The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-11-01
ECHOES FROM THE WAR
Terrible Destruction Wrought
by Japanese Shells.
POLES AND RUSSIANS IN A FIGHT

Strange Experience of Detachment
Of Mikado's Troops-Italinn Corre-
spondent says American Flag II
Raised In Japan When Victory IL
Announced-How Jnps Write Home.
A wal correspondent of the New
York Globe at Tientsin describes the
horrible devastation produced by the
Shimose explosive with which the Jap
anese shells are charged as follows:
ut is to lyddite, melenite and pieric
acid what these high explosives were
to black gunpowder. The shells, hard
as adamant, yet tough as hoop iron,
are each shattered into thousands Of
ragged splinters, which fly in every
direction at an enormous velocity.
One Of the foreign military attaches
with the Russians, a man who has
seen much fighting, states that he has
never witnessed anything so cruel and
destructive as these shells. At Telessu,
where the Russians We're driven in on
their position and the shell fire began
on the massed troops, the sight then
was So horrible and sickening that this
military attache was unnerved and
asked for and obtained leave of alb
! sence rather than witness such butch
cry, mutilation and humiliation a Sec
ond time"
y-%%D,, NJ o,,ro,,t re Nor1nc nf tho
leading writer's of that country, who
has been the guest of the Italian soci-
ETY. in st. Louis, spent some months in
Japan and Manchuria as a war CORE
spondent. He recently related some of
his experiences as follows. says the
st. Louis Republic:
Zone of the most significant things
that came under my attention while
with the Japanese column was the
strange experience of a detachment Of
Japanese troops that captured a Rus
sian body after a sharp fight. When
the little Japanese soldiers came up to
take their prisoners they found them
fighting viciously with each other, and
it took Il fierce effort on the part of b
Japanese to separate the combatants.
"It then developed that a number of
the prisoners were Poles, who had
been drafted into the Russian army,
and that they were having a hand to
hand, bayonet to bayonet conflict with
the Russian soldiers. The Poles be-
came willing prisoners, but the Japa-
nese had to separate them, putting the
Russians on n side, and the Poles on
the other. 1t was the first time that
the Poles had been able to speak in
their own language since they We're
drafted into the Russian service. They
sang their own songs and were per-
fectly happy. This incident goes to
show how the Russian army and Soy
eminent are honeycombed by internal
discord, which is more disastrous to
the Russian cause than the Japanese
army. Thousands OF Russia's sub
jects hope and pray for her defeat.
another significant fact that not
ed while still on the island of Japan
was that whenever news of a Japa-
nese victory was bulletined the people
first raised their own flag of white,
with the bloodred spot in the center,
and then they raised the stars and
stripes of the United States. l con-
slider this remarkable in view of the
fact that there has been no official
leaning in the United States toward
the Japanese cause"
The Japanese government has found
a novel and excellent use for post
cards. says the Manchester Guardian.
Realizing that, for various reasons,
the soldier on campaign may not have
leisure or opportunity to write home to
his family. the military authorities
have supplied to each army a sufficient
number of postcards, ready printed, to
which the soldier has only to afix his
name or. more exactly, his seal, each
Japanese soldier carrying one with
him as part of his outfit. On all the
cards the anne message is printed:
"This is to let you know that I am
alive and well. l cannot give you my
address. not knowing where shall be
tomorrow. but your letters will reach
me some time or other if you reply to
the place the name Of which is printed
in the postmark. Greetings to my fam.
lily and friends" This is an idea which
might we'll be copied by other nations
At once practical and humane, it would
49, y.1Lr- -