Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-11-28
HARA-KIRI BY HUNDREDS ON
SINKING TRANSPORT.
Mikado's Soldiers Garry to Extremes
the Old Rule That No Soldier Will
apituIate-Japan People Note the
SeIf-Destruction With Thorough
Approval.

SO infnitesimal is the number of
prisoners taken by the Russians since
the outbreak of the present conflict in
the far orient that people here and in
Europe, ignorant of the Japanese char
acter, have assumed that the Musco-
vite troops were granting no quarter,
and have proceeded to denounce their
methods of warfare as barbarous.
This is an unjust charge. If the Rus
slams have so few prisoners-an
all of the men badly wounded
it is not that the czar's soldiers re-
frain from giving any quarter, but be-
cause the Japanese refuse to accept
it, preferring death by their own hands
to the disgrace Of surrender. For
surrender, save in certain exceptional
cases, such as that of a besieged town
or when wounded, is, according to mil
itary ethics, dishonorable.
Napoleon when he assumed the COM
mand of the army of Italy in 1896, is
issued a memorable order forbidding
any one to lay down his arms under
Pain of death. Generals, officers, and
save their lives by capitUlation should
be shot. Both he who orders surrender
and those who obey the command are
traitors alike and deserve capital pun
ishment." These doctrines are en-
bodied by most military nations, CIV
ilized as we'll as barbarous, in their
articles of war, which call for court
martials in every instance of the lay
ing down of arms, and, while among
the white races greater degree of
]axity prevails nowadays in these mat,
tiers than fifty and a hundred years
ago, yet among the Japanese the old
time principles are held in as high re-
gard as ever, and they prefer to take
their own lives rather than to allow
themselves to be captured by the
enemy.
Hara-Kiri at Port Arthur.
Prince famine of Bourbon, son OF
Don Carlos of Spain, and who is serv-
ing under the Muscovite flag in Man
churia. relates in a letter recently re-
ceived that when, after one of the at
tempts to bottle up Port Arthur, he
steamed out in a launch to rescue sew
eral Japanese who were clinging to the
rigging Of the fireships sunk in the
roadstead, the men, one after another,
blew out their brains with their revolv-
ers, or ripped open their stomachs
with their knives, throwing themselves
to be taken prisoners.
Hundreds Kill Themselves.
Moreover, in the graphic accounts
published by the London Times and
other newspapers, of the sinking of the
Japanese transport Kinshu Maru on
April % off the Corean coast by the
Vladisvostok squadron it is related
how the troops on board, several hun
dred in number, having refused to sur
render, and resisted with rifle fire an
attempt to board the ship committed
suicide while the vessels was being
torpedoed. The officers and number
of the men who belonged to the Sam
urai class destroyed themselves Us
means CT hara- kiri, that is by cuttins
their stomachs open with their swords
or knives, while the others, presum-
ably of lower order in the social
scale, either blew out their brains with
their rifles or shot one another.
This took place on deck in full view
of the Russian fleet and it was not I'M
til a third torpedo had been fired that
the sinking Of the Kinshu Maru put an
end to the extraordinary scene.
Report Disaster, Then Suicide.
Several Of the goldiers who had been
plunged into the sea by the founder
ing of the vessel before having had
time to kill themselves were dragged
on board boat on which the English
officers of the transport had sought
refuge, and as no attempt was maze
by the Russians to modest them they
reached land in safety AS soon as
possible they notified the military
authorities at Gensan of the fate of the
transport, and asked permission, now
that they had accomplished the duty
imposed upon them of supplying tnfor-
nation, to follow the example of their
comrades and to destroy themselves,
declaring that all the troops on board
when they found their ship surrounded
10y IuS nuSSIdn 1COC hoo CoAOu q
solemn pledge to kill themselves.
Incident Thrills Japan.
The story of the death of the troops
and of their officers on board the XIII
shu Maru sent thrill of admiration
throughout the entire Japanese nation,
served to give timely inspiration to
the army in the field, and was con-
strued as silent but eloquent assur-
ance that Japan could trust her honor
to the keeping Of her soldiers. 1t was
felt that they had rendered service
to their country by the national spirit
shown in the manner of their death
that death by harakari, which the
princes, great mobiles, and Samurai OF
Japan have for 800 years and more
70 dichnnnr