The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-19
JAPGU'S WARSHIP MYSTERY
THE MIKASI on DUTY AGAIN
BUT HER STORY UNTOLD.


Vas BlONn Up N . AIutlny, Net Through
an Accidental FiFe--The SHIPS Record.
The Japanese Government has written
a. last the final chapter In as typical q stoV
Of Oriental mystery as tho world will ever
puzzle over. This 10 the announcement that
the battleahip hikasa has been raised from
the mud Of saSebo haTbor and restored to
the list Of the imperial navy.
The last chapter is typically japanese.
1t tells no more than the arst, and perhaps
there will never be more than q few hundred
olose mouthed Japanese who will know the
real story Of the sinking Of Admiral Togo's
celebrated hagahip.
The Mikasa blew up and sank at her moor
inps on September IL. 1906. That vas just
at the end Of the three days rioting In Toxic
oooabioned by the protest Of the japanese
people against the terms Of the treaty Of
Portsmouth, closing the wal.
For three days men had been cut down by
tho swords Of the gendarmes in the streets
Of the capital and the rioting had spread to
Kobe. Yokohama, Nagoya and other inn
portant japanese towns, In Kobe the
statue Of Marquis, now Prince. Ito, which
stood in q public market place. had been
dragged from its pedestal by apsangry mob
only the night before the sinking Of the
Mikasa and Sst up in deHsion in the midst
Of the loShiwara. the district Of the painted
castaVayS Of the streets.
When tho Mikasa sank the Japanese
papers throughout the whole empire pub
lished only about three paragraphs about
il, telling the bare facts Of the disaster,
the number Of men killed and the details
Of the suicide Of the Captain. That wac all,
Although tho flagship Of the victorious feet
had been Loaf and half lie complement Of
sailors had gone down with it the big dailes
Of Toxic and Osaka dismissed the matter
with the briefeSt mention, reminiscent Of
the paragraphs detailing the movements
Of troops during the campaigns against
Kuropatkn, Stoesael and Linis
II wal said that shortly afteT nightfsll,
while Admiral Togo and the Captain Of the
MikaSa were on another ship entertaining
Prince A~nsugawa, one Of the Princes OF
the blood, fire was discovered near the
powder ma Eazines Of the Mikasa, and al
though aid was hurried from nSlghboring
battleships the flames reached the maya
lines. Nearly 800 men lost their lives, the
dispatches added. When the Captain Of the
Mikasa heard OF the destruction Of his
vessel he threw himself out Of a second
story window Of a hotel in Sasebo and died
Of q broken nfok.
That was the Japanese version grudg-
inEiy printed In the newspapers. That was
the story sent out TO the world through
the carefully censored Government tele-
graph Offices, II was not until two weeks
after the sinking Of the Mikasa that there
appeared 10 the Shanghai Times a story
contradicting the Japanese version and
seeming TO bear the marks Of truth.
This account was TO the effect that a
Japanese naval officer who was a guest
OF an American at a geisha dinner In Toxic
and who felt his sake prematurely allowed
himself to narrate the real story OF the
sinking Of Togo's flagship. The riot in
In Toxic and other large cities OF
Japan had spread to the victorious feet
under Admiral Togo, he was quoted as
said,
Most Of the fighting men on the feet
believed with the indignant citizens ashore
that the war had been fought In vain and
that through the influence Of President
Roosevelt. coupled with the oleverness OF
the Russian peace ENJOYS, Japan had been
Oul VI NAV hANANNO1 - VI ~ iAoA
The sailors on the Mikasa divided
partisan groups. one supporting tbs
Government and another condemning II for
accepting humiliating terms.
The dispute between the factions finally
became 50 hot that they had a pitched
on the night Of September II. when
Admiral Togo and the Captain Of the ship
we're on duty. The noise OF the firing was
in the city Of Sasebo, and this fact
vas afterward attested 20 by some mis-
living there.
Admiral Togo and sven Prince AFisugawa
were putting of from the ship
lpon which they we're having their evenings
entertainment when n fanatical member OF
he insurgent party on the MikGs7 fired the
magazines With his " hand and sent
lalf Of the crew, friends and enemies alike,
Town to death with the hulk.
After the appearance Of this story in tho
paper the Japanese Government
anne out With a prompt denial OF tho al
eyed facts, reiteratlng briefly the circum-
formerly allowed 70 be published
n Japan. All the japanese papers repro
luced this Official statement without eG-
Vi suppio1 3n:a-y comment,
An interesting circumstance In conneo-
ion with the effort Of one newspaper COR
respondent TO ssnd out this moflcal YER
ion OF the Mikasl incident served TO con.
thos9 who heard OF il that the real
tory Of the battleship's destruction had
lot been published. There was an English
nan In TOXIC, the correspondent Of a big
london daily. who had won the displeasure
4 the Japanese Government by sending
O his paper news which he did not receive
I the oficial information bureau estab-
shed by the War Department. lmmedi-
tely after the blowing up Of the Mikasl
his Englishman realized that he was being
under %striotes: surveillance.
knowing that II would be impossible for
lin to cable from any Japanese telegraph
the facts that he had learned about
he disaster, he prepared to send his etc:1
y the purser Of an English steamer TO
In order that II might Be cabled
rom that port according to arrangements
10 had previously made and utilized in
he sehiinE out Of information which
lould not pass the c~eneor's pencil.
He wrote his story In his room al the
Hotel In Toxic and went down
0 Yokohama the night before the steamer
Ias scheduled TO sail. He was followed
0 Yokohama. Once there he jumped
nto a rickshaw and was driven to the
Palace Hotel.
Another Tto;shaw followed hard Upon
is heels. The Englishman jumped out Of
IA conveyance, hurried through tho hotel
rom the back entrance to the front and
another rtckshaw 10 the hdtobd, or
government pier. There he engaged a
sndo TO row him in a sSmpaB out to the
just as he came down the ganEpAnk Of
,e steamer after delivering his cable
lessage into the hands Of the purser, N
E forwarded from Shanghai, he met his
being ToWed at top speed out to
le ship. Somehow or other the cabe
IessaEe miscarried and the Shanghai