The Hartford republican., 1905-06-02
REMARKABLE STORY
Or the Capture of CocksComb Hill
By the Jaran-
eSe.

We have received the following
translation of an account written by
"a japanese engineer officer of the
preaching of the defenses of North
Keekwanshan (Cockscomb Hill Fort {:
at was thus the capture was an
nounced by the Official Gazette of
North Fort of Cockscomb Hill which
was the beginning of the series of
destruction and captures of impor-
tant strongholds of the Russians at
Port Arthur: On the 9th Of Octo-
ber, in the thirty-seventh year of
Meiji, part of the walls of North
Cockscomb Hill Fort was blown up
by our working party,and the infan-
try assaulted successfully and occu-
pied the fort securely by the 2Sth. >
On that day at about 1890 p. m. the
working party in the right wing of
the mine gallery came across an
opening about 10 centimeters by 10
centimeters from which issued a
strong smell of coal-tar The dis
covery was made 81 meters from the
entrance of the gallery leading in
from the sixth parallel.
After examination, We conclud-
ell that we had fallen in with the
enemy's counter-mining tunnel. We
found it necessary to locate, and if
possible remove, the explosive ma
terial set for our destruction. This
work was intrusted TO a party of six
men, volunteers from the Imperial
Engineer Battalion on the spot
Sergeant Katsugi Mitani, Corporal
Tamejiro Takahashi, First Class Pri-
Yates Tomoichi Hori, Kidzo Furu-
sawa, Toshito Kawabata and Second
Class Private Asataro Matsushita.
They understood the desperate
nature of the enterprise full well, and,
wishing to die decently, as the gen.
tleman soldiers of Japan should. they
dressed in their best and went to
heir certain death. At 100 o'clock,
exactly, the sound of a violent eXplo-
sion rent the air, and the comrades
anXiously waiting at the mouth'of
the gallery were assailed by pebbles,
shingles and debris. Mitani, Taxa
hashi and Furusawa We're pulled out
of the crater by means of the ropes
which were tied to their ankles for
this purpose. all severely wounded,
while the rest sacrificed their lives
at the altar of patriotism and duty.
''The Russians took not the slight
est notice Of it; perhaps they inn
agined that to be an impact of
japanese shell. We again inserted
a large quantity of gun-cotton un-
der the wall and exploded it. This
made hole, but not sufficiently
large for our assaulting party to
enter.
so the persistent engineers de-
termined upon the third attempt.
They shot down several of the Rus
slams who looked wonderingly out Of
the rent. The third time the explo-
sion of the gun-cotton tore hole in
the solid masonry of concrete about
one meter in height and one and one
half meters wide. Through this II
grenades were thrown in, and under
the cover of the smoke and confus-
ion party of infantry numbering
not more than half of a company
filed in and occupied the part of the
underground chamber; the other
part still remained in the possession
of the enemy. The japanese and
Russian combatants were separated
only by the thin khaki-colored wall
of sandbags between. We slowly
and steadily advanced inch by inch,
each soldier pushing in front Of him
a bag of'sand or paraffin tin filled
with shingle. The sounds of bullets
striking these parafiin tins was weird
in the extreme. The Russians
sought protection under the cover
of steel plate partitions, striving
stubbornly and yet in vain to stem
the tide of the japanese advance.
The steel plates We exploded; the
sandbags we simply pushed aside.
Thus within "a hours after the
breach the whole of North Cocks
comb Hill Fort was firmly and eff
Effectively occupied by the japanese.