The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-14
Count Nogi Plunges Short Sword Into His
 Throat
IN ACCORDANCE WITH
 JAPANESE CUSTOM
Is Final Tribute to Their Departed Emperor and Friend, Mutsuhito. Tragedy Creates Profound
 Sensation in Tokio

Tokio, September 13.-General Count Nogi, supreme military councillor of the Emperor. and his wife the Countess Nogi, committed suicide tonight in ac- cordance with the ancient Japanese custom a final tribute to their de- parted Emperor and friend. Mutsu- hito.
 The death by their own hands of the famous general and his wife was as dramatic as it was sad.
 The general cut his throat with a short sword and the countess com mitted hari-kari.
 Following the Samurai custom, the couple had carefully prepared their plans for killing themselves and timed them so that they would be coincident with the departure forever from Tokio of the dead Emperor.
 Attend Funeral Services General Nogi and the countess had attended the funeral services of Nut suhito at the palace here today and 1t was expected that they would pro- eeed to Asyama tonight with the eere- monies.
 Instead, however, a the conclusion of the ceremony at the palace. they withdrew to their modest home in AkasalSa and there began their final preparation for death
 First the general wrote a letter to his new Emperor Yoshihlto, which later was found beside his body. Then he draped in mourning a portrait of the late Emperor. which hung on the wall, and afterward he and his wife dressed themselves in full Japanese costume and drank a farewell cup of sake from cups which had been presented to the general by Mutsuhito.
 Darkness had fallen and General Nogi and the countess sat and awaited the signal they had agreed upon to announce their leave taking. This was the booming of a signal gun in the1 palace grounds at Tokio, which was l ts et fte aopI knds thu The body Of the Emperor was starting on the funeral car for its 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
 
 self through the body.
 Student Finds Bodies 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 stu- dent hurried for aid, but when he re- turned 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 tonight. Espe- cially grief stricken was Prince Ar thur of Connaught, the special envoy to the funeral of Mutsuhito of Great Britain. Prince Arthur was to have gone with General Nogi tomorrow to the former capital of the Shogunate, Kamakura.
 Those who knew General Nogi well declared that his calmness in killing himself tonight was the kind of stoic- ism he always had displayed, no mat ter what crisis faced him. They in- stanced the famous charge of the Jap anese up 203 Metre Hill during the Russo Japanese war, when as com mander of the Japanese third army, Nogi saw the Russians mow down his forces in hundreds, among them two of his own sons. and yet quietly and fcarlessly continued the battle, taking the hill and eventually being handed the surrender of Lieutenant General Stoessel at Port Arthur.
 General Nogi's Life
 The count was hero in Japan. It was he who captured Port Arthur in 1904 from the Russians and assured the success of his country in the bat tie of Mukden's walls. The count was born at Hagi, in the province of Cho- shu, in 1S49. During the Saigo rebel lion Nogi fought bravely at the bat ties of Yamaguaehui and Twarazaka, and was wounded. After the rebellion he was made lieutenant colonel. He commanded the First brigade of in- fantry in the Chino Japanese war and captured Port Arthur in one day. On the outbreak of the Russo Japanese war in 1904 General Nogi was ap- pointed commander of the third army. His forces took 203 Metre Hill after terrible slaughter and also destroyed the Russian squadron in the port. Gen eral Nogi personally received General Stoessels proposal to surrender Port Arthur to the chrysanthemum forces.