The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-07-21
HEROES FACING DEATH.
HOY THE JAPANESE SPIES MET
 THEIR FATE.

ExecutiOners-TheIr Dying Gift for
 the wounded Among Their Enemies. I have received from a Russian sa1l- or, recently returned from Harbin, some hitherto unpublished details of the execution of the two Japanese spies ar rested by some Cossacks as they were about to blow up a bridge on the Man churian Railroad. My informant is young man who was severely wounded during the first bombardment of Port Arthur. He ob- tained permission to go to Italy to con- yalesce from his wound. but before his departure he made short stay with some officers, relations of his at Harbin. where he arrived just as the time when the Japanese were arrested, taken in the the act, condemned, and executed.
 You were present at the execution of the two Japanese?" I asked him.
 Alas! I saw them die" answered the young sailor.
 And as looked at him with aston ishment he hastened to add:
 ''Do not take me for an anarchist. l am, on the contrary, an ardent patriot, and I eagerly longed for the war with Japan; I longed to see the Japanese ex- terminated, and desired that we might be able to dictate terms of peace to them at TolSio But. like all my com rades, on seeing those two Japanese of i, ficers die by the bullets of our soldiers, courageously sacrificing their lives for their country, could not but think their execution cruel.
 Were you present at the trial?" T saw the two spies arrested; I was present at the trial and at the execu- tlon; can give you all the details of it, for the dreadful spectacle haunts me, and cannot forget it.
 And in half an hour the wounded offi- cer, pausing only when the pain of his right knee, wounded by the bursting of a Japanese shell, and from which the splinters had not yet been removed, be- came too keen, narrated to me the fol- lowing events:
 T can give my testimony that, when the two prisoners were brought Into the little room of the Chinese fansa. erans- formed into courtroom by the Harbin council of war, both the judges and the publlrn-the later composed almost ex- clusively of officers-could not avoid manifesting openly their enthusiastic admiration for them.
 Admired by the their captors.
 And, indeed, those men were actua- ted by the most noble sentiments; they had resolved, as patriots to make use of any means to assure victory to their side, and, as soldiers. under superior orders, they went to meet certain death.
 "The trial took the ordinary course; the arguments on either side offered nothing. of interest, the prisoners hav- ing loudly, and not without patriotic pride, assumed the responsibility of the crime of which they were accused.
 "They gave their names and their ti- ties without the slightest trenor of the voice:
 Tchomo Jokoka forty four years of age, colonel of the General staff, gradu- ated with honors from the Military High School of Jeddo, said the elder of the prisoners, short, stout man, with a strong face.
 'Teisko Jokki, thirty-one years of age, captain, dIIdCHSu " tHG 1SlGl al Staff, said his companion, who was taller and sfnore slender in figure than the other, with angular features and a very dark complexion. casting slight ly disdainful glance around the court room.
 Buddhist he added, after a mo- ment's silence.
 And you, colonel, asked the presi- dent of the council; you are of the same religion as your fellow prisoner?
 No. president; I am Christian 1 And observing the astonishment pro- duced on every one by this declarations he hastened to add:
 But I am a true Japanese, born of Japanese parents. Only in my youth was captivated by the gentle teachings of Christ, and became convert to l LutherisHnisrn.' @',
 "CoI. Jokoka spoke English, and 1t I was subject of King Edward. an efi,- ploye of the Russo Chinese Bank, who translated to the court the declarations of the prisoner.
 The accused were shown the explo- l sive materials which had been found l fend themselves, or to deny in any par upon them; they did not attempt to de- l ticular the statements of the Cossacks who had arrested them. "The interpreters translated to the prisoners the military prosecutors speech, asking the punishment of death ] by hanging.
 II watched the countenances of the two men. and could not observe in them the slightest indication of fear. They remained impassiye; the painful no sign.
 l working of their minds was betrayed by
 "The counsel ot the two Japanese asked that the sentence of death should | be coInmuted to imprisonment with hard labor, the acused men having | made complete confession.
 ''The two officers remained unmoved by their counsers warm appeal; they did not utter a word.
 Since the law allowed of a lighter | punishment we all expected a commu- 1 tation of the sentence.
 "The deliberations lasted for half an hour and the court condemned the two 1 officers to the maximum penalty, the scaffold. .. -.. "Col. Jokoka and Capt. Jokki heard l their sentence with as detached an air as if it had concerned indifferent per-