| Show story of the capture of port arthur commander of hwang chin tats wai a japanese who canned the to be badly aimed so that the fleet was uninjured the easo with which the japanese captured port arthur during the war with china is explained to some extent tay an article in the japan gazette according to the gazette the commander of the chinese forts was a native of japan who had acquired favor in chinese councils through a long residence in the flowery kingdom and intentionally tio nally caused the shots from the guns to be misdirected so they would fall chort of the japanese warships having betrayed his adopted land for the land of his birth the disgraced commander appeared before the victorious japanese generals acknowledged his treason and committed suicide in their presence the article continues when port arthur was attacked by the japanese army and navy the latter after getting within suitable range opened fire on the forts near the coast the batteries on hwang chin answered from heavy guns these were the forts at port arthur armament being f our krupp guns the squadrons approaching within manre of such ordnance expected a terrible cannonade and were not a little astonished by the weakness of the chinese resistance it is true that they opened fire upon the ships but their shells always fell short of the mark the sailors supposed this failure to be due to the inferior gunnery of the chinese and greeted each shell as it dropped into the sea with loud shouts of derision the officers however were puzzled by a performance to them inasmuch as they knew that the artillery in the forts whatever the faultiness of its handling could not possibly lack force meanwhile the celebrated naval station of china was stormed from the landside and the defenders of the fort on chin hill were either killed or taken prisoners their retreat having been cut off by the invaders when the officers that defended the fort chin were brou glit before the japanese generals one of them apparently an officer of distinction stepped forward and thus addressed the generals 1 I was the commander of the forts but now that I 1 have incurred irremediable disgrace I 1 should like to ask a special favor namely that I 1 be permitted to commit suicide in your presence such a request was not only contrary to the ordinary habits of the chinese but what was far more surprising it was conveyed in perfectly correct japanese one of the officers to whom the captive had addressed himself asked him where he had acquired the japanese language so well the prisoner replied that he was originally a native of higo whence lie crossed over to china many years ago subsequently by some chance he attracted the attention of viceroy li who gradually promoted him till at last he was appointed commander of the forts after making the confession the officer insisted upon committing suicide notwithstanding the remon st rances of the japanese generals making a profound obeisance he sat down and slew himself according to the strict canons of the japanese samurai the officers were much struck by the manly conduct and caused alie remains to be interred with due ceremony |
