The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-07-13

Ino country ABDUL iie1C - IIi0CII lint
the bare hills of Montana or ColOra-
do. It is dry and thirsty. There is
no vegetation except scanty grass, with
here and there a bit of scrub oaks. The
fighting was all in the open, and the
Notifications had to be thrown UP out
Of the rock, gravel and d1SlntegrateG
stone. The tunnels. made by theJap-
anese, were not through earth. but
through rock, and in undermining the
forts they could go but a few feet a
day. Nevertheless, while overlooking
these HIS one sees scores Of miles Of
such trenches. The work on the en-
bankments reminds you Of the great
Chinese wall, and the hundred miles
and more Of military roads which the
Russians built to reach their various
Notifications impress II with the vast
sums which they spent, all in vain.
There forts were Of concrete, reinforce
ed with iron, and they embrace a cir
Gle Of more than ten miles. They
made Port Arthur, the strongest for
tresS over beSieged.
Today all Of the forts erected for
land defense are in ruins. The Japa-
nese do not intend to repair them. and
the only work they are doing is upon
those facing the sea. They have ad-
ded to and strengthened the fortress
on Golden Hill and the Tigers Tail,
and they prohibit strangers from Wis
iting the battlefields along the coast.
AS to the other parts of Port Ar
thur one may go anywhere, provided
he leaves his camera at home. There
are scores of droschkies which were
brought in by the Russians, and a>
now owned by Chinese. These are
hauled by little Manchurian ponies,
and they will take you all over the
country at rs cents an hour or for Il
little more than 50 a day.
Mother Eartn's Face Pocknlockcd.
,ri.~ r,v Ctary I,nro T Iaxy, ;ctto
many of the battlefields and hav
tramped over the hills where the
severest fighting took place. The
grounds are scared by iron shot and
the face of old Mother Earth has been
pOckmarcked by the siege. The shells
were thrown everywhere, and some Of
them went deep into the ground. AS
soon as the fighting was over the
Chimes by the thousands swarmed over
the landscape and gathered up every
bit of lead and iron in sight. They
eve dug UP the shells. Often they
would find one which had not explod-
ed, and would innocently pound on the
cap with a pick. The result was
another big hole in the earth, and the
Acknowledged diggerS scattered over
the landscape in pieces.
Today it is difficult to find large
chunks of shells, although there are
innUmerable bits Of iron about the
IOIlS, DIS Wen as al SOTtS or TeIlCeS Oh
the japanese and Russians. There are
army>buttons, torn caps and the coats
and pieces of the barbed wire which,
charged with electricity, entangled
the soldiers as they climbed the hills
and burnt them to death. l saw rot
ting sandbags n tattered leather
coats worn by the Russians here and
there about one of the forts, and I
picked UP a pocketful Of splinters
from the shells which the Japanese
had thrown.
The Horrors Of War.
The terrors of the siege are show
by the museum in Port Arthur. The
government has collected relies from
the various battlefields and placed
them in a big building outside the old
town. They have made models Of the
forts, which show the Gev,ish ingen-
uity that both the japanese and Rus
slams used in destroying one another.
There are great coils Of the barbed
wire which was scattered ever the
hillSideS. The wire vas connected
with powerful batteries inside the for
tiications, and such soldiers as blum
dered against it in the dark we're sure
to be killed. There were twenty
kinds of hand ~grenada5, filled With nit
roglycerin. They Look like miners
lamps, but when thrown they really
lit the way to death.
The Japanese had wooden guns,
ten or twelve inches in diameter,
which they carried with them into the
trenches. Their projectileS for these
were cans of ShimOSe powder holding
from a pint to two quarts, and they
caused terrible destruction. They had
also squares of lead board which were
buried a few inches below the surface.
Attached to these were tubes or acids
so connected by wires that they eX-
ploded as the troops stepped 80
boards, throwing a whole [
into the air.
Here are also the mines which W.
used on land and sea. These are
acorn-shaped iron shells as big as a
bushel baSke which would blow up a
ship at sea Oh destroy a or
a regiment upon land.
The museum has every kind of shell,
from some as high as ones shoulder
6nu-n TO liffln follnurc tho ci1o Of nn11r