The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-03-10

happened at Wci-Hai-Wei. Said the

lieutenant.
THE fire was very heavy. The two
torpedo boats nearest mine were rid
died and sank with all OH board before
they were within striking distance.
We were hit many times, and had some
killed and wounded. But the engines
were working still. and the steering
gear was not smashed. and enough Of
us were left to attend to these things
and also to serve the torpedo tubes. so
we were very lucky. 1t was the hap
piest moment of my life when we were
still afoat within 900 yards of the big
gest and finest battleship left III the
Chinese navy. We fired two torpe-
does, just an instant before a shell
went through our boilers.
Mine was the only attacking vessel
left in action. My boat blew up and
sank before the torpedoes were much
more than out Of the tubes. I went to
the bottom and came up again, and
while was trying to swim out Of the
storm Of shells I saw the battleship
sinking like stone. One torpedo had
blown her bottom out. There were only
four of my crew of nearly thirty
found alive, but they died happy be-
cause they had helped Japan"
The immortal deed Of the Japanese
private who blew open the Tien-tsin
gate, when it was certain that he
would ha blown ,,p with # bod on oor
lier counterpart in as desperate feat
Of valor at the siege of Ping-Yang, in
the Chinese War. The Ping-Yang de-
tenders made bloody and hard held re-
sistance. The japanese troops tried
to storm the massive walls and the
stout sate again and again, but were
driven back with discouraging losses.
After one retreat from the walls,
private of infantry, named Harada,
remained behind. crouching under the
shelter Of the overhanging battlements.
The Chinese warriors within were
shouting over their triumph, when
Harada scaled the wall unseen and
dropped into the midst O.: hundred
of the defenders. Before they realized
who Harada was, he had shot three Of
them, bayoneted another, dubbed his
rifle and smashed his way to the gate.
It was the work Of moment to throw
down the great iron bar which held
the gate closed. and he flung it open for
his comrades to finish the job. Hara-
da did not rush out to join them, but
ueld the gate with his back to the wall,
until the attacking force scampered
in and took the fort with bloody sue
cess. Strange to say. they found the
lone private alive and stiH fighting, al
though badly cut and battered. He was
decorated by the Emperor, and, in ad-
dition to the. ballads made about him,
he is held up to the schoolboys of ia
pan as the kind of citizen the country
needs in her defense.
The mothers of Tapan have played
their part in the heroic annals Of their
soldier sons. When all infantry regi-
ment was marching through an inland
village on its way to the front in 1894,
a woman insisted on seeing lieuten-
ant of the company in which her son
was a private. The officer consented
with reluctance, because he feared
that she would plead that her only boy
might be allowed to stay at home. But
what she had to say and what her
heart was full Of was this:
Il have come to thank YOU for your
kindness to my son, and to ask you
to see that he does his duty we'll. I
am widow, and he is my only son,
but I have told him that when he goes
into battle he must We quite willing
and ready to die for his Emperor and
his country. I have tod him, too, that
1 shall dies of shame if he disgraces
himself as a coward
Another mother, whose son was her
sole support, was told that her son
must return to the colors when the re-
cent mobilization was ordered, in pre-
paration for war with Russia.
''rhe duty to the flag she said,
"comcs before the lesser duties to the
home. Though should die of starva-
ton, you must not hesitate. You must
think of your country not OF me"-
Golfers Weekly.