The Portland daily press., 1895-04-30
LIT. BEACON AT WEI.HAI.WEI.
He Tells of the Great Artillery Duel
In the East.

In the East.
Lieut.. Beacon was With Field Marshal
Ogama on Behalf of the War Depart
ment-Was Present During the Great
Engagement of Feb. 10, and Saw the
Negotiations Were Conducted and
Events Leading to the Suicide of Adj
miraI Ting-The Evacuation of Linz
Kung-Tan,
Lieut.. John H. Beacon, Third Infantry
United States Army, has returned from
Japan. where he has been in the interest
lions of the second japanese army.
which has been operating on the Shan
tung peninsular under the command of
Field Marshal Count Oyama, who shared
the honors of conquering Wei-HaiWei
with Admiral Ito. Lieut.. Beacon was
present during the Smelling of the Chin
ese boats.
Lieut.. Beacon went to Japan indepep-
IDENTIFY and for the purpose of seeing
something of the war on his own account,
but, on his arrival at Yokahoma he was
directed by the war department to go to
the scene of operations ON the Shantung
peninsula and to attach himself to the
headquarters of the japanese army on
behalf of the American government. He
is therefore somewhat circumspect in
n hnnt his orio ha
will have to make a report to the war de-
partment. When a Pioneer Press re-
porter saw him yesterday afternoon at
Fort Smelling, where he has returned to
duty, the lieutenant was quite willing
to talk about the China-Japan war and
say what he saw, but begged to he ex-
cused from expressing opinions.
Il can go this far though" said Lieut..
Beacon. II will say that the Japanese
army is thoroughly equipped and
soldier-like force and that the men and
officers both, seem to know what their
duty is and to do it without hesitating.
And I might add that if there is an I'M
preston abroad that the Japanese owe
any of their victories to the presence in
command of foreign officers, it should be
dissipated, for the army is Offered
wholly by natives, and SO far as l could
see, they are quite equal to any foreign
off GERS that might be employed"
Lieut.. Beacon left Yokohama Jan. %
ana proceeded to Toxic. He said "The
capital rather surprised me-, Its city OF
magnificent distances and really a fine
place and yet it is essentially Japanese.
That is great advantage that the
Japanese have over the Chinese; they
adapt rather than initiate. They have,
no doubt. borrowed much from the
civilization of the Occident, but they
have made it all look Japanese. They
are clever people.
ain Toxic l completed my arrange
at once for Hiroshima, a military depot
of some proportions. The trip is made
by rail and should imagine the dis
tance TO be something between three and
four hundred miles, though I have no
maps at hand. The railroad is narrow
gauge affair and the time made is not
fast-it took thirty hours to cover the
distance. The country traversed is that
common to Japan, being all of volcanic
origin and very broken. 1t is of course
cultivated to the last degree, it being
necessary that every available foot OF
earth should be made to produce some
thing to support the immense popula-
ton. The railroad is manned entirely by
natives and the cars are built more on
the German system than the American
there are three classes of travellers, each
paying one-Jhird less for transportation
than the other.
OFF FOR THE SEAT OF WAR.
"At Hiroshima took ship aboard the
japanese transport Nogaya-Maru and
was landed with some troops on the
eastern extremity of the Shantung penin-
sula. Here was given an escort in the
person of Japanese army and feet at
Wei-Hai-Wei. II was only thirty miles
from the point at which we were landed,
but there were absolutely no roads, and
the greatest difficulty was had in trans
porting amunitions of war by land. AS
evidence of this I may say now that
there were about 20, 900 men in the Sec
ond army at Wei-Hai Wei and more than
twice that number of coolies used in the
transportation of supplies and camp
equipage.
AT Wei-Hai-Wei / met and presented
my credentials to Field Marshal Oyama.
He is a bright, sharp man, distinctly a
japanese and yet every inch the soldier
that one might expect to lind in AL
officer of his renown. On my arrival the
Japanese were in control of what were
known as the land forts. 1 might ex-
plain that the harbor of Wei HaiWei is
crescent shaped-the land forts taking the
shape of bow and the misunderstanding
tau-forming the string of the bow. AT
either end of the island there is chan
mel opening into the harbor. The land
forces under Count Oyama had dislodged
the Chinese from the land forts, but the
island, commanding both entrances to
the harbor, was in the possession of the
Chinese, and they were strongly in
trenched.
"The land forts were equipped with
the finest make of heavy guns-fve to
ten-inch rifles-and these the Chinese
had not been able, or had not tried to
destroy. In any event they were availa-
BILE. and Oyama used them with telling
effect. In the harbor between the forts
held by the Japanese and those held by
the Chinese lay the Chinese feet. Out
side the island, Liu-kuntgt-au, lay the
Japanese feet uader the command of
Admiral Ito. And / may say that in
the artillery duel which resulted IN the
capture Of the Chinese forts the Japan
csc naval force could do very little effec-
tual work, as may be seen from the posi-
tions Of the ships.
FIGHTING WITH BIG GUNS.