Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-04-30
WILLINGLY GAVE LIVES
HEROISM OF JAPANESE IN SIEGE
OF PEklNG.
Wall Had to Be Destroyed, and They
Were There to Do 1t, the Cost
Being of Little Con-
s~ideration.

Among the few veterans living in
Philadelphia who took part in the
Spanish-American war and also were
present at the taking of Picking, is Pc
liceman Felix Williams, and, while he
passed through the stirring scenes in
cident to the occupation of the Philip
pine islands as a marine, when he gets
to talking of his military days he gen.
orally selects those connected with the
conquest of China and particularly
with the taking of Picking.
One story of heroic self-sacrifce, as
told by Williams, is as follows.
you see we had gone up to Peking
without artillery. The country was
rough and billy and it was not con-
sidered practical to transport even the
lighter guns. That a mistake was
made in not doing so soon became
evident after we began the siege. A
two-inch gun of any description would
have solved the problem in half an
hour. AS it was, there we lay within
easy distance of the walls of the city,
and although several attempts to take
them by storm were made, they all re-
suited in failure.
well, something had to be done. 1t
was impossible to send back for artil-
lery even if it could have been brought
up, and SO the Japs elected to solve
the problem. They went to work man
~lfacturing bombs.
THE first attempt, and the second
and third failed. For every time the
Japs had their bombs placed and the
fuses suffering the Boxers would sue
coed in pushing them away far enough
SO that when they exploded they did
no harm. 1t began to look after the
repeated failures as though ONE other
means would have to be devised. And
then there took place a little confer
ence between several of the japanese
officers. They talked for a while and
pretty o o one of them approached
a Japanese company and said some
thing. Whatever it was seemed to hi
their fancy, for there was a general
move as if they all wanted the chance
The officer picked out two, and they
laid aside their arms and dropped to
the rear.
after a little while the next bomt
was brought up. The two Japs thai
had fallen out took it and started fol
the gate. Of course, everybody was
watching. Even the Boxers could be
seen taking an interest in what was
going to happen. The Japs got to tbs
gate all right, put the bomb where
they wanted it, started the fuse ant
then lay down on it, just holding it il
place.
THE Boxers tried their best to pusl
1t away, but the Japs just stuck. 0
course, it did the trick so far as thu
gate was concerned, and as for tn
two Japs nothing was seen of then
after the explosion"
Williams has many interesting
stories about life in the Philippines
At Olangopo, with others of the bri
gade, he Toasted for several days on tn
most delicious venison. In fact, tn
Chink cook who ran the place had
long waiting line most of the timt
One afternoon, quite by accident, on
Of Williams friends had occasion t
inspect the real of the shack. Whe
ne returned he invited Williams an
several of the men to return with hin
assuring them he had made a discoV
cry they would all appreciate. Whe
they turned the rear of the hut Their
sat two Chinks skinning monkeys.
was the solution of the plentiful SUI
ply of venison.