Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-01-04
a JAPANESE HERO.
One Example of the Spirit that Is
Actuating the Soldiers of Japan.

ACtudt1n& the soldiers OF Japan.
Sanko Takano, sergeant7major, spe-
cial duty, belongs to the Second Com
pany, Second Cavalry Regiment Sec
ond Division. On a dark night in ear
ly April, soon after his regiment had
reached the Yalu River, he and Lance
Corporal Shinobu Watanabe were sent
out with a third man to ascertain the
width and depth Of the main stream
Of the river where it flows between
two large islands opposite Wiju. They
crossed the first channel in a boat
which the sergeant-major and the cor
poral left on the first island in charge
of the third man. Then the two work
ed across the island to the main
stream. The Russians occupied a lit
tie village on the opposite side, direct.
ly across from the place where Taxa
no and Watanabe struck the river.
Takano saw that it would be very diff
flcult to get across without attracting
their attention. Ice was running in
the river, and the water was bitterly
NOAU' AdAduO tnOuSnL ludI IL uG IIlGQ
to swim he would surely arouse the
Russians. So he determined to walk
across on the bottom of the river, ris-
ing occasionally for breath! They had
coil of light rope with them. Ia
kano took off his uniform and fastened
one end of the line to his body. Then
he picked up a stone to help him keep
on the bottom, and waded in, leaving
the lance corporal to hold the rope by
which he was to be dragged back
whenever he gave a signal Of two
sharp pulls.
Pounded by the ice and chilled to
the marrow by the cold water, Takano
struggled on. The water rose over
his head, but the heavy stone he car
ried enabled him to keep on the bot
tom. Now he could walk a little fas-
ter, for he was free from the battering
ice; but as he neared the center of the
stream the current grew swifter and
sWifter, until, if it had not been for
the stone he carried, it would have
swept him down. He grew numb from
the cold and it took all his strength,
stout swimmer as he was, to rise to
the surface and stay there long enough
to breathe. Yet he dared not drop the
weight, for he knew he could not get
down to the bottom again. So he
worked, with Watanabe paying out
the rope, until he felt the bottom ris-
ing and knew he was beyond the mid
die of the stream. Almost senseless,
Takano stumbled along, striving to
reach the opposite bank. But not even
Japanese nature could stand such a
test, and Watanebe, waiting on the
bank, felt the long, steady pull On the
consciousness. With all his might the
corporal hauled in the line and sooL
had the unconscious sergeant-major
out Of the water.
A brisk rubbing and the contents of
his flask finally revived Takano, who
got into his warm, dry uniform again
and started back with the corporal
across the island. But when they
reached the place where they had left
the boat, it was gone. The third man,
concluding that they had been cap
tured by the Russians, had started
back. There was nothing for it but
to swim, SO in the two men plunged.
The floating ice hammered them and
the cold water numbed them, so that
they could not make Roadway against
the current and were carried down
stream. But fortune had not deserted
them, and they drifted against the
boat in which their comrade was try
ing to scull back to shore. He, too,
had been swept down stream by the
swift water and the ice which hinder
ed his sculling. He hauled them in,
and soon they were landed on the
Wiju side, to be commended by their
captain for showing the real spirit of
Yamato notwithstanding.