The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-07-27
.MuscoVITE DISC USED As G q.
NEsE WAS ExPosEDHis @
PlGTAII COUNTERFEIT.

PlGTAIL5 COUNTERFEIT.
We all We're assembled at headquar
ters.-- The only outward token OF the
victory was thickaning of the mill
4 tary atmosphere. The bearing of The
officers was more jauntE. The clank
4 ing of spurs was a little louder and
the military strut a little more PRO
i nounced. the sentries. if possible stiff.
4 er. The japanese smile had broaden
I ed into a pronounced grin. says 4 let
z ter from Feng Wang Cheng to the
4 Chicago News
i On the whole the staff did not exag-
i gerate its victory more than STATS in
4 general are prone to do. The test had
4 been fair one. They had met the
enemy and had succeeded beyond
4 their greatest hopes. The ineficisncy
1 of the second army corps of Russia
/ might reasonably be supposed 10
mark the organization of the whole
/ Russian army. The capture of 81
| field guns Of the latest pattern and
seven machine guns was a matter of
| which TO be proud When the Brit
| ish lost eight guns in South Africa q
| cry OF "Shame." went up from the
| whole of England. Here was Japan,
new at the game, capturing % guns
from what was supposed to be the
greatest military power in the world.
The army was moving rapidly for
ward and yet there was no evidence
of confusion or hurry at headquarters.
1t is characteristic OF the Japanese
army that no officer has more to do
than he can accomplish without haste.
and therefore without disorder.
We were talking over the details OF
the fight when two japanese soldiers
came in. pushing before them two
prisoners. At the sight of this group
everybody present burst into roars of
laughter. The picture was as ludi
crous as could be- Both prisoners
with their arms rope-bound behind
them. looked like giants beside their
little captors. One of the captiyes
was a tall, lean Chinaman. Els heart
was evidently filed with fear, for he
cringed and bowed obseGuiously, while |
his little almond eyes peered about |
with terror-bred furtiveness.
The interest however, centered in
been six feet three in his bare feet;
stockings he had none. He was dress
ed in Chinese clothes and carried a
Chinese pack. From under his little !
Chinese cap hung a black pigtal. But
the face and bearing of the man
marked! him at once. He stood self
confident, erect, and looked his cap
tors in the face with a pair of quiet,
gray-blue eyes. His black pigtail
hung in homogeneous contrast to his
white skin.
1t was liidicrouS and at the same
time pathetic to look upon. He was
Z blonde of that type that unmistake-
ably speaks of the SHOWS of the north. /
No comc-opera hero ever strutted
he stage with more side-splitting eff
'ect- His bearing was us little like
hat of a celestial as was his white
ace or his upturned nose or his big,
'ound eyes. We expected him at any /,
to step forward, swell out his
hest and begin to sing with little
wager somewhat as follows:
I am a spy /,
And my trade ply
Jap and the Russian lines
After the audience had sufficiently /.
covered from the first paroxysm of d
aughter a Japanese officer began to
xplain. !,
You see, he is not a Chinamau: his
ose is long and turns up at the end; r.
is bones are big. his face Is not the 4
light color and his pigtail. | believe, +
oes not belong to him. II.
With that the officer gave a jerk
nd the offending appendage came p
way with the little Chinese cap that !.
erched on top of his blonde head The
Law stood exposed, but the exposure '
as az snperfuous as the disguise
as futile. They relaxed his arms :
al removed the pack from his back
contained two pounds Of sugar,
tile tea and tobacco.
A silence, seldom expectant, fell up S
a the onlookers- Ii the performance
adj been comic the plot was tragic.
he penalty of failure was death. a s
~ should be hanged; he may be
lot. The Slav, however. was not
aunted. He spike UP and he spoke st
Russian. We waited for an ex- Ia