Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-22
BELIEVES DEATH
BEST IF HORRIBLE
REMARKABLE LETTER LEFT BY
HIGH JAPANESE, A SUICIDE
"cowards Are Those Who Dare Not
Dle"-korean Officials Arrested
for consplrsey-Russla Refuses
Pay For Keep Of Prisoners
BY Kimberley Darlington
Special Cable to The Herald.

Special Gable to The Herald.
TOXIC, July 21.-The strangeness Of
the Japanese character cannot better
be illustrated than in the remarkable
letter OF Yamada Nokuma, grandson of
Baron Yamada, who committed suicide
by throwing himself into the Aso vol
cano The letter, which was found on
the edge of the volcano, contains much
that is quaint in oriental philosophy.
Among other things the letter said:
"The strongest will is his who can
go down to a death that makes men
shudder even to hear. The towards to
be vehemently denounced are the null
titude who dare not die, be their cir
cumstances what they may.
Society is but a battlefield of sor-
row and suffering, and throughout life
fnen are as hungry demons fed on tor
turing skepticism. Alas for the infinity
of 1t ALL The tall mountain peaks
pierce the sky, the broad ocean spreads
out it's unending azure, but human life
is as the dew of morning, as the flash
of the lightning.
"It WAKES but to wane, increases but
to decline. All are plunged in dark
ness, and know not what to look for,
Mercy and benevolence are as the
floating sentiments of a dream.
why should man torment himself
with limitless. painful thoughts? Why
should he wander in the paths of con-
taminating sin?
rs it not the most blessed ending of
human life to be received into the
| bosom of pure nature and forever to
quit the dust of existence?
Thinking these things, 1 pass into
! the smoke of Aso's crater"
| More Facts
Additional facts are leaking out re-
garding the arrest of the Korean vice
minister of the interior, the vice min
lister of the imperial household, lieu
tenant general and over one hundred
others as they left the palace at Seoul.
They had with them three documents
bearing the imperial seal in vermillion
empowering them to levy troops, grant
ing them $5O,OOO from the imperial
treasury, and authorizing the inde-
pendent administration of Kanto island,
at the mouth of the Tumangang.
This discovery is taken to prove i'm
peral instigation in a conspiracy
against Japan, and APPARENTLY indicates
that the conspirators are counting on
Russian help.
The "Asahi' Is now urging that the
emperor of Korea should be brought to
Japan for safe-keeping.
| A British steamer which has just ar
rived from Tigil, Kamschatka, brings
news of eight or ten men being held
in horrible slavery at Tigil. According
to all accounts they were starved and
maltreated and kept without clothes
during the winter. remarkable story
| is also told in detail of the capture of
these men. The Russians caught them
on board fishing schooner, murdered
ten of the crew, stripped eight others
naked and drove them into the forest.
The men suffered terrible agonies from
mosquitoes, and the Japanese owner of
the vessel committed suicide
Russia Won't Settle
| The Nichi Nichi Shimbun announces
that Japan recently sent Russia de-
tailed estimates of the cost of quarter
ing the Russian war prisoners but that
Russia declined to settle on the ground
that the claims are too exorbitant. One
report has it that the Japanese bill
for the keep of the prisoners is about
SIS, 900, 900, and that after deducting all
possible Russian claims this will leave
a balance of at least S35.000,OO0
Trouble is brewing at Nagasak over
the payment of taxes. One report has
1t that the foreigners resident there
refuse to pay the income and business
taxes. The German consul is said to
have informed the German government
that it is unnecessary for them to do so.
The British firm of Holme & Ringer,
who formerly refused to pay the house
tax, now declines to pay any additional
I taxes except the national taxes. The
demand notes will soon be issued and
| attachment Is unavoidable.