The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-26

the next day, but did not reach their
destination, and We have never had any
definite news concerning their fate. The
| Chinese authorities executed the crew
of a junk on which it is said they
sailed, but the evidence against them
was only circumstantiaI. and il is not
absolutely certain that the men who
We're executed were responsible. No
direct evidence was brought against
them. They may have been guilty OF
making away with Won Gilgenheim and
Cuverville. yet, at the same time, 1t is
possible that the officers may have
been on another junk. which may have
struck a mine; or the Japanese may
have sunk them; or they may have
been captured and murdered by pirates.
Nobody knows. Their fate is involved
in complete mystery. Not the slight
est trace of them has ever been dis
covered since they sailed from Port
Arthur. We might have met with the
same mysterious fate, but for the fact
that Miss Helene Chaffanzon, the young
daughter of the French lady with
whom ] sailed, was able to converse
freely with our boatmen in Chinese,
and could explain to them my orders
and our wishes. Miss Helene is quite
a remarkable young woman. She can
talk fluently in English. French. Rus
sian and Chinese. If Won Gilgenheim
and Cuverville had been able TO talk
with their boatnen. or if they had had
an interpreter on the junk, perhaps
their lives might have been saved. II
is possible that some misunderstanding
occurred. through their inability TO talk
TO the men. of which they were the vic
TINS.
"Junks were going back and forth all
the time" explained Lieutenant McCul-
ly, between Port Arthur and the Chi
nese coast. The Russians encouraged
them, for they brought in vegetables,
meats and newspapers. They were COM
mon,-everyday junks. such as you see
all along tie Chinese coast and on the
rivers of the interior. and were well
handled. They were not comfortable
for passengers, but people who wanted
10 get out of Port Arthur were glad to
take any kind of a boat TO accomplish
il. We had a comfortable passage, and
crossed to Shan-hai-kWan in about for
ty hours. / paid the captain 500 to
take me over We had a little excite
ment on the voyage, caused by two sus-
picious-loOking junks which we had run
afOul OF and which had fired on us.
They were evidently pirates but our
captain knew his business and his men
We're good sailors. and we escaped in
the dark
Prom Shan-hai-kwa l started for
Picking, and from there made my way
to Yladivostok via Mukden. partly by
cart and partly bv railroad. l had
Russian officer COR a travelling COM
paniOn, and we got through without
any trouble, although we were little
uneasy because OF the Chinese bandits,
who were pretty thick and very trouble
some In that locality. We saw Il
skirmish between them and a party OF
Chinese soldiers. but nothing happened
TO us and We reached LaiO-lang in time
TO see the battle-as much as could be
seen Of it-and that was only the ar
tillery fire. I was inside Of the town
at Russian headquarters. and the fight
ing was going on outside.
In Mukden During the Battle.
Il was at VladiVostok altogether
about six months. but most of that
tine was going back and forth between
the city and the Russian army. The
railroad was open 10 Mukden and il
was easy to run down by train. The
Russian authorities allowed us 10 come
and go wherever ana whenever NC
pleased, and gave us every opportuni-
" TO see what was going on. I was
In Mukden during the great battle
there. but did not see much of it. II
was impossible TO do so. The line OF
battle was eighty miles long: the coun-
try around Mukden is a dead level:
the soil is very dry and between the
dust and the smoke we could scarcely
see farther than across the street ex-
cept at rare intervals. Under such cir
cumstances il was not easy to observe
the action of the troops, but / saw plen-
" of Japanese eleven-inch shells drop
ping into the Russian trenches.
There were q number of foreign at
taches there-British. Swedish, Danish
and Argentine-and we went around to-
gether. We remained at Mukden until
the end OF the fighting. and then start
ed for home by way of the Amur river
and across Mongolia to Peking. Then
we went down to Shanghai and took a
steamer via the Suez canal TO Genoa.
From there I went to ST. PeIersburg
via Vienna, paid my respects to the
minister of marine on Sept. %, and re-
turned home via Norway and Sweden.
81 have scarcely begun on my report
said the lieutenant, in conclusion, but
am getting my notes in order. the
war has developed a great deal of in
terest in military matters. and has fur
nished many valuable lessons in STRAIT
egg. organization. ordnance and other
respects. 1t is the onIy practical gauge
we have for modern warfare and is
equally important TO army and navy
men,