The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-07

| the ever-recurring earthquakes Of Dai
Nippon. as these Japanese delight tc
call their lovely islands on the borders
of the Yellow sea, there comes upper
most in the writer's memory one ex-
perience more sharply defined in sad
and Implying profile than all others.
1t happened in this wise, as the story
tellers say:
| l was Willing away an idle summer
| occurred. The first and most serious
shock, which came shortly after day
| light on the morning of Oct. %, had
! slain its thousands and left tens OF
| thousands wounded. A month later
for the vibrations continued forty-one
days and the trembling earth kept
threatening further ills 60 GOMEZ was
travelling with native physician,
who SPOKE some English, over the de-
vastated region in the track of the
storm, a district lying between Mar
goya and Gifu, in Canton Dwarf. The
only conveyanceS available for such a
journey were kargos, or sedan chairs
and jinrickishaws. We chose the
latter-it requiring three Of those
quaint articles and six runners, the odd
''rickshaw' being used for the baggage.
The first shock Of the subterranean
forces had in many places rent and
as might a shaft of lightning, the
cracks varying in width from a few
inches to several feet; so the yawning
earth had made the only highway so
perilous that many times that day we
were compelled to descend into the low
lying rice fields, which a recent flood
ing of the grain had rendered almost
impassable-at other times 1t became
necessary to run on ahead and seek
some place in the gaping chasms suf-
ficiently narrow to pull the ''rickshaws"
across. Hence one may readily believe
that the progress made was slow and
laborious. We traversed what is known
as the Tokaido. or Imperial highway,
and wherever it trailed through VIZ
lage it was half choked up with the
debris of fallen bamboo huts, matched
cottages, and now and then more pre-
tentious two-story houses; the heavy
pen-tiled roofs of the latter had fire.
quently fallen through the ground and
buried the inmates beneath
Towards nightfall we came to a
large, rambling tea house in a squalor
haunted region, which had escaped the
general wreck and was being temper
arily used in the care of the wounded.
1 large apartment, some forty feet
square, comprised the ground floor,
and a small space was readily cleared
away for US in one corner. where we
could spread our lunch on the rice
mats, and later on our bedding.
Twenty or more Japanese men and
women, wounded in the recent disaster,
were lying about the floor in different
stages Of recovery and relapse-the
most noticeable figure among them be-
ing that of a man of powerful frame
and about s. years Of age-his feverish
eyes never left US from the moment we
took possession of our space, which
CHANGED to be next to his own. The
loin-cloth usually worn by his class
had been removed and wound about his
head to stop the fiowage of blood from
a serious scalp wound. The unfortu-
nate sufferer had been lying there four
days and was terribly emaciated, pro-
per food and attendance being abso-
lutely unattainable. My companion,
thinking a slight change of position
might relieve the victim, made the at
tempt, but even while doing so a slight
culver ran over the tired frame. the
jaw dropped and the head fell back;
the doctor, thinking his patient had
tainted only, pushed back the half-open
eyelids, but the dull glaze of dissolu
ton was already filming the eyeballs.
AS soon as it became known among
the other Japanese in the room that the
man was dead they commenced jabber-
ing excitedly among themselves and
then learned the story of his life.
For twenty years he had been
bandit in the neighborhood. a robber.
pirate of the hills" is literal trans
lation of the japanese word. His
band has frequently added murder to
their other crimes and some days prior
to the earthquake this one, the leader,
is said to have killed child in the
fields during a fit of passion. The con-
stantly recurring shocks of the earth
quake had frightened the bandit out
of the hills and. like many of the viii
layers, he was fastening towards the
sanctuary of the temple when a tiy
ing timber struck him down-slain in
the very portals of the shrine-deriding
the justice Of man. he succumbed to
those mysterious forces which shake
the hard earth as they do the rolling
sea. 1 gaZed in awe on the upturned
face of the dead and thought Of the
ages of remorse that in another world
would punish the poor, misguided soul.
But these colors in the Asiatic kalei-
discope appear of the gloomiest tints.
Let US shake UP the instrument once
more, vary the combinations. take a
fresh look, and 10, the coming peace.
Even while the troubled air is full of
combat, and the flames of war still
throw their lurid glare across the yell
low sea, a messenger of concord and
cancellation is Fastening across the
wind-swept waves bearing the olive
branch of peace.
Until very recent events It has
seemed impossible for the Chinese to
realize how vain must be any attempt
to satisfy or conciliate the strident
Japanese conquerors until they had
planted their sun flags on the battle
ments of the great wall which sur
rounds the palace at Pekin. Assuredly
the great Tartar dynasty is writing
under the whistle of the whip. These
right little, tight little islands are
swinging it. The great dragon OF the
Orient, dull-skinned and foul-spotted.
sorely wounded and licking his bruised
and bleeding paws. is being driven to
his lair.
the japanese head continues with un-i
of peace probably contemplate the ces-
sion of Formosa, Port Arthur and it's
environment, the vassalage of Korea,
and whatever cash indemnity English
and Russian interests will permit Jap
anese greed to gorge itself on. A vague
dread of awakening the muttered thun-
ders of foreign artillery is now troub-
ling their diplomats with q. spirit Of
indecision, irresolution. and this new
phase of the. situation cannot but aid
Ii Hung Chang in his mission of
peace. Naturally. however much of
this is speculation; for. while but a
narrow strip Of sea divides Japan from
the Chinese coast, we foreigners
might as well, like yourselves. be half
the world away in SO far as getting