Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-26
GOSSIP ABOUT THE WAR.
Former American Officer Said to Be in
the Japanese Army.

FORMER American OnCeT OAHU " DC I"
the Japanese Army.
1t is reported among acquaintance
of the officer at st. Paul that former
shining light in Iowa. Major j. X. Was
son. is now an important officer in the
Japanese army quarter of CEN
fury ago he was bright promising
youth who had graduated at the head
of his class at West Point. having
gone there from Il farm in Warren
county, Iowa.
He was liked by General Grant. who
sent him to Japan AS Il military at
tache. There he organized the
mikados engineering corps and was
military instructor at Toxic. In
Japan Major WATSON met and married
daughter of Congressman Bingham
of OHIO, who prosecuted Lincolns as
sassin. Eventually the Binghams re-
turned to America, and so highly was
Major Wasson's ability appreciated
that he was appointed paymaster in
the United States army with the rank
of major. He gambled with money
of the government, lost it, acknowl-
edged the embeZzlement. was con-
victed and sentenced to serve five years
in the penitcntiary at Fort Leaven-
worth. While there he built forts
and water works and had to do with
laying out the great soldiers home
there. After his discharge he engaged
in the insurance business in Iowa. A
fruitlesS effort was made to bring
about a reconciliation between him and
his wife and then he disappeared.
Now it is learned he is valiantly
fighting with the mikados army in
Manchuria.
1T was a matter of less than half
an hour before the Japanese held the
man ridge to the left, or west, of the
village Of Suiteanza, and the great
Ranking movement over the hills was
ready to begin, from the point gained,
about o'clock" says William Din
widdie. special correspondent in
Horper's Weekly.
at was broilng hot at this hour and
the motionless air and the glaring sun
promised to make the land q veritable
furnace before nightfall. The dirty
khaki uniforms Of the stockily built
soldiers were wringing with water, but
they marched forward briSkly and
with no display of exhaustion, though
they had been up all night and had al
ready worked three hours in swelter
of heat.
1.-THE fourteen hours march made by
that regiment Of the Guards. in the
hanking movement. would have killed
off half the men in any European or
American force long before the
japanese had finished it and We're still
keen to fight. and. Notwithstanding
this. he official report Says that the
left wing division did not do SO well as
was expected. Only salamanders
could have survived the heat and toll.
1T was q marvellous performance and
one which, at first blush. seems i'm
possible, for it necessitated travelling
beneath the crests of the mountains in
order to be screened from the enemy.
They moved ahead or mountain slopes
whose angle was often go degrees. They
toiled through thick underbrush and
ground the bases of rocky plnnacles
500 to 500 feet above the valleys. one
would have believed the feat imp"ssl-
BILE for loaded men, let alone heavily
laden rackhorses. The left wing
regiment marched six miles in this
fashion and threatened Ioshirel
iYangtszling). in the rear of the main
position. at o'clock in the afternoon.
In an article under the title. "A Diplo-
mats Recollections of Russia in the Cen
fury magazine for November. DR.. Andrew
ID. White. formerly president of Cornell
university and minister of the United
States at Berlin and St. Petersburg,
I-yl,r ,Itry
history by mis- characterization of the
present car. DR. Whites first impression
Of Nicholas H. before his accesSion) was
that Of seemingly kindly young man.
but the "easy-goinS and Off-nand man |
rer assumed by the latter when he dis
missed the subject of the famine. when |
them appalled, the American minister |
OF the cxtremties to which the peasants
of central Russia and Finland had been |
nut: OF the bread made largely of fern |
leaves (which it would sc m shame 10 !
give to horses or cattle. his Imperial
highacss the heir TO the throne. evidently |
knew nothing.
His main characteristic was an absolute |
to all persons and things |
about him. he never showed any appilca-
ton to business or spark OF ambitlcn OF
any sort He seemed to stand around list
lesSiy. speaking in guod-natureo way
to this or that person when 1t was easier
than not to do So: but. on the whole. in
different 10 all that Weul VII
After his accession to the throne one of
he hest judges in Europe. who had every
opportunity to observe him CLOSELY. said
to me: He knows nothing of his en-
p;re or Of his people; he never goes out
Of his house if he can help it,.
These characteristics. thinks DIR. White.
explain the haphazardness and the INSULT
cheney of the cars program for the peace
conference at The Hague. the rupture
with Japan over question which any
two businesslike statesmen would have
settled in forenoon. and the proceed
nes in Finland. Speaking of the cars
iea lings with Finland DR.. White SAYS:
~Thc whole thing is monstrous. 1t is both
comedy and tragedy. Finland is by far
he best developed part Of tire empire: it
stands on a higher plane than do the
,ther provinces as regards every element
If civilizations: it has steadily been the
most loyal of all the realms of the car
,ihiIism and anarchism never having
.ained the slightest foothod.''
Yet this Finland is to he reduced to the
Russian dead level. Having forced it to
i've up the constitution. the process Of