Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1912-09-18
GENERAL NOCI
and COUNTESS
Commit Suicide as Tribute to
Dead Mikado
FOLLOW JAPANESE CUSTOM

Japan'e Hero Who won Victory OF
Port Arthur Drank Ceremonial
Farewell Cup of Sake In Gift of Emu
peror-Die as Funeral Gun Booms
signa' of Passing Cortese-Lost
Two Sons In War
Toxic, Sept. 15.-General (Count)
Nogi, the hero of the Russo-Japanese
war, who commanded the Third Army
and captured Port Arthur after a siege
OF months, committed suicide here.
The tragedy is the result of a sui
eide pact, caused by their grief over
the death of the mikado, under whom
Nogi had led the Japanese forces to
victory on the field of battle.
General Nogi was one of the closest
friends Of the departed emperor. 1t
is undOubted that the double suicide
was in accordance with the Shinto
belief that it is Just and holy" to die
in memory Of friend who was passed
into the Great Beyond.
The general was GO years of age,
and his wife was about three years
younger.
The suicide of Nogi and his wife by
the famous method Of hari kari, the
manner of self-destruction introduced
by the Samurai, was concealed for
several hours, and even then all the
details were not made known.
The taking off by their own hands of
the famous general and his wife was
as dramatic as it was sad. The gen.
eral cut his throat with a short sword
and the countess committed hari kari.
Following the Sumurai custom the
couple had carefully prepared their
plans for killing themselves and timed
them so that they would be coinci
dent with the departure forever from
Toxic of the dead emperor.
General NOgi and the countess had
attended the funeral services Of Mutt
suhito at the palace and it was ex-
pected that they would proceed to
Aoyama with the cortege.
Instead, however, at the conclusion
OF the ceremony at the palace they
withdrew to their modest home in
Akasaka, a suburb of Toxic, and
there began their final preparations
for death.
First the general wrote a letter to
his new emperor, Yoshito, which
later was found beside his body.
Then he draped in mourning a
portrait on the wall of the late en-
perOr, and afterward he and his wife
dressed themselves in full Japanese
costume and drank a farewell cup of
sake from cups which had been pre-
scented to the general by Mutsuhito.
AS the boom Of the signal gun re-
sounded through the clear, still night
informing Japan that the imperial
funeral car bearing the royal dead
had started for it's last resting place,
General Nogi grasping tightly in his
hand short sword, plunged it into
his throat, while the countess stabbed
herself through the stomach.
Washington, Sept. 15.-Viscount
Chinda, Japanese ambassador here,
was !nexpressibly shocked and grieve6
at the tragic death Of General Nogi
and his wife.
The ambassador recalled the fact
that in the days of feudal Japan, when
the lord of the manor died, it was
by no means uncommon practice for
his close dependents and friends to
commit suicide, in order that the
spirit of the deceased should not make
the last Journey alone.
recent years, and in the new ia
| pan, this custom had been generally
| abandoned, so that it is now of very
rare occurrence. The fact that Gen.
eral Nogi and his wife lost their two
| sons during the Russo-Japanese war
leaving them practically without fam
lily ties, had centred their affections
and devotion upon the late Emperor
Mutsuhito, and it was doubtless the
case that upon his death the mind OF
the old warrior succumbed to the
strain.