The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-30
New York Evening Post.)

1t was in the Summer Of 1863 that
according I" ~, decree of the Sho-
gun or Tyc~"n. thu hairy barbarian"
was TO u" rXncllod from Japan and
the Mort. the powerful daimio of
Cho-shin attempted to bar the pas
sage of foreign vessels through the
Sir"''' Vt ~Shimonoscki by firing on
tN"". June 25 was tho date set for
~ carrying out of that decree. and
81 that day Mori was provided with
exactly what he wanted to enable
him to carry out his part in the pro-
gram. for, during the afternoon. the
American merchant vessel Pembroke
Nagasaki and China. having on board
a pilot that had been supplied by the
feddo government; she was fired ON
by the land batteries. also by the guns
OF the armed brig Kosei, but escaped
unhurt.
Thus the peace of two centuries
and a half was broken. In April Of
that same year Commander McDoug-
al OF the United States navy. in COM
mand of the Wyoming. was in Hong
konk looking for trouble. in the
shape of Il confederate privateer; he
received orders from Mr.. Pruyn, the
United States minister in Yokohama,
to bring his ship to that port. and to
have her guns ready for service, as
the japanese were beginning to give
trouble to foreigners. Jnccndiarism
and a~ssassinatio on the part of the
"ronin' were on the increase. and, as
2 matter of fact. the United States
legation was burned very shortly aft
CT the arrival in port of the Wyom-
ing. but whether by accident or de-
sign could never he found out. On
July il Commander McDouEal heard
from his minister the news of the fir
Vr~ ~~ th~ NV
the previous month. the nows having
come up from Shanghai. and he was
glad enough that Mort had provided
an immediate substitute for an Ala
bana. Nothing dauntod ny the fact
that he was not acquainted with the
passage of the straits. and could not
obtain any chart of the place. he or
dered coal on board and procured
two pilots from the governments; then
he lost no time in sailing OUT to Shi-
Inonoseki.
The Wyoming was a sloop Of war
of 700 tons equipped with four thirty
two.pounder side guns and two
eleven-inch Dahlgren pivot guns. She
carried a crew of $50 officers and
men, all of whom seemed "ft,"' and
they composed a really good crew.
The writer was the very first to board
the Wyoming on her arrival in Yoko-
hama. carrying a message from Ad-
miral kuper. and he had many op-
portunities Of revisiting the ship dur
ing her stay in port, becoming very
intimate with most Of the officers and
forming a great liking for and mu-
tual friendship with that kindly old
gentleman and thorough sailor, Com
mander McDougal.
1t was the friendship and the in
ttmacy with the other officers that
enabled hin to get a true Of
the episode" at first hand and UNI
vanished. and from having visited
the scene Of the action. he felt al
most that ne had seen the whole
thing. The Straits of Shimonoseko
form the western gateway of the In
land sea. the actual straits being
about three miles long and from one
aud a half to two miles wide, but
the navigable channel is only from
bluff. and there is a ravine in which
the houses cluster pretty thickly; the
population was. at that period, about
$4,000 or $4,000 persons. The bat
tertes. Or. more correctly speaking.
the redoubts or platforms where the
seventy.four guns were mounted, ex.
tended from a point at the extreme
. Of the straits right up to the