The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-21
WAITING IN RAIN
WITH JAP FORCES
Stanley Washburn Tells Of Wet
Weather at Scene of War
in the Far East.
Special Correspondence.

t.- Ill bl1C i OIL 41cSVs
Special Correspondence.
Headquarters Third Imperial Japan
ese Army, Manchuria, Thursday, Aug.
5.-Ever Since we arrived in this be-
highted village we have been dreaming
of the rainy season. When would it.
come? How long would it last and
WASH t it more or less of bluff any
way9 They say that seeing is believ-
ing. We are very penitent now and
we believe. - f.
leak a little now and then. By the
middle of July we distinctly recognized
July we began to wonder if we were in
for a second event like the one in
which Noah figured SO successfully.
For ten days the rain has been coming
down almost steadily with almost the
strength of a cloudburst. The natives
here say that not for twenty years has
there been such a heavy and almost I'M
interrupted fall Of water. One time,
q score of summers ago, it rained stead
sever days and nights, at the end of
which time the mud town was pretty
well dissolved and washed away. But
these houses are only stuck together
| with mud anyway, and the roofs are
simply mating covered over with dirt
All that is necessary for complete
Generalization, then, is an uninter-
rupted downpour. If the rain only
stopped for few hours at time, the
Chinese hustle out and repair the
cracks -, put fresh covering of earth
the next burst, to laugh at the elements.
But this steady rain undid them, and
| when the historic seven days came to
an end the town looked something like
a village of snowhouses after a chi
/ nook thaw. -.~
Mud Roofs Washed Down.
1t hasn't been quite so severe this
year, but it has surely been bad enough
Many of the roofs have been washed
down the side of the houses, which now
look as tho they had been shedding CO.
Plous mud tears all over their shirt
fronts. In the town, however, we have
not suffered so keenly, thanks to the
preparations of the Japanese. The new
| drainage bitches worked to a charm
and when the rain came the streets
were left almost as good as new, while
two torrents raced along in the bitches
at the sides, cutting channels eve1
deeper and deeper until now there are
miniature canyons on both sides of The
| streets. .;7y4.ss ~ --.. :. =
T., Where the rains have played the mis-
chief IS out the country. Around this
town are many hills and ravines. thf
whole being very similar to the bac
lands of North Dakota. The roads t.
Tlellng and Mukden lead up thru ra
vines, over the top of ridge of hills
and then down into valley beyond
and finally out onto the great Mukde1
plain. 1t may be possible for one tx
conceive of the heaviness of the down
pour from the following incident:
1t happened within five miles. Of here
last; week, Two Chinese carts, eacf
with four horses and a combined crew
of four men, left here for Telling. Al
went well until they crossed over tn
divide and had wendell their way dow1
into the little valley mentioned The1
1t began to rain and the road soon be
came the bed Of miniature river. II
fifteen minutes the river was aln1os
torrent and the great cumbersom,
carts stuck inst the. mud and the Chin es,
stopped their engines and anchored TO-
the storm to pass over; budding to
-. gether on the top of their@loads, neve
| dreaming of the fate that awaited
them.
Torrent Upsets the Wagons.
But to their dismay the rain con
tinued with increasing force, until pres
emily the water was whirling and rush
ing past, and under the carts with sucl
fury that they did not dare leap int,
the stream and strike out for the sid
where the banks slope up toward tn
hills. So they sat tight, in a grea
fever of suspense, until the water ros
to the wagon boxes, when the fore
of the current at once upset the grea
awkward things and sent them trmb
ling end over end down the river bed,
hopeless tangle of men, horses an
cargo. Men and horses were drowne
and the wagon mashed to pieces on tn
powders in the stream farther dow
, the valley.
! All the rivers have overlooked thei
banks and most of the, roads have be
come seas of mud. After the first da
or two the army transportation cart
were obliged to suspend operations an
+ finally there was little or no travelin
save for pack horses skilfullly nav
gated and steered clear of the reef
and rocks along the main roads. I hav
: heard of many Chinese carts south Q
l here that have been lost while tryin
= to ford the rivers and suppose the1
y have been many accidents of which W
: know nothing. ...... -..........
|. Chinese Poor Horsemen.
y Here at the army headquarters it h;
Y been merely disagreeable. We hay
: watched our compound getting mu
e der and muddier from day to day, bl
it is still with us. All the animals thu
= live here are still with us, too, tt
, they are sad-looking lot, owing
: the fact that the roofs of their She
tiers have dissolved and fallen ,upo
t them in the shape Of thinly dilute
| mud.
| Within stones throw of our res
r dence I saw Chinese cart get groun
! ed in the sand, and altho there WEI
t dozen soldiers and many Chiname
on the spot to advise and assist,
! was only %by great effort that one
| the horses was not drowned. | a
inclined to" think, however, that tt
) Chinese are extremely efficient in the:
. If a horse falls down they give hi
: little assistance save advice and we
), meant instruction, which seems to !
q speak harshly to him and remark di
9 paragingly upon his ancestors and i
innate that his previous lineage is of
h most compromising kind. Finally thu
r club him with long sticks and then tt
r animal, spurred by the insults al
|, jibes and enraged by the kick, som
i times gets up If he doesn It he drown
= and then the Cinnamon weep.
Waiting for News from America.
d The foregoing paragraphs give ;
:. idea Of what we have been enjoyi1
9 during the past two weeks. But nc
e a change has come upon us. The ia