The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-07-29
OF RUSSIANS
Contempt Of Cars Soldiers For
the Japanese.
DERIsIvELY NIOKNAMED"MAKAK1

NIOKNAMED"M AKAKT'
Too Small to Make q Good Target, .
Cossack Wrote to His B~rother-An.
other Calls Mikado's Men Ugly, |
with skins Like Leather-Plcnsant
Trip Across Siberia.
The Russian papers. meagerly sup
piled as they are with war news. have
one source of information not possessed
by the English journals-that is. he
letters from the cars Tommy At
kinses which they continually pub
lish, says the London Sphere. Ivan
I%vanovitch. as he is called, is not a
good correspondent.
The first thing that strikes the reader
of the letters published in the Russian
papers is VANS northumberland I'M
founded-contempt for his enemies.
The "Makaki," as the japanese are de-
risively nicknamed, are generally rep
resented as understood dwarfs who
~ w AAA A~AA ~VOV
set of the burly Muscovites.
An Ivan named Maikishef. writ
ing from the Yalu, thus describes his
enemies to his mother in Tambof: Il
will tell you about the 'Makaki.' We
see lots Of them, prisoners, and they
all 20 on to Tomsk. They are ugly
and have skins like leather inc are
frightfully afraid Of our men. One OF
them was a Pravoslavni (Orthodox
Christian), and our men gave him an
ikon and asked what. he meant by
fighting for the heather, but he could
not understand. The Japs have no Ian
guage, but speak like Germans"
OF the few letters which have SO far
appeared from soldiers who have taken
part in the fighting the following is
one of the most interesting. 1t was
written by a Cossack in Miscellaneous
force to his brother:
Statutes to you and Agafa. You
have all heard about u fighting here.
/ Our captain. Levashin, with twenty of
our men crossed the river to reconnoi-
ter 'Makaki' under their general, Ku-
ruse O.. We came upon them IN hour
after crossing the river, seven of their
cavalry on a slope, with a little man
no bigger than a goat at the head.
They fired at us, hitting one Of our led
horses, and then made off. we after
them. When we had covered about a
mile we saw about thirty of them
away on our left, but they did not see
us. Soon after they divided into two
parties, and we rode round by a hill
and shot three of them. We heard one
of them screaming as he fell. When
we got over the brow Of the hill we
saw a whole crowd Of them, with two
mountain guns, 81 we retired.
1.-THE Japs climbed the hill and then
lay down and fired a volley at us with,
out hitting anything. We could see
their yellow faces plainly. On the way
back to the river we had some excite
ment. We came across another party
and chased them for two versts. Al
last they got away, but n man coulo
not get his horse across a gully. He
got down and tried to drag his horse
over, but the horse fell, and lie coulc
not get it up. He then ran on foot, bu'
one of u men named Mirkof from
Bogoroditsa ran after him and spitte6
him through the side.
1--WE thought he was dead, but whe1
the lance came out of him he turned
and, putting his rife right into Mir
koff's face, shot him through the head
The other Japs got away. Next da!
- -z.,1~~1 <hn e. n ~ rrOr1nA hI1f SOW
not a single Jap. We shall spit a goot
many before we have done. The diff
Guilty Is to hit them, they are go small
Judged by most of he letters tn
journey across Siberia Is by no mean
the inferno it has been depicted. 4
letter from q private in the Samar'
regiment gives a rosy account of tn
passage:
I'VE had q, first rate time in tn
train, and you may tell Matvei VIVA
he missed. Any amount to eat an
nothing to do except walk up and dow
at the stations. The only things "
want are matches and books. We wei
kept two days on Lake Baikal. as tn
: ice had a crack ten versts long In !
ana our uleN were SCI " IeAAovA"e -
: rails on to the safe ice.
. 1--WE played cards in the train all tn
way from the lake to Chita, and Ma
kof played tunes to us on h balala
ka "a sort of lute), SO it was just lik
home, only no cows to look after. Som
, Of our men got sick from being to
long in the train and were left behin'
, 1t is not much colder here than in Ru
STA. We are not going to japan att
all, at any rate at present, as the M
kaki' have attacked Port Arthur, an
we shall be sent OF there"
London Society Fad.
. One of the tomfool fads of Londo
inst now is naming ones gown, Il