The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-03-13
CAPT M'oIFFEN AT THE YALu.
In Private Letter He Relates Some Pie
turesque Incidents of the Celebrated
Fight.
from the Pittsb urg Dispatcb ,

TOlu UuC i 4ptocNIk
Capt. Philo N. McGiffen, who in n fit
of insanity the other day blew out his
brains, wrote on May 8 last year, ut the
request uf an old Pittsburg friend, his
personal recollections and experiences Of
the Yalu river fight. In all his official
reports, and in those for more preten-
tious publication, MoGiffen was modest
about himself, but to an old acquaint-
ance, or for home publication, he went
into more details. On Sunday, May B,
he wrote the following statement: 'The
Chinese government has but itself to
blame for the loss of the war with Japan.
Government officials high up in China
were IN the employ of Japan, both before
and during the war. The enemy in most
cases anticipated all our movements.
in describing the battle of Yalu river,
Comdr. McGiffen said: "The cowardice
of the Chineze officers and soldiers was
disgusting. 1t was little bit funny,
too, at that time. When the big fight
came on almost the whole outfit officers
and all, rushed for cover, issued some
orders from the deok, and finding no one
there, l started below in rage and
tripped over a leg as got down to t he
lower deck. The leg proUruded from q
small closet.
"You can't come in here; it's full al
reedy!' was screamed In Chinese ut me.
There they all weie, all my under officers
and few common seamep, crowded into
a dark closet praying at.the top of Their
vol ces. l soon choked off few prayers
and at the point of my sword sent them
up ON deck, where l MANAGED to keep a
few of them during the fracas."
With no little pride the captain opened
one. of his many large trunks and
brought forth tangled mass of cloth.
which he spread out in front Of his visi-
tor with the statement. "This is the
Uniform I wore that day.
There were pair of white duck trous-
ers. torn to shreds, the fragmentsistaineu
with blood which flowed from his
wounds. That which was once fancy
blue and gold coat was hanging in tat
ters-the only respectable portion remain
ing was one of the coat,tails. The other
tail had ragged hole in it,. Said the
captain: NJ go 4no
scars on my wrists. They both came to-
gcther. I was leaning over, pulling some
hose out of the bold, in the heat OF tue
battle, when some gracsless scamp on the
other side gave me shot. A mlssel
passed right through between my legs
and cut through my coat tail. That was
close shave, but was nothing to what
got q moment later.
!. "I..had just Strengthened up when one
If those big shells exploded within q few
feet of me and I went down unconscious,
falling right in front of ono OF our big
12.inch guns | came to moment later,
aud I just looked up and gave one GLANCE
down the mouth of that gun. and, half
dead as YVES. l began to roll ever out of
the way, for I knew they wouldn't hold
second altar they got ready. l had just
got one roll, when heaven and earth
came together-in short, the gun was dis
charged. The flash burned my mustacns
and hairsoff, and the conclusion finished
the work we'll begun Ey the shell mo
ment before. Here is all that is left Of
my uniform. / had my ears stuffed full
of cotton, but that didn't hinder it al
most making me. deaf for life. | was
thrown 20 feet by the shock, ,,and didn't
come to for three weeks, when woke up
In hospital. My head is hurt YET and
my right eye is gone, as you sea. IL
"On. the other side were four Japanese
officers who went to school with me at.
Annapolis. / don't know whether they
would have killsd me if they got me or
not | always carried swift, sure poison,
however, and would have taken 1T before
taking any chances with them. - ai /
Capt. MoGiffan leaves behind q room
full of weapons tina like of which is not
in Amerioa The collection EN- braces al
most AGO different styles. His special
pride, however, was "A Japanese inlaid
sword 200 years old, given him 10 years
ago by the emperor of Japan, and gold
handled, diamond studded sword given
him as special mark of distinction by
LII Hung Chang.