Refrigerator No. I

In the Soya Strait, just above the northernmost island of Japan, the Soviet provision ship Refrigerator No, 1 was halted by the Japanese, her captain and crew thrown into jail. Japanese authorities questioned their Red captives about the number and equipment of Soviet armed forces facing Manchukuo. To force answers they used the dread Oriental bastinado, beat the soles of the Reds with thin strips of bamboo. On top of this ancient torture, a favorite in China for thousands of years, the Japanese produced electric wires, sparked and shocked the Russians' bleeding soles.

Such at least was the story--not inconsistent with the methods of Japanese police --sent out last week over the wires of Tass, the official Soviet news agency. Tass backed up its torture tale by declaring that the Soviet Embassy in Tokyo has been ordered to protest the treatment given the captain and crew of Refrigerator No. 1. Since Russians and Japanese are still arguing over their bitter full-dress battle on the Manchukuoan border earlier this month, the affair of Refrigerator No. 1 did little to promote the amicable spirit needed for a settlement.

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