The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-03-06
THE AOMORI
DISASTER


in the search work now number lbs
, exclusive OF those from the artiller!
corps. To the above number 1O1 were
, added from the infantry corps today.
An official report says that the Off
GERS and men who have been rescued
so far number Il Including those who
died afterwards); those whose remain:
have been recovered and identified so;
those discovered dead but not identified
80; and those who are still missing SO
PARTICULARS OF THE DISASTER
Captain Kuraishi has made a YER
bal report in connection with the dis
aster TO Colonel Tsugawa. commander
of the Fifth Regiment, and we give il
below in substance:
I'VE Captain Kuraishi says) bivou-
/ acked in a wood on the night OF the
23rd ult. and we barely managed to
| withstand the cold by making fires
with the charcoal which we had with
us. After about nine o'clock the
snowstorm became so furious that each
company was obliged to take shelter
in hole over six feet deep which the
soldiers had dug in the snow. Mean
while the men in charge of the COM
missariat tried to boil rice but to their
great vexation they found that even
I when they had removed the snow to
| the depth of about six feet they could
not still reach the surface of the
ground. They somehow or other man
/ aged. nevertheless. to cook the rice but
/ they were only able To produce pasty
kind of food. The soldiers. however
could hardly have enough even of that
1 (the captain) distributed the rice
cakes which l had with me among the
men under me but the cakes had
turned into blocks of ice! Moreover, 1
portiOned out some quantity of sake
which 1 also had about me and gave
i. To the soldiers but none of them
dared To take a drink fearing the cold
they might suffer from afterwards.
on the following morning at about
three o'clock we resumed our march.
The storm was still raging and the
binding flakes of snow flew so fast that
we could not see an inch before us.
Icicles hung from our mouStacheS, eye
brows and eyelids and our eyes were
almost frozen fast.
''AI this while the soldiers dragged
themselves along, their rifles siung on
their backs and their hands folded under
their arms. shivering and tottering.
As the hours went by every one of the
party became stiffened with cold and
unable even to take care OF himself
especially Lieutenant Nakano, thus
showing the terrible nature of the great
trial we were going through. Still we
moved bravely onward each supporting
the other. We tried to keep up our
spirits by singing some lively war
song. Gradually. however. some of us
became benumbed to unconsciousness
during the march and we tried our
best To drag these along with us. Thus
we braved the terrible weather with !
wonderful fortitude till about o'clock
I'm the afternoon when the fatigue of
the march began TO tell greatly on all
OF us. and so we were obliged to leave. |
though reluctantly. those who had fall |
en- behind us. At the close of the day |
we found that we had lost One-fourth !
OF the whole party.
on the e5th at about 5 in the morn !
ing We resumed our march, but having
lost our way we again returned To the |
spot where we had encamped the night !
before. The disappointment we felt at
this doubly increased our fatigue and /
about thirty OF us died. Major Yama-
guchi our commander. fell unconscious
at about a. m, and IL was with diff
Guilty that we reHored him TO con-
or cohrse. we could get !
no fuel thereabOuts wherewith to make
a fire. and we collected n few KNAPP
sacks carried by the dead soldiers and
burnt them. This was the fire which
warmed our commander again TO life.
But alas, the Major fell unconscious
again on the following day but we
could not make any further delay.
Leaving a number OF men with the n
S..r.-
directions in the hope of finding our
way home. Wei and my men-were
passing near Sainokawara on the 9th
to meet the other parties when we
came across those OF Capt. Kannari.
Lieut.. Nakano. Sub. Lieut.. Suzuki and
Imaizumi. We had con-
ference among ourselves and as re- II
suit Of IL Capt. Kannaris party pro-
ceeded To the elevated part of the
place TO search for our comrades and
ours TO lower part for the same pur-
pose. Just before our departure Major
YamaEuchi. who must have recovered
from the Inconsistencies of the pre-
ceding day. came up to us followed by
one private. Thus joined by our COM
mander we made our way down the
slope on the side Of the
KOmagome river. Here Lieut.. Nakano
was frozen to death while Sub-Lieut.
ImaiZumi and one non-commissioned
officer were lost in the valley below.
Early on the morning of the 2Sth we
attempted to go EDWARDS only to be
prevented by the Komagome river. We
were thus obliged To get back to our
former position. Now we were all de-
termined 20 meet our fate bravely and
I took shelter in a recess under an oV-
rock. As for Major Yama-
guchi, he remained in a position near
est To the river and as my place Of
refuge was thought To be better pro-
tected than the commanders. l offer
ed it 10 him. But his resolution was
firm. and he would not accept my Of
fer. on the 29th We We're joined
by Lieut.. Ito and one man and on the
50th by Privates Ohara and Goto. We
took nmr turn attending n11r cnrr,r,nn nd