Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-10-31

was then thousand yards away, when
suddenly company of japanese soldiers
was spied On a nearby hill. The gun
boat turned around and from distance
of 800 feet tried to kill the Japs with
her rapid fire machine guns. The Japs,
instead of retiring, picked off the sail
ors on the vessel A fight for ten min
utes followed, and the gunboat then de-
cided to sail away
During this contest the newspaper
men were standing on levee, and I'M
der it had been placed ton OF dyna-
mite. They started back for the hill
and entered large Chinese house which
had been looted by the troops. The
newspaper men were hungry, so they
searched for food A can of nodded raj
sins was all that could be found. Mr..
Smith was looking down on the tiool
when he saw an old Chinese geography
and picked it up as souvenir. it was
fortunate moment for him.
The house had been occupied by al
English officer, Colonel Theodore Smell
by name, who had been the instructor
to the Chinese navy. He was at that
moment with the feet in the harbor.
Mr.. Smith and his companions wen'
out of the house and sat on stone wal
to eat their raisins A quarter of a mile
away were the Chin Chen Yen and 9th
er boats, and when they saw the hungry
crowd on the stone wall the Chinamer
opened fire. Shells soon began to drop
and the war vessels We're covered witt
smoke All the newspaper men lay fia'
on the ground except one man, who
stood erect and unmoved. He had 6
camera and took pictures during the
storm of shells Mr.. Smith declares thai
the act of this photographer was one ot
the bravest deeds he ever saw.
Later the party started back for the
city, but one of the gunboats, discern
ing their intention, attempted to heat
them off This compelled the CORE
spondents to seek shelter until the dan
ger had passed. While dozen or more
shells were whist]ing over their heads
and bullets were dropping on all side:
the newspaper men felt that it was {
good time to keep quiet. Pretty soor
the thing became monotonous. and Mr.
Smith began to be restless. He hap
pened to think of his geography and al
an amusement decided to take the vol
ume out of his pocket and look over it,
pages. AS he did SO piece of paper fel
out and fiuttered on the ground. HI
had enough curiosity to pick up thu
fallen paper. Upon examination i
proved to be most valuable document
1t was the official map of the city and
harbor of Wei-Hai-Wei. 1t had beel
drawn by Colonel Smell and was hi
personal property. All the importan
fortifcations around the city, the loca
ton of the different guns and the posi-
ton of the distractions in the waite
were clearly shown. As soo:l as the Chi
nese boat got tired of firing her gun
she steamed away.
Mr. Smith, realizing the importanc,
of his discovery. hurried at once will
the other newspaper men and sool
reached tho Japanese lines. He thel
went to the army headquarters and in
formed the authorities of his find, Il
handing in the map he requested tha
it should be returned to him after use.
That same evening the map was for
warded to the commander of the Japa
nese blockading squadron. He was tn
famous Admiral Ito and decided t
make use of his latest information. FL
realized that he held the key to the sit
uation and only waited for the COMM
of daylight to put his newly forme
plans into execution. When the mex
morning arrived, Admiral Ito sent hi