The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1912-09-19
NOGI AND WIFE DEAD
JAPANESE GENERAL AND SPOUSE
END LIVES TO FOLLOW
DEAD RULER.
TRAGEDY SEEN BY HUNDREDS
Hero Of Port Arthur Falls Upon
Sword of His Fathers and Is
Quickly Followed In Suicide by
Patriotic Countess.

Toxic, Sept. 16.-Forced by cen
turies old tradition to end their lives
with the sword and driven to their
death by grief over the passing OF
their beloved emperor, Mutsuhito,
Gen. Count Marosuke Nogi, hero Of
Port Arthur, and his wife, the Coun.
tess Nogi, hurled themselves on sharp
blades in the main hall of the palace
and died by their own hands here
Friday. ..,....
General Nogi and the Countess had
attended the funeral services of Nut
suhito at the palace here, and it was
expected that they would proceed to
Aoyama with the cortege. Instead,
however, at the conclusion of the cere
mony at the palace they withdrew to
their modest home in Akasaka, sub.
urb of Toxic, and there began their
final preparations for death.
First the general wrote a letter to
his new emperor, ,Yoshihito, which
later was found beside his body. Then
he draped in mourning a portrait on
the wall of the late emperor and after
wards he and his wife dressed them
selves in full Japanese costume and
drank a farewell cup Of sake from
cups which had been presented to
them by Mutsuhito.
Darkness had fallen and General
Nogi and the Countess sat and await
ed the signal they had agreed upon to
announce their leave-taking. This was
the booming of a single gun in the
palace grounds at Toxic, which was to
let the people know that the body OF
the emperor was starting on the fu-
neral car for it's last resting place.
AS the boom of the gun resounded
through the clear still night, General
Nogi arose and, grasping in his hand
a short sword, plunged it into his
throat, while the Countess stabbed
herself through the body. A student
who resided in the Nogi home heard
the fall of the bodies and rushed into
the room. Lying upon the floor were
the hero Of Port Arthur and his wife.
Both still were breathing, but their
spasmodic gasps showed plainly that
death was near. The student hurried
for aid, but when he returned with 1t,
both the General and the Countess
were dead.
The tragedy created profound SEN
sation and expressions Of sorrow were
heard on every hand.
Those who knew General Nogi we'll
declared that his calmness in killing
himself was the kind of Etoicism he
always had displayed no matter what
crisis faced him. They instanced the
famous charge Of the Japanese up 2O3-
Meter hill, during the Russo-Japanese
war, when as commander of the Japa-
nese third army Nogi saw the Rus
slams NOV down his forces in hun.
dreds, among them two Of his own
sons and yet quietly and fearlessly
continued the battle, taking the hill
and eventually being handed the sur
render Of Lieutenant General Stoessel
at Port Arthur.
Gen. Count Nogi was the son of
Maretso Nogi, chief Of the Samurai Of
Hagi, province Of Cheshu. To him
his fathers sword had descended and
with this ancient blade he slew him
self. 1t will be buried with him and
he will receive honors scarcely less
imposing than those accorded to EN-.
peror Mutsuhito. Nogi followed prece-
dent as old as the sacred mountain
of Fujiyama, for it has always been
prompted by the spirit of "bushido"
that a man shall lay down his life
for his emperor, even If only to show
fealty to him by sacrifice.
Gen. Count Nogi was a national
hero in Japan. He captured Port Ar
thur from the Russians in 1901, and
received the proposal of surrender of
that fortress from General Stoessel.
On the outbreak of the Russo-Japan-
ese war he was put in command of
the Third army corps, and was in
personal direction of the forces which
took 203 Meter hill after terrible
losses. He commanded the First bri-
gade of infantry in the ChinoJapan-
ese war and at all times distinguished
himself by a bravery and military
skill which endeared him alike to en-
peror and people. He was probably
the most intimate friend Of Emperor
Mutsuhito, outside the royal family.
The count was sixty-three years old
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