The Washington herald., 1918-08-26
From Stable Order In Japan
Writer Enters Chaos
and Anarchy.
GUARDS STOP TRAIN
EVERY 10 MINUTES
Harbin Center Of Fighting
Plans and Army Head
quarters.
RUSS RULE END LEFT LAND
DIS0RGANIZED, HELPLESS
Intervention Comes Just in Time to
Aid Czechs to Defeat
Bolshevists.
BY BURTON KNISELY,
STAFF Correspondent The Washington
Herald and y. z. A.

stan COrreSpCnOent 1ne "5SnlnB ION
Herald and y. E A.
Harbin, Manchuria, Aug. 25.-
60 to SiberiaI Write full particu-
lars of situation there!"
In Mukden, Manchuria, / got
that cable from my home office
in the United States. l had been
on my way to Pekin. But-peo-
pie ordered to Siberia always go.
i wentl Out of contentment into
chaos.
All day / travelled northward
over the fertile Manchurian plain
in one of the worlds finest trains,
the South Manchurian express,
pride of Japan's colonial railway
management. Under thS bright
sun the Chinese farmers worked
six, eight, ten to a field. How
peaceful that pastoral scene was!
American Outpost.
BY evening confusion and haze be-
gan. At Chang-Chun, half way to
Hardin. the rain was a flood. Through
1t ] grasped at a straw. a man in
khaki. outpost Of America, lieuten-
ant in the American railway engi-
neers' corps serS'ing in Russia.
At midnight / was on Russian
sofia Russian railway coach under
Russian sovereignty. The lieutenant
had fought a way for US through the
noisy. twisting mass of Chinese, Rus
slams and japanese janming the dim
Iy-lit Chang-Chun station platform
In the coach he had seized a COM
partment for us-fought for it.
1t was almost pitch dark inside the
coach We couldn't see the lieuten-
ants face as we bade him good by.
A tallow candle. high in, lantern
frame. cast Just enough light to re-
veal two bare hunks. No pillows! No
bedding! Plenty of dirt.
Japanese Order Ends.
We locked the door. folded our wet
raincoats into pillows. wrapped in
blankets the lieutenant had given US.
and lay down. japanese and Korean
trains had never been a minute late.
Tbs train. made up here, was start
ing an hour behind time.
Japanese order had ended. Here
begins the Russian-run Chinese
Eastern railroad. link in the Trans
Siberian. The coach was Russia. and
Russia was anarchy.
Pounding at the door awakened US
three times. Twice il was passport
examination. Heavily-bearded Rus
sian officials scowIed over our papers-
Something was wrong. They spoke
no English. no Russian. We would
be arrested? Or just thrown of?
They handed back the passport. Safe
again,
Then the other passengers tried to
force their way into the compartment
We pushed them out by force, locked
the door against them, and kept II
locked. no matter who pounded.
Chinese Work Between Lines.
BY dawn the train had crossed the
sunsari River and was stopping ten
minutes to half an hour at every
wayside station At each stop most
Of the passengers got out and walked
up and down in groups, talking like
conspirators-
Fine forests bordered wide valleys.
wet but now sparkling in the sun.
where big herds Of cattle grazed. The
chinese farmers were still busy. I
have since seen them work between
the rifles Of opposing forces. But a
strip each side OF the track was
Russia. which is not working. and
hours late we dropped down on Har-
btn-Russian city in the heart OF the
Chinese province of MRn<huria. then
the only quiet spot In Russia or ST.
beria, then the only haven from soviet
rule and therefore crowded with
refugees.
Now Harbin is more than safe
mort" in the storm Of revolution It
3 a military base today. Here in
tefvening troops Of the allies are
starting their operations against Bol-
sheviki and armed German prisoners.
Most of the trains Just now. from
chang-Chun to Harbin. are troop
trains. carrying Chinese or Japanese
troops the first stage Of tteir- jour-
ney to aid the Czech -Slavs wire cut
Germanism in Siberia.
Harbln Fighting Center.
In Harbin today diplomats agree on
and military STATS plan army cam
paigns in Siberia. Orders for mill
tary stores are being sent. and ar
fangements made to receive and for
ward them. Here Gen. Horvath. gov-
krnor of these Russian acres through
bis position as head Of the Chinese
Eastern railway. proclaimed himself !
provisional ruler OF Siberia. and from
kere he sent his army to Grodekoyo,