davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1941-12-21

At about Euclid street It turned al
most abruptly into Eighth street, pass
ing close to where was until lately
the National Home for Destitute COL
ored Women and Children.
One Of the sights one will never forget
were the great droves Of hogs, sheep
and cattle which were driven through
the streets of Washington to these
slaughterhouses, sometimes even spread
ing out beyond the curb line onto the
sidewalks Legislation finally cured this
evil and everybody was better of and
happier thereby. One of the sights,
however, which many will recall while
these slaughterhouses were in operation,
was the large number of OK tails COM
monty seen thrown over the shoulders
of the colored men who helped to do
the killing. No doubt they were given
them as part of their pay; but now
they are sold for making ox-tail soup,
considered by many as delicacy.
Another sight We used to see around
Cowtown, in the early days was the
cutting OF ice by the butchers for
their icehouses Henry Rupert. who
had two meat stands, one in the Center
Market ana another in the Northern
Liberty Market, was one Of those who
provided his ice in this way. His slaugh-
terhouse and residence occupied the
northeast corner of Barry place and
Sherman avenue, and extended to the
top of the hill His ferocious-looking
bloodhounds may be recalled by many.
No one ever attempted to molest Mr..
Rupert. Rock Creek, Soldiers Home
Lake, and ponds and nearby streams
supplied the neighboring slaughter
houses with ice years before the manu-
featuring plants became popular.
Garfield Memorial Hospital. which oc-
cupied the tract to the west Of Cow
town, also brings back fond recollections
to the writer. for many times he has
romped over its fields with Ferd Schnei-
Evening star., 1941-12-21

der, the youngest son Of Louis II. schnei-
der, who kept the hardware store at
1910 and 1912 Pennsylvania avenue for
50 many years, and who made some OF
the earliest parts for the Morse tele-
graph. Mr. Schneiders gardner, whom
he also used as his coachman, was VIII
liam L. Courtney. When we first moved
into the neighborhood, Mr. Courtney
lived In a little brick house in the ex-
treme southeastern corner Of the hos
pital grounds Mr.. Schneider had this
house removed, and built another one
for his gardener at the extreme north
end of the grounds, facing Sherman
avenue. 1t is probably still standing.
sAdjoining L. H. Schneider's property
lived his brother, Christian G.. Schnel-
der, and his family, at flrst in a large
frame cottage, which later gave way to
a more substantial one of brick.
Sometime after securing the L. H.
Schneider holdings the hospital directors
saw that more ground was needed, and
so the property to the west-extendlng
to Eleventh street-owned by the Chris
tian Schneider heirs, was purchased.
The original L. H. Schneider mansion
was added to from time to time, and in
1912 the Henry A. Willard Memorial
Building was dedicated. 1t is worthy
monument to a worthy man, who loved
his adopted city and all there was in
it-but most of all he loved humanity
1t is the writer's impression that this
Schneider home forms part OF the
Garfield Hospital as 1t stands today,
surrounded by the other buildings added
from year to year as additional room
was needed. If so, it is an old building,
having been occupied before it was sold
to Mr.. Schneider by DR.. James c. Hall.
who, as far back as 1843, at least. had
his medical Office on the north side OF
Pennsylvania avenue, between Ninth and
Tenth streets northwest.
Evening star., 1941-12-21
BY John Lear,
WIDE World News.

In the classical openings OF the game
of Oriental chess there is no conflict
between the opposing pieces.
The first three moves are made, as 1t
were, in silence, the aggressor feeling out
the defender, in the dark.
Suddenly flying chariot" the most
powerful of the pieces, strikes across
more than half the width of the board
and threatens to paralyze the defense OF
the opposing king.
This is the pattern the japanese fol-
lowed in their opening attack on United
States territory. The long, surprise
thrust at Hawaii was flying chariot"
move, coming on the heels of feeling
out" maneuver by the two Nipponese
envoys in Washington.
The defender in the Oriental chess
game always answers the long-range
attack with a shorter counter thrust
which the aggressor cannot face with
out risking almost certain loss of mate
rial. And then the aggressor fees to
safer position.
That is what happened when the
United States Navy met the japanese
Navy after the first shock of the war
was past.
No one but the Japanese general staff
knows, of course, whether the japanese
are in this war following the tactics
of their famous old game. But there is
no peacetime pursuit more comparable
to war than chess. Chess is taught as
military instruction in many schools. The
same factors are involved in it as in war
time, space and material. The battle
of Waterloo has been fought out, move
by move, on the chessboard.
So it is something more than mere
play on words to observe that If Japan
continues to play the game she has be-
gun in this war, it is doubtful that she
can win. Because chess players at West
Point play by different rules.
In Occidental chess captured piece
is dead. 1t no longer plays any part
in the game.
In Oriental chess, captured piece re-
mains actively on the side lines, to he
Evening star., 1941-12-21

entirely different from that Of the West
ern world. japanese fighting men for
countless generations have killed them
selves on the battlefield for the glory
of their Emperor and to do honor to
their forefathers. According to the code
Of the warrior Samurai, death by ones
own hand is the path to eternal divinity,
provided, of course, it is done for good
cause. In such cases, says the god
Buddha, the spirit lives on. 1t is near,
can see knows all that goes on, especially
evil things. 1t is that spirit which is
worshipped ever afterward by the family
of the dead man and their descendants.
Gen. Nogi was one of Japans heroes in
the war with Russia in 1904-05. But
Nogi and his wife committed hari-kiri
when told of the death of their beloved
Emperor. Thus would the generals soul
be with his chief to serve him for all
eternity.
Much has been written about Japa-
nese Suicide squads" and these have
been recorded as recently as the present
war in China. Yet, In the assault on
Evening star., 1941-12-21

In honor Of these ex-prisoners (who
forgot to be fanatics, Berlin was en-
fete, the Kaiser leading the royal procla-
nation of "hoch" and welcome, mixed
with banzais Pretty German fraus
passed chocolate and cigarettes to the
sons of Nippon who had been marked as
having "disappeared' during the war.
japanese diplomats in Berlin smiled all
over the palace and sucked through their
teeth.
The Kaiser, seeing no disgrace in SOL
diers who surrender, gave personal orders
that his royal grooms should be at the
command of the Japanese officers.
The only white men who have ever
made war prisoners Of japanese soldiers
and sailors were Russians. One Rus
sian officer has made report on his OBJ
servations of Japanese troops in combat;
their behavior when taken prisoner and
other pertinent characteristics.
Capt. L. z. Soloviev, East Siberian
Rifles, states (See War Department
archives in Washington; Japanese SOL
diers when taken prisoner have been
seen to bite their captors. -. The Japa-
nese differs from the Russian soldier
in his fanaticism, which is his. hatred
of the enemy This has been instilled
into him from childhood Some Japa-
nese soldiers fight with rage and will fire
a bullet into the back of an enemy who
has shown him mercy.
'"This is why our Russian soldier does
not show mercy when attacking. Our
Russians have no hatred no fanaticism.
They are kind to prisoners, give them
tea and cigarettes. But the japanese
they display a cruelty never seen
among Russian soldiers. Eyewitnesses
have said they have seen japanese Of
ficers shoot down our wounded; Japanese
deem all means good If they attain their
ends; they show no mercy to their own
men or to ours They have even fired
into their own soldiers.
Japanese officers do everything IN
their power to excite their troops. The
officers walk up and down in rear OF the
soldiers, driving them on with revolvers
and swords"
Capt. Soloviev also asserts that the
japanese depend heavily on ruse to help
gain their objectives. Without ruses, he
says, they hesitate and are not sure OF
themselves
Strong drink as an incentive to Jap
soldiers at the beginning of a battle
is common thing" wrote Capt. Solo
view. "Hanshin, supplying. strong
drink Of long duration. is frequently
found in the canteens Of their soldiers
when taken prisoner. Some OF these
prisoners were drunk"
Evening star., 1941-12-21
About That Japanese Hara>Kiri Complex

Pearl Harbor there was no necessity for
aerial hara-kiri, and no instance is re-
ported. The Japs obviated the necessity
of hurting their planes and bombs di-
rectly on the decks of our ships by the
surprise factor, which they employed
expertly in their devastating attack. Sim
ilarly, the japanese planes that sank
the two British capital ships last week
did not have to fly into certain death.
Since there were no British planes to
fight back, the Japs had only to take
chances with anti-airCraft guns on the
ships, and no pilot had to immediate him
self in sinking the Prince of Wales and
the Repulse.
Whatever attitude 1t may take In the
present war, there has been in the past
a tendency for Japan to deny that pris-
oners Of war were taken. The only jap
anese war records in existence. those Of
the Russo-Japanese war-issued IN Japan
and reprinted in United States War De-
partment reports-do not list a single
man as taken prisoner. The word "pris-
oner" seems not then to have been in the
Japanese vocabulary. The official Japa-
nese account of the war, admitted killed
and wounded, lists no prisoners. The
nearest thing is an entry listing 5,081 as
disappeared" from the army. When or
how is not revealed.
AS matter of fact, prisoners were
taken in the Russo-Japanese war. Rus
sias official records of the war disclose
their capture in number of battles.
An unknown number of Japanese SOL
diers chose to go down in transport
which the Russians sank-but not until
they had allowed the Japs an hour in
which to surrender and be taken off.
Some of their buddies, however, did sur
render and were taken on board the Rus
sian man of war. The Russian record
which mentions no figures, reads: Those
japanese troops on board the transport
who had not taken advantage of the one
hour granted them to leave their ship
were drowned" Of that is what is meant
by fanatical bravery, then soldiers of all
nations are fanaticaD.
Japanese prisoners released by Russia
after the war are said to have been sui
lenly received or their return to Japan.
Some, it is claimed. were Stunned by
members Of their own families; they
were refused jobs and pensions, if one
can believe unofficial records.
Some Japanese prisoners, on the con-
trary, were royalty feted after they had
been turned loose by Russia when peace
came. These heroes" made a trium
phant roundabout trip out of Russia to
Japan by way of Berlin. They numbered
in excess of 1000 of whom So were Japa-
nese officers.
Evening star., 1941-12-21

Treasury Building for the clerks. He was
an unusually good cook and sold many
of the things he baked at his street
pies were delicious and in much demand
around the Christmas season.
1t was not long after this date, how
ever, before Mr.. Rightstine built two
rows Of small frame houses In this
square, one on the Tenth street side and
one on the v street side. The latter
were rented to colored tenants, but those
erected on Tenth street were occupied
by white families, including among
others, the families Of Mr.. and Mrs.
Benjamin g. w. Phelps and their sons.
John. William, George and Eugene, and
Mr.. and Mrs. williams who had two
children, Emma and James, and their
niece, Rose, also lived with them. Their
address was 2109 Tenth street, but later
they moved to the west side of the street,
at No 2122, in the house where formerly
resided the family of Albert G. Ryan
who had three sons, William w., Hugh
and Albert. Emma Williams married
Basil N Friel, who left Mrs. Friel with
several children when he died sometime
ago George w. Parker was a near
neighbor.
Some early residents ON Florida avenue.
south from Garfield Hospital to q street.
included, on the west side: Harry White,
musician, whose shack was the only
building in the 1900 block for many years
after 1871. He was picturesque looking
man OF the Uncle Tom" type; head
whitened with age and shoulders bent
with years Of work in the service OF his
masters friendly and kindly, waiting for
the greatest of all Masters to call him
home.
During my mothers childhood days she
had taken dancing lessons at Carusis
Salon. which bore a high reputation
and which stood at the northeast corner
of Eleventh and c streets northwest.
One day she recognized this old colored
man as having been the one who played
the fiddle for Prof. Carusis pupils. and
upon telling him that she remembered
him he became much delighted. and for
the few remaining years of his life there
was always a removal of the hat and a
friendly lowering of the head, peculiar
to the colored servant of that day. when-
Evening star., 1941-12-21

that barred the progress of his battalion.
He then smashed hammer against
the explosive. He was blown to bits, but
the gate was open, and his battalion
marched on.
This actually happened in the forced
march of allied American. British and
Japanese troops in the Chinese Boxer
Rebellion al years ago.
There are other such instances cited
In Japan's modern military history.
You hear also that no Japanese pris-
oner of war ever are taken. But the
records contradict this, as we shall see.
japanese tradition does seem to have
horror of seeing subjects of the Mikado
taken prisoner. 1t has been the custom
in past wars to list such soldiers as Dis
appeared"
Japanese troops have been credited
with a sort of suicidal complex in COM
bat-a readiness to go through hari-kiri,
the ceremonial suicide of their country,
II it will advance their cause in any way.
The Japs, however, have no monopoly
on bravery to the point of desperation"
in the face of overwhelming enemy num-
bers, despite the stories told of the code
of the warrior Samurai and the Bushida.
In comparison with American and Brit
ish instances Of meeting certain death to
achieve definite war purpose, some Of
the japanese examples of self-sacriflce
without sufficient military excuse take on
the aspect of death sought in atonement
for something or other.
There is, for example, the exploit OF
8 American naval leutenants and IL
seamen during the trouble with the Cor
sair pirates in Tripoli. These men VOL
unteered to blow up enemy men-of-war
and forts. They turned their craft into
a floating magazine of explosives, know
ing they had no chance to return alive.
Before their powder ship could reach its
destination, the Corsairs found the range
with their guns and blew up the floating
arsenal, the Intrepid. No trace Of the
ship or the men ever was found. The
officers were Its. Somers, Wadsworth
and Israel. Admiral Nelson called this
Ehe bravest deed in naval history.
Evening star., 1941-12-21
It's Oriental Chess

put back into the game whenever the
captor desires. 1t can be put on any
open space on the board.
War in the Orient was fought in this
same way for hundreds of years before
the turn of this century. Feudal war
lords spared with each other in what
often was a game of bluff, and then fell
in with the one who seemed certain to
win. 1t was not a question Of individual
treachery, it was a custom. And the
fighting men went wherever the warlords
ordered them.
In other words, onetime enemy pieces
were taken out Of the play and put back
at convenient times and places.
I first learned to play Oriental chess
from Japanese newspaper friends during
the first years of Japan's invasion Of
China. The game baff1ed me for months
because I could not get accustomed to
thinking out a defense against pieces
which were not at the moment on the
board but might be at any time. After
I got fairly proficient at the simpler
openings, challenged the japanese to
switch and play the Occidental game.
They did and they were even more help
less than had been with them in their
game.
asked them whether, in playing west
ern chess, they were not perhaps up
against an unaccustomed directness and
finality. They agreed.
I suggested, then, that the japanese in
invading China may have found them
selves up against the same thing; after
being accustomed to take enemy armies
and put them into battle for their own
cause, they were confronted with China
which did not ak into such parts and
which did not yield
To my surprise, my Japanese friends,
extremely we'll informed on events in the
Far East, conceded it was so.
In the present war with the United
States, the Oriental game may succeed
insofar as position is concerned. Islands
and other strategic points of land may be
seized by the Japanese and used against
the country which once held them.
But that will be accepted by the United
States as only temporary at best.
Evening star., 1941-12-21

American annals are full Of exploits
fully as bold and self-sacrificing as any
thing Nippon history can offer. The diff
ference is that there always was a pur-
pose in the extreme courage Of Amer
leans, not the mere disregard of life as
an end in itself.
During the Civil War, It. William
Gushing, u S. N, in 1864 towed a tor
pedo against the anchored hull Of the
Confederate ironclad Albermarle in
North Carolina waters. Fifteen volun-
teer seamen went with him. None ex-
pected to survive. Confederate loOkouts
sighted Cushing's men towing their spar
torpedo close to the stern of the ironclad
and opened fire. Gushing ordered full
speed Smashing over protecting log
raft, he exploded the torpedo against the
Confederate hull. He and his men
jumped into the water. AS luck would
have it, all but two swan to safety.
The two were drowned.
The japanese suicide complex is a
dramatic gesture rooted in an ambition
to be revered after death by their chill
dren and their childrens children for
eternity. This seems to have been in
the mind of the japanese naval COM
mander Hirose, a torpedo boat officer in
a group that made surprise attack on
anchored Russian warships at Port Ar
thur, touching off the Russo-Japanese
War early in the century. Hirose took
his life. While he lay dying, he wrote
in blood: Il shall come back to earth
through nine cycles of existence until I
can see that my work has been accom-
plished by those leave behind"
The Japanese conception OF suicide is
Evening star., 1941-12-21

ever he passed our house and saw my
mother.
In the 2100 block the residents in
cluded the Duvall family, Mr.. and Mrs.
Duvall and their two daughters, Jennie
and May, and sons Wilson and Clifton.
Jennie Duvall married Charles Brown
and has large family. They reside near
Bladensburg, Md. Close by lived Mrs
Weaver and her sons Alonzo K. and
Millard J. and Mrs. Mary E. Nussbaum
and her sons Henry L. and John u, also
Michael Braun and Mrs. Braun and
Evening star., 1941-12-21
Bv Comdr. L. J. Gulliver,
Yyz,.ol S+,taz Nauy patiraJ

United States Navy. Retired.
Does the Japanese soldier or sailor
scorn death, even desire it in battle? Does
he refuse to be taken prisoner, perishing
in preference?
Often there have been claims to all
these alleged virtues, but the record does
not bear them out entirely, although the
fanatical bravery of the Nipponese is well
established
The Japanese soldiers contempt of
death is illustrated by one who held a
stick of dynamite against an iron gate
Evening star., 1941-12-21

their daughter Lena, who married
Charles Meyer, for years the baSso
profundo of the Saengerbund.
On the east side of Florida avenue,
beginning at Barry place and running
south to where it intersects Ninth street,
there were at the starting point, among
the pioneer residents, John R. Alcorn,
who kept grocery store; Michael K.
and Thomas K. Lynch, who were con-
nected with the old Washington &
Georgetown Railroad; Martin Dunn, who
had daughter Katie: William F. Tyser,
Evening star., 1941-12-21
Pioneers of Old Boundary Street Area
By John Clagett Proctor.

Throughout our lives tnere are many
Interesting things worth recalling, and
which frequently come to our minds,
but nothing appeals to us more than the
scenes Of our childhood days, and tho
people who once resided in our vicinity,
many Of whom we still remember with
increasing pleasure the older We grow.
In 1871, when the writer was quite
young. his father sold his home not far
from Logan Circle and purchased
roomy cottage, with ample grounds, at
the southwest corner OF Florida avenue
and w street, which avenue here lies
between Ninth and Tenth streets and,
as Is the case with so many corners In
the city, is now occupied by q gasoline
station.
Like practically all suburban locaN-
ties, we had pump in the yard, ana
there was a public pump block away.
But no Potomac water or sanitary i'm
provements for some time, for then
Washington was just digging out Of the
mud, and Alexander R. Shepherd, later
governor of the District of Columbia, was
then just becoming conspicuous in his
capacity as vice president of the Board
of Public Works, and one of his earliest
Improvements was the macadamizing of
Florida avenue then known as Boundary
street, so-called because it encircled the
northern part of the city, as designed
by Maj. L L'Enfant.
The macadamizing of this roadway was
an excellent job, so good, indeed that
1t invited sportsmen with good horses
to test their speed, and many an un-
scheduled race took place on Florida
avenue from Fourteenth street around to
U street, and many driver was caught
in the act and taken to the old second
police precinct, then about where Is now
Georgia avenue and w street.
Part of House Destroyed
This neighborhood was then certainly
In the outskirts of the city, and there
were still quite a number of squares
entirely vacant. In the square in which
we lived, on the Tenth street side, there
was but one house. which is still stand
ing which was built, and for years oc-
cupied by John w. Rightstine, who was
then conducting a grocery store at 2lO0
Eleventh street, but who had confec-
tionery store in the COS at Tenth street
and Massachusetts, avenue. He had five
children, Catharine, who married John
H. Knapp; Eta, who married Edgar P.
Richardson; Alice, who married Richard
E. Farr; William, who died young, and
Frank
On the v street side of the square re-
sided william H. Wilson, and to the
west of him in a one-story house, the
Fitzgerald family, including Mrs. FitZ-
gerald and her daughters, Martha and
Belle. At the corner of Vermont avenue
and v street lived a colored family
named Copeland, with a son named
Howard Sometime shortly after 1871,
during heavy storm, the upper part of
the Copeland house was blown about 200
feet to the far side of Florida avenue,
and the building was never replaced. A
gasoline station now occupies the spot.
The Mr.. Wilson before referred to. was
a colored man, and once kept an eating
stand in the Northern Liberty Market.
and later conducted lunch table in the