The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1904-11-18
TRANSFORMATION THE ktIh0TE
TO An AQn1'5 SUCCESS

1t jolts and rattles along the road and
is followed by another and another
until six have passed. Then come4 q
dozen extra ammunition wagons, some
Of them with extra wheels fasten1ed
on behind, and finally large supply
wagon. This is a complete battecy.
1t is followed by five more, full reg
iment of artillery. After each thsee
batteries, IS guns, come an extra lot
of ammunition wagons and long
line of extra horses. Eighteen guns
form a battalion, and two battaltops
a regiment Occasionally one seestan
ammunition wagon painted green,
the color used by the Japanese being
gray. At first they puzzle you. but
you soon learn to know them-tAey
are wagons captured from the Rus
SLAMS.
During all the time these things
are passing, in fact, at almost every
minute Of the day, officers are push
ing their horses through the ruck.
Scramble Of Strange Vehicles.
And now comes a scramble Of Chi
on two great reconstructed wheels and
drawn by at least four animals. one
in the shafts. and three abreast
ahead, horses, donkeys, mules, cows
and steers being mixed up in a man
ner that reminds one Of the happy
family" in the menagerie. The shrill
voices Of the Chinese drivers are very
piercing and when the road becomes
blocked with couple Of hundred
carts, as it does on an average Of
every half hour all day. the noise al
most deafening, particularly as that
state Of affairs is usually a signal for
every mule and every donkey in the
caravan to raise his voice In loud
protest.
Then come a hundred or two men
dragging small two-wheeled carts be-
hind them, carts laden with coils Of
wire and long poles. They are the
field and telegraph corps. men whose
work is as important as that Of any
set of men in the army. They are not
armed, yet they take all the risk Of
any soldier, erecting their poles and
stringing their wires to the very fir
ing line itself.
The Red Gross Men.
And here come a couple of hundred
men wearing bayonets, but carrying
no guns. The red cross on their arms
tells that their mission in one Of aid
and assistance rather than destruc-
tion.- The Japanese hospital corps is
very difficult, and it really seems as
If half the soldiers one sees are
members Of the hospital corps. Be-
hind them comes a line of carts bear7
ing the tents and the great lea&her
cases Of a field hospital. They fare
also moving to the front, that they
may be near at hand when the battle
begins. IS
The infantry has long ago passed
on and only small parties of them
are now to be seen. These men. as
they march by are really worth pee
ing. There is soldierly look about
them that one only sees in seas
oned soldiers. They march with a
swing and carry their heavy packs
and guns with an ease that shows
training. You see no stragglers in
the Japanese army.
Following each battalion Of in
fantry on the march always comes a
!, line of pack mules. The first one in
variably carries two small trunks
each marked with the red cross. Fol-
lowing are three or four bearing loads
of picks and shovels and then comes
long line of them, each bearing two
boxes of rifle ammunition.
This is only a suggestion of the
seemingly endless procession that has
been passing my window night and
day for nearly three weeks Were 1
to write for a month could give you
no more than a glimpse of it. But I
have told enough to prove my state
ment that the actual fighting is by no
A, means the only interesting feature of
modern war.