The U. S. consul general at Dairen, Dai-ren, H. Merell Benninghoff, arrived ar-rived at the dock 10 minutes after the Soviet ultimatum was received and found the courier vessel with Its engines running and making ready to cast off. Diplomatic courier Harris Ball, Amarillo, Tex., came aboard after the ultimatum had been Issued and only a few minutes before the ship left 8ince then, Cooke and navy officers offi-cers who were present have confirmed con-firmed the accuracy of the report of the ultimatum. The only remaining source of official information about the incident would be the Soviet officials offi-cials who delivered the ultimatum. Whether this was the source of the state department spokesman's announcement Is not known her. (Lincoln said his information came from Benninghoff.) |
