The Ordway new era., 1905-04-14

~ Nuke. III qulet corner OF
~o the province Of Kagawa. in
the compound OF u temple called Zent-
SUIT. you can find a temporary hospital.
Within 1t are men who have brought
back from Manchurla something that
carries more distinction than medals.
These men are the wounded Of the war.
Among them Is an engineer. who an
swers to the name of Kawamurn
Sakujl. He was one Of the kesshitai
(a band Of men who are determined to
die)-men who won the distinction of
having been selected to carry out
military operation, the doing of which
In NIL probability would result in their
death. One night he was chosen with
twenty others OF the kesshltai to cut
down the wire ENHANCEMENT In front OF
a Russian position. Before they could
reach their position they lost thirteen
killed and three wounded. Kawamura
was fortunate to be one OF the men
who took part In the final attempt to
break down the infringement. He
tells the story as follows:
"The kesshitai OF the company OF en-
gineers, No. 3, were under the COM
mand OF Sergeant Hosol; there We're
Miyoshl, Matanaka, Tsutsuji. Suga,
Kawada and myself, seven in all. The
night was far gone. All was silent.
We went and cut down the branches of
trees well covered with leaves. These
we stuck upon ourselves. Clothed In
the leafy boughs. we went back to the
simplicity OF primitive days. The col
Ors OF night are kindly to dark leaves.
They would shelter MS from the critical
eyes OF Russian curiosity. Search
lights were playing nervously. We
were to perform n famous feat In
crawling on all fours for many meters.
Our ambition was not exactly to at
tract attention of the Russians and
receive their applause from their quick
firers. All sorts Of fireworks seemed to
help the work of their searchlights.
We made slow progress, always on all
fours. We reached the second netting
Of barbed wire. and this we hacked
away without very much trouble. In
front of us was the final fence. We
had had happy run Of luck 30 far.
We did not wish to spoil 1t by touch
Cautiously, therefore. We went on our
stomachs to make the distance between
the second and the first barbed wire en-
tanglements. All this distance was n
surprise to us; II was covered with
many things evincive Of the skill and
thoughtfulness OF the Russian enSi-
neers. 1t was about 100 meters In
length. The ground was sloping. 1t
was filed with pitfalls and mines In
Vulnerable. For n second time these
mines made us forget the first line Of
wire fence toward which we were max
ing our way. First Of all. we had TO
dispose OF the mines. We had reason
to suspect that they were electric
mines, and. in fact. the Russian engi'
neers, with nll their thoughtfulness.
did not always take the trouble to
bury the conductors. We discovered
and cut as many as four conductors
which were Just about the size of my
thumb. They were wrapped In rub
ber coating. and within the rubber coat
ing we found over twenty-four small
wires. l carried no scissors about me,
These electric wires were Il neat sur
prise to us. The severe usage to which
It had been put had dullcd the edge of
my ax almost as blunt as the edge OF
my palm. 1t could not cut the rubber.
wrapped wires on soft earth. Time
was pressing. We We're In danger OF
being discovered before we could get
at the first line of barbed wire fence
which was the last goal OF our efforts
moreover, we were somewhat impa'
tIent. So all of us fell upon those cleo
trIc wires, and with our teeth we bii
them of. I fear we may have been
somewhat excited. We did some dam
age to our teeth by this work. When
a man tells you that he did not know
when his teeth were being broken, you
would not believe him. That mar
might be telling the truth, under. some
circumstances, however"
He laughed a laugh Innocent and
chiidlike, and in the laughter you could
see more than two broken teeth In his
mouth. Nothing else could drive home
the conviction quite 10 powerfully al
those broken teeth OF his.