Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-12-09
SAD FATE OF A FORMER CADET
sfidshipman Machtda Beheaded--
His Career at the Naval Acad-
envy. Annapolis.

"A W aenluRtou correspondent OF the
\. Y. sa gives the following sad story
of Midshipman Machida. which is an
interesting one indeed Maehida was
panese youth sent to this country to
take the course at the Naval Academy,
with the object in view Of making him
an officer in the navy of his native coun-
try lie came 10 the Naval Academy,
1873. He was about seventeen years Of
age, and very well built He was clean
of flank and broad in the shoulder. He
might 10 advantage have been shorter in
waist. but that was hardly to be ex ected.
Machida had round. full face, every
line Of which betoken good nature. 1t
was not long before he became general
favorite and the pet Of his class. He was
good in all drills. aud worked his turn
aloft on the old Dale with activity and
intelligence the two great requisites of
man who handles yards and sails At
football and knock about sports he was
very good aud very gamesome. But he
never became a good base ball player
In his studies the young Jap was well
to the fore in all but one branch. He
could not get along on anything like
amicabIe terms with rhetoric. In
mathematics was he strongest. That
study just suited his mind. 1t seemed as
If single glance at proposition reveal
ed to him all its mysteries and correl-
atone While ntharo 90 hta cIaaa .-a~a
wrestling with sines. cosines and the
hard rules of calculus both differential
and integral, he was writing with cam
els hair brush rice paper his thoughts
and other things that he wished to pre-
serve in the diary which he kept He
was an inherent gambler, and during one
term at the academy perfected system
by which any faro bank in the world
could be broken. He tried this system
III New York when he went on leave, and
hid to write to the Japanese minister in
Washington for funds in order to pay
his hotel bill. lie tackled the cuss words
ofthe Americans, but always came off
second best. He finally settled down
to one swearing phrase. Ofabout every
thing he would say This is hell uff
note
Machida was OF the blood of the royal
family. The times were not widely di-
vergent when the japanese minister or
some member of the legation in Wash
'ngton came down TO Annapolis to see
how he got along, and what could be
done for him He always had plenty of
pocket money, which he spent as If he
had never known its value. He was
ever ready for an escspade, in itself
harmless, but dangerous because of its
being agains' the rules and regulations.
Thus he spent his years at the Naval
ACADEMY, getting good deal of enjoy
ment out of the hard work, mental and
physical, and also giving a great deal of
pleasure to his classmates.
Machida went home before graduation
His comrades parted from him with much
regret. IL promised to write. and they
write TO him. 1t was also agreed that
whenever any of his class were ordered
to the Asiatic station after they went
out into the service they went to look
him up. Several letters were received
from him. He had been made a lieuten-
ant in the Japanese navy, and was on
one Of its best ships. This caused his
classmates to think how long it would
be before they became lieutenants, but
rejoiced at Machida's luck.
This was in 1877. In 1889 the wide
spread Japanese rebellion was on. There
was fighting done. Machida's class
mates envied him his opportunity, and
wondered why they heard no more of
him. In 1880 FIVE or six of them were
ordered TO the Asiatio station. AT
Nagasaki they made inquiries for Ma
chida. They inquired of the govern.
nent officials, but could learn nothing.
They thought this very strange Final
y they asked the aid of the United
States minister to Japan. Through that
they learned definite, but
lad news. One of the leaders in the
Japanese rebellion was an uncle of Ma
shida. The latter joined his fortunes to
hose of his relative. After the rebel
ion had been put down thousands o
he participants in 1t were beheaded.
Among them were the uncle and his
nephew, Machida.