Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-10-31
ACTOF HERO
WONDERFUL. DEED OF COURAGE
AND SELF-SAcRlFlcE.

Gave His Life to Open n Way For the Al
lies Into Ticn-Tsin-Awlul Scenes at
tho Capture of the City Terrible
Effects of Lyddite.
The most realistic description of the
horrors attending the battle of Tien-
Tsin, and the only account so far pub
lished of the heroism of the japanese
soldier who blew up the wall of the
city and blew himself up at the same
time, comes in u letter from Corporal
John L. White, of the Ninth United
States Infantry, written from Tien-
Tsin on July 90 when he was acting
sergcant-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 Pekin with Gen
eral Chaffee and participated in the
brilliant forced march through ex-
treme 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 co. 1000.
"Mr. Lewis White, Atlanta, Ga:
Dear Brother-I wrote you about
the 18th Of May from Conception, P.
1. Since then great many things
have transpired that have been very
interesting and exciting to me. My
regiment received an order about June
20 to proceed to China. We went to
Manila and from there to Nagasaki,
Japan, and reached China July 10.
'Tien-Tsin is q large city, million
and n half population. 1t is divided
into several parts, according to the
creed Of the inhabitants.
''The foreign population have a con-
cession and live apart from the Chi
namen. There are some magnificent
buildings in this part of the city.
'The main part Of Tlen-Tsin has a
huge wall around it, thirty feet thick
and fifty feet high. This wall is built
In the form of n square, and is about
two miles long on each side. Quite q
wall, isn't it? $50 ''s' '-'5 49,. ..--,s..---s'
''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 13th
and it did look silly to run infantry
up against those walls, but it was done
and at frightful cost.
''The British used their forty-five-
pound Lyddite gun with terrible effect.
In fact, l don't think we could have
run them out of there without that
gun.
THE Japs We're next to us, and they
fight like demodns and can outdrill
any troops | ever saw. There is not
two inches difference in the height of
any Of them. They lost heavily and
stood it brayely. One of them volun-
teered to blow up part of the wall
with gun cotton, and blow himself uD
with the wall Gt could not be done
otherwlse), and he was allowed to try
it, so that the troops could get into
the city. How he ever got to the wall
nobody knows, but a few minutes af-
ter he left an awful explosion occurred,
big part of the wall was down, and
the brave little Jap went with it. How
Is that for heroism?
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 a
good many Germans in our regiment,
we learned great deal about them.
Their salary amounts to about thir-
ty-fve cents in our money per month,
and 1t was disgusting as well as pitt
full to see soldiers of n great nation
like Russia walking around picking up
little scraps OF hardtack that we had
thrown away. We fed quite lot of
them, and more grateful set of men
you never saw. 1 don't mean by this
that they had no rations. Oh, no! But
you should see their bread. 1t is
cooked in large round loaves, looks like
burnt gingerbread and cannot be
broken in your hand. And Just think
of tive We're the first to tell them
of the Spanish-American war and the
Filipino insurrecuon, as they Were just
tioLi piDtIld. NDeFe 10 npWEDlDprS
or anything to read is allowed,
I'VE went into the walled c.,y or
the 18th, and the sights then were
sickening. Without any exaggrrGtion,
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 it is nothing but dead
bodies in all stages of decomposition,
and a common occurrence to see a
dog chewing on one. 1t was awful.
Horrible! We had to stay in there two
days, and l had charge of a fatigue
detail who were forcing the Cinnamon
at the point OF the bayonet to bury
their dead. 1 had two severe vomiting
spells before 1 so through with that
job.
hal 30 Toll