It was on Thursday, May 3rd, that fighting began between
the Nationalists and the Japanese troops which had been sent to protect the considerable number of Japan- ese at Tsinanfu. The Japanese forces had expected trouble, as there is always a trying time before a town has been fully taken over .by an incoming army. The Northerners had just retired, and the Southerners, or Nationalists, were still pouring in. The Japanese troops, nevertheless, were agreeably surprised by the comparative order which they observed and they relaxed some of their precautions. For example, sentries guard- ing Japanese property and residents were withdrawn. No sooner had this been done than Nationalist soldiers began looting Japanese houses. The Peking correspon- dent of the Times says that the Japanese soldiers hurried back to their former positions and tried to stop the looting without firing. In this they failed ; a scrimmage began, though there is a conflict of evidence as to who fired the first shot.
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