The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1895-01-10
FROM JAPAN.
No Butohery Of Civilians by the
Japs at Port Arthur.
Gen. Won Hanneken, German, the Active
Head OF the Chinese Army Now-He
Has Power That No Other For
cigner Ever Had Before.

TOXIC, Japan, Dec. 2l.-(Correspond-
ence of the United Press, per steamer
China.)-Full Investigations go TO show
that considerable notifications must
be applied to the first reports circu-
lated as to the needless ferocity on tho
part of the Japanese troops and land
transport corps engaged in the capture
Of Port Arthur. Two circumstances
unquestionablv did impart exceptional
quality to the fighting of the Japs.
One was the ruthless murder OF their
wounded and the horrible inutiiation
of their dead in days Immediately pre-
ceding the final assaults. The other
was the fact that thc Chinese soldiers
used the town of Port Arthur as 4
refuge after the fall of the forts, and
that many of the citizens had been
armed by order of the Taotai.
The defeated braves, escaping into
houses in the town. threw civilian SUR
coats over their uniforms and resisted
capture so resolutely that the fighting
at one stage assumed house-to-house
character in which civilians also took
part. The confusion inevitable under
such circumstances, heightened BY the
pitch darkness Of stormy November.
night seems to have caused some rath-
err wild use Of swords and firearms. re-
sulting in the death of u few women
and children. But the Japs indignant
~ denied that any soldiers Willingly
leveled rife or raised 4 sword against
a noncombatant civilian, still less
against woman or child. After all,
the arithmetic of casualties shows that
there was little margin for these al
legged excuses.
There seems to be little doubt that
Emperor Kwang Su has conferred on
Gen. Won IIannelen u commission such
as no foreigner ever before held in the
middle kingdom. IIannellen is said to
have been placed in such position
that he has direct access to the throne.
He is empowered to raise and equip an
army competent to defend the empire,
and to fill its upper ranks with Euro
pean officers. Rumor alleges that he
is engaged in procuring several hun
dred of his com patriots from Germany,
and that German arsenals will DC found
willing to supply all necessary war
material on credit, trusting to be re-
coupcd when peace is restored.
Viceroy Ii recently submitted to the
throne most imposing statement Of
the military bulwarks surrounding the
throne. 1t appears that his majesty.
kwang Su, rendered sOlicltous for tho
safety of his capital by the constantly
arriving reports of Japanese victories,
asked the great earl what measures
had been adopted to check the final
advance of the foe. Earl Ii replied
that they had quarter Of million
of men at the northern approach Of the
capital, fifty thousand at the eastern,
one hundred thousand at the southern,
an unstated number of thousands in
Tien-Tsin, at the headquarters of the
viceroy himself, and big Tartar army
in Pekin. In short, Lis report shows
half million of men under arms to
protect the capital. Nevertheless
Kwang Su has packed his trunks, and
is ready to fly at a moments notice.
What is known as the strong foreign
policy party in Japan commands ma
jority of votes in the lower house OF
the diet, and its members are the gov
ernment's opponents. These men stand
in way to moderate the settlement
of the quarrel between their country
and China. Their organs advocate
nothing less than the absorption OF
Manchuria, the Liau Tung Peninsula
and Formosa into the japanese en-
pire and the exaction Of heavy in
demnity from China. They talk large
ly of Japan rising to the level OF
her destiny, of her responsibility to
build some new edifice of administra-
ton on the ruins of the dynasty she is
about to pull down and to the folly OF
abandoning to western aggression the
fruits of her hardwon success. 1t IS
scarcely possible that any terms OF
peace acceptable to China will satisfy
these politicians.