MYSTEBIOOS DEATH

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 26, 30 July 1940, Page 7

MYSTEBIOOS DEATH

BRITISH SUBJECT IN

TOKIO

ALLEGED SUICIDAL LEAP

ONE OF 12 ARRESTED

CHARGES OF ESPIONAGE

(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.)

(Received July 30, 10.30 a.m.) TOKIO, July 29. . A total of twelve British residents have been arrested since Saturday, apparently in connection with .the military secrets regulations. The British Ambassador, Sir Robert Craigie, twice protested, once formally and also personally. He protested to the Foreign Minister, Mr. Y. Matsuoka, and requested information as to the reasons for the arrests. Mr. Melville Cox, Reuter's manager in the Far East, was killed by a mysterious fall from the fourth floor of the Japanese police headquarters while being questioned. An announcement by the Ministries of War and Justice states: "A Note addressed to his wife found on Mr. Cox's person reads: 'I know what is best. Always, my only love. I have been quite well treated but there is no doubt how matters are going.' "In the light of the above Note it seems that, with the progress of the investigation the deceased -became aware of the fact that he could not escape conviction." Another announcement relating to the arrests states: "In view of the everincreasing activities of foreign organs and espionage conspiracy in this country lately, the military authorities, , under the direction of the prosecutors, took the first step on July 27 against those who constitute part of a British espionage network which covers the entire country." (Received July 30, 1.5 p.m.) LONDON, July 29. Those arrested are Captain C. H. James, Tokio, retired naval officer and chief representative of the Federation of British Industries; four Kobe residents, Messrs- R. T. Holder, who is i president of the local British Assoeiation, E. W. James, F. M. Jonas, and J. ■ F. Drummond, two Osaka business men; Messrs. H. C. MacNaghten, who is honorary Consul for Greece, and J. F. James, Michael Ringer, from Shimonoseki, Vanya Ringer, from Nagasaki, and Reuters' Tokio correspondent, Mr. M. Cox. Mr. V. Ringer is honorary Consul for Sweden, Norway, and Portugal. LONDON,. July 29. The British Ambassador in Tokio called on. the Japanese Foreign Minister this morning to discuss the arrest of British subjects in Japan, but the results of the interview are not yet disclosed. Reports have now been received from the Japanese Domei agency of the peculiar death of one of the arrested men. < He is Mr. M. Cox, Reuters' correspondent in Tokio for the past seven, years, and previously for many years one of Reuters' chief correspondents in China. The Domei agency says that Mr. Cox was arrested on suspicion of espionage, and" alleges he jumped from, an upstairs floor of the headquarters of the Tokio gendarmerie, where he was being examined, and died of his injuries soon afterwards. The agency statement, which presumably was officially drafted, adds that the gendarmes who were present strenuously attempted to prevent Mr. Cox's rash act, but : failed. "ESPIONAGE NETWORK." A statement issued by the Japanese Foreign Office on behalf of the Ministries of War and Justice describes the arrests as, the first step to clean up a British espionage network covering the whole of Japan. The Domei agency says that Mr. Cox was being examined at police headquarters, and claims that he committed suicide because he realised that he could not escape punishment. The Domei statement that Mr. Cox was suspected of espionage is the first time "a charge was mentioned. There has been no news of Mr. Cox from any other source except that he had been arrested, and that the British Consul had not been allowed to see him, so no reply from him to the . Japanese allegations is now possible.