The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-09-27
ACTOFAJAPANESE HERO
WONDERFUL DEED OF COURAGE
AND sELF.sAcRlFlce.
Save His Life TO Open Way For the Al
lies Into Tien-Tsin--Awiul scenes ut
the Capture OF the City - Terrible
Effects of Iyddite.


soldier who blew up the wall of the
city and blew himself up at the same
time. comes in letter from Corporal
John r. White, of the ninth United
States Infantry, written from Tlen.
Tsln on July 20, when he was acting
sergeant major of the Third Battalion.
says the Atlanta Journal.
After the awful experience of the
battle In which Colonel Liscum and
Captain Austin Davis were killed. this
regiment moved on Pekln with Gen
eral Chalfce aud participated in the
brilliant forced march through ok
trcmc heat and the subsequent storm.
Ing Of the gate and the reduction of
| the city.
His letter was written to his brother.
| Mr. Lewis White. of Atlanta, Ga. The
letter follows:
"Tien-Tsin, China July ~. 1000.
"Mr Lewis White Atlanta. Ca.
Dear Brothcr-G wrote YOU about
the 18th of May from Conception. T..
|. Since then great many things
have tranSpired that have been very
I interesting and exciting to me. My
regiment received AN order about juno
20 to proceed to China. We went 10
| Manila and from there 10 NagaSnll.
Japan. and reached China July 10.
"Ticn-Tsin is II large city. million
ana half population. II l. divided
into several parts, according to the
/ creed of the Inhabitants.
"Thc foreign population have con
| ccssion and live apart from the Chi.
namen. There are some magnificent
, buildings in this part of the city.
The main part of Tien-Tsin has II
huge wall around it, thirty feet thicl,
| and fifty feet high. This wall is built
in the form OF square. and Is about
two miles long on each side. Quite a
| wall, isn't II?
The Chinese bOmbarded the foreign
part OF the city from these walls, and
most OF the fine buildings are in ruins.
THE big battle occurred on the 18th.
and 1t did look silly to run infantry
up against those walls. but 1t was done
and at frightful cost.
"The British used their forty.tiyp.
pound Lyddite gun with terrible effect.
In fact, don't think we could have
run them out Of there without that
gun.
The laps were next to us, and they
light like demOdns and can outdrlll
any troops | ever saw. There Is not
two inches difference in the height of
any of them. They lost heavily and
stood II bravely. One of them volun.
teered to blow up a part of the wall
with gun cotton, and blow himself IN
with the wall Qt could not be done
Otherwise), and he was allowed 10 try
It, 50 that the troops could get into
the city. How he ever got to the wall
nobody knows, hut few minutes af.
ter he left an awful explosion occurred
big part of the wall was down. and
the brave little Jap went with II. How
is that for herolsm!
The Russians also lost heavily. and
they are class of men who have my
deepest sympathy. Some of them
could speak German, and as we had n
good many Germans in our regiment,
we learned great deal about them.
Their salary amounts to about thir.
ty-hve cents In our money per month,
and II was disgusting as well as pitt
ful to see soldiers or great nation
like Russia walking around picking I'm
little scraps of hardtack that we had
thrown away. We fed quite lot of
them. and II more grateful set of men
you never saw. | don't mean by this
that they had no rations oh, no! But
you should see their bread. Ii Is
cooked In large round loaves, looks like
burnt gingerbread and cannot be
broken in your hand And Just think
Of live We're the first to tell them
or the Spanlsh-American war and the
Filipino insurrection. as they were Just
from Siberia, where no newspapers
or anything to read is allowed!
I'VE went into the walled city on
the l4th, and the sights there were
sickening. Without any cXaggeration.
there must have been anywhere from
ten to fifteen thousand dead Cinnamon
all over the city. Most of the place
Is in ruins from the bombarding and
Is on fire. and thousands of bodies are
burned
The Cinnamon never touched their
| dead and wounded, and no matter
where you look 1t is nothing hut dead
| bodies In all stages of accommodation
and Il common occurrence To see Il
dog chewing on one. Ii was awful.
Horrible! We had to stay In there two
days, and | had charge Of fatigue
detail who were forcing the Chlnamen
at the point of the bayonet to bury
their dead. | had two severe vomiting
spells before | go through with that
| job.
II helped 10 pick up eleven of our
own men the day before who had lain
| on the field all night. Our regiment
| got into tight place, had TO lie there
all day and wait for night to escape,
as the instant you raised your gun
you would get the stock shot off or
the gun shot out of your hands be-
| fore you could raise yourself up to
| fire! This may sound like an Arabian
Nights story, but 1t is an honest one
and will be sworn to by most any
| American soldier here, ana there are
| plenty of guns to show for 1t that have
bullets in the stock | was right be-
I tween two men that got shot in the
rifle and the splinters from one OF
them struck me.
| f"Fhe Cinnamon are certainly dead