The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-07-05

'tion of letter from japanese army
s1fcer to his brother, the latter being
'the valet Of Lieut.. Commander James
III. Oliver, U. S. N, L. s. ship Cul-
Goa. The Sunday News is permitted
TO print it by courtesy Of the Rev.
Hugh i. Oliver, of Pinopolis, S.
&C., brother Of Lieut.. Commander
Oliver.
Il may be recalled in this connec-
stion that Admiral Robley D. Evans
recently related that when be called
.oa the commander Of japanese ship
IL war he recognized as it's command
v.ne oa:cer Japanese who had for
,Ge-ly been employed in servants
ttosit on, on board the ship. Perhaps
rsshi:e valet of Lieut.. Commander Oliver
IS c. 3au Of similar position; at least
'.kcts indicated by the letter of his
thrsther, which is as follows
I have finished feeding the horses
s@ud repairing arms for today, so will
=S-itc and tell you Of my experiences
sg;nee the army came to Wiju.
"a the afternoon Of the 18th of
March the .4th regiment Of the I'M
Eerial Infantry Guards reached Win
zud camped in houses Of the Korean
E:eaabi tants, each house accommodate
lug subcompany,
The enemy had taken up position
~'r' the opposise bank Of the Yalu
GiTer, and were busy tightening
esseir already almost formidable
stronghold. Even at this time the
ssaund of muskets and guns were
Aeard, though they were not firing
continually yet. Some shells would
'5urst in the streets and many build
'ings we're set on fire from them. Our
.scommissariat company camped q
short distance behind us and suf-
Tered slightly from the bursting
shel!s.
Wiju is situated on the south side
.of the Yalu River. The river at this
E4his place is nearly 1000 meters wide.
*Sand bars and quite large islands di-
wide the stream into many streams,
.some of which are very deep; others
are shallow and can easily be
Gorded. The names of the two princi-
pal islands are Oseki and Kuri.
<Oseki lies directly in front of Wiju,
:and Kuri is short distance up
>stream. Khulenchang is situated
across and oppasite Wiju.
My com pany, Qst company, I'd
battalion, 4th regiment, Imperial
1aesntry Guarda,> received an order
eto capture and occupy Kuri Island on
the Goth Of March. On the night Of
che 25th We gathered together and hid
samong the mountains opposite the
ISLAND, and there waited for the moon
ITO set so that we could proceed unob-
served. Our movements were like
those of cat catching a mouse, for
we we're forbidden even to cough.
At q. N. the moon set and we
started on our way to the river. A
tsub.company Of the pioneers carried
nur iron framed boats which had been
previously prepared for this purpose.
They we're very heavy and it required
thirty men to each boat. Taking
rouoh care not to make any noise we
we came down tho beach and out on
the south shore without attracting
the attention Of the enemy.
The first stream was shallow and
we we're compelled to carry our boats.
We rested occasionally, putting our
boats down on the sand, being care
eul not to exhaust ourselves before the
zeal work and fighting commenc ced.
at last We reached the deepest stream
aud launched our boats, which could
conveniently carry Is men each. It
was almost impossible for US to move
0oiselessly now, although We did our
best to mufie the sound Of our oars.
I'VE had almost reached the middle Of
the stream before the enemy opened
are On us and then we rowed much
Caster, as it was not necessary for US
to keep quiet any longer. Their FIRE
was not effective, because Of tho
darkness, and few OF our men sus.
stained injuries.
The current was swift and two of
our boats we're carried down nearly
800 meters below the landing place
sdesignated on our charts. ahey
@honght that we were attacking with
aasge fofces and signalled to head
quarters for reinforoements. The
'dawn-was breaking as We landed, and
Segsn OUT charge upon the enemy's
stronghold.
The I'd battalion had crossed the