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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1904)
16 TIIE ILLUSTRATED DEE. March 20, 1901, With Japs at Target Practice (Copyright. 1W4, by Altx-rt Sonnlohsen.) lAI'ANFfli: niiviil mm hnve never liM'ii In the 1ih1U oT Inviting for fiprncrs to lo prcHcnt ut target priu-tlco ah'Kird their warships, hut It wns the writer's luck to witness ly Hccidtnt a realistic exhibition of J:t nneso skill nt gunnery. This vvs shortly after the RpnnlHh-Amer-loan war. The American troop transport, of which I was then a petty oflicer, wna lying In the nivul dry dork nt Nngasukl. This kept lis there t long time, nnd our cviiptiiin had become Intimately nrn.ua In ted With various Anniijx.lls UhIihiI o nicer s on the Japanese battleship Yashlma, also In port. One morning I wns sent aboard the Tnshlma with a mtssage to one of Its of ficers from our captain. When I had de livjred It, the Japinese olH'jer said: "It's Impossible for mo to send my answer Just now. We are going outside the harbor for a couple of hours' target practice. If you have the time to spare, you may stay abi.ird till we mine In ngitlii." Tho Invitation was accepted. The officer left me alone In a chart room on an upper deck, while he hurried off to his duties. From the big yellow funnels of the bat tleship hugo banks of smoke tumbled up, rolling over the green hills that surround tho harbor. The captain and his staff Stood on the main bridge. There was a Simplicity In their neat blue and white uni forms that made It dlfllcult to distinguish their ranks, nor was there that pompous tiesa of manner In them peculiar to many Kuropenn naval officers. One little chap came Into the chart room for something and bowed very politely. I took him to be a ward room steward until afterword ho turned nut to be the navigating officer. A bell clanged faintly somewhere down In the bowels of tho ship. Thpy had been Weighing anchor, but ho noiselessly that I hud failed to be nware of It. Shrill whistles came from various parts of the ship, nnd groups of men moved about the decks with automatic regularity. Sentries with muskets sprang up In unexpected spots as though they were shoved up out of the deck. There was no noise, no hurry, no excitement. But from the small oblique eyes of every man oame a gleam of Intense professional Interest. There wus none of tho blase In difference of the soldiers at drill. It was rather a cold day, and the men woro watch caps and jackets. Down In the gun turrets they removed the jackets. About each gun a gun crew formed, each man In his particular place. Small hatches were opened and ammunition hoists ap peared as though by no human aid. A Blight quiver told that tho big ship wns moving. The green-terraced hills on both Ides gilded back and sank; soon the open sea spreud out before. It wns a glassy calm day, an ideul day for gun practice. Another shrill chirp from a bos'n'a Whistle and the target went overboard a buoy with huge triangular canvas wings. Land was some distance astern now. Sud denly the Innd-spi eked borlson began to wing the Yashlma's wake was curving. The target was keeping up aleam. Until now there bad been no noise except tho steady throb of machinery, tho swish Of water over the sido and the sharp, regu lar whirr of ammunition hoists. One of the for'd slx-lnch guns was to be tried first. Above, on the fore and aft bridges, stood a lieutenant with a pad and pencil to record the lilts. Ueslde him stood an ensign with a watch to time them. It was to be a test of quickness us well as of marksmanship. Uelow a petty officer tood behind tho gun, a wire Iniiuch hand, lie was stooping, his eye even with the gun sights, his whole attitudo one of In tense mental concentration. For the first time I heard a word spoken. Tho lieutenant gave the word. A brilliant yellow bar of fire shot out from the muitle of the gun. The atmosphere cracked like new sheet tin. A ball of white smoke flew upwards. A few seconds passed all eyes were on the white triangle, a mile abeam. It seemed as though the projectile must have gone beyond the horixon Una. Suddenly a white spurt of fount shot up from the Indigo water within fifty yards of the target; a long, thin thread of water, that opened at the top like an umbrella and carue down In showers. ' A clang of the breech block brought my attention to the gun sgaln. The gunner wus once more sighting. This time he fired at will he was trying to make time. An other crackling report, another breathless Interval, and the exploding shell sent up Its fountain closer to tha target. This waj re peated five times. At the last shot tha target was hidden In the spurt of foam. The lieutenant rushed aft along tha bridge. A gun In one of the after turreta began firing, almost as regutarly and as quickly as a pulse beat. Between each hot cam the clang of the breech block. Evidently the second gun made better time; her sheila certainly came nearer tha mark. A smothered cheer came from her crew. The officer skipped "midships, the ensign with him. There was no mistaking the repressed excitement of the gun crew. Tha men had thrown open their thick Jacket tha gunner bad throw a bis oft Ills aria were bare; the muscles swelled and shrunk as though the brown skin hell Imprisoned snakes. Ills lips were parted, exposing his teeth as though he were snarling. His first shot struck the target full, put ting a hole through one of tho canvas Wings, the shell exploding Fllphtly beyond. Again came an Impulsive cheer, or murmur of admiration rather. The s;nall, bla;'k mustache of the lieutenant went upward as he Jotted do'vn some figures on hi t pad. Tho first shot evidently made tho gunner overconfident. The four succeeding shots were comparatively pi or. Not a word was siHiken, but the gun crew scowled. There came an Interval In tho firing. Tho target swung ahead. Then n sm ill gun up In the fore top began tputterlng nervously, the reports rolling above us I ke thunder. All the officers on the bridge were g izlng Intently at the target through binoculars. A circle of angry wl.I.e foam appeared nbout It. The ship's course was describing a huge figure eight. As the target swung around on tho other beam, another six-inch gun on that side opened fire. After leach llrlug tho men slipped back the breech block, pulled out the empty brass shell and slipped In a loaded one with the regularity of au tomatons. There was not a trace of their repressed excitement in their movements. Only their faces showed the keen rivalry between the men who manned the different guns. Sometimes they gave that muffled cheer, or again, their oblique eyebrows be en mo more oblique still, nnd the corners of their mouths went down. Again the target swung ahead, and again camo tho thunderous rotir of tho smaller quick firing guns. The whito wings of tho tnrget almost disappeared In u boiling circle of milky foam. Instinctively my hands went up nnd covered my cars tho atmos phere seemed to crystalize und break up Into powdered bits. A big gun In some forward turrent interpolated its gigantic roar at regulur Intervals thut set the big ship trembling. Wo were coming closer to the target now and the firing Increased. Slowly we passed It. Those gun crews not engaged In firing stood stolidly by their guns, staring fixedly at the target. Their excitement had passed their faces were as expressionless as that of tho average Chlnuman when he over charges for the wash. Suddenly the firing ceased. The engines below were still; we were drifting up toward tho target. A boat was lowered and pulled toward It, laying out a line, the end of which was fastened to the buoy. The bont returnod, was noiselessly hoisted, then u winch ticked and pulled In the buoy, hoisting It n hoard aft. Its white sails were much torn and bedraggled, and the steel buoy seemed not to have escaped either. Again the engines began throbbing and the green hills about the harbor mouth rose on both bows. In half an hour the Yashlma's anchor cable was rattling out and it swung around with the tide. A launch with the imperial Japanese flag . approached from shore. Again the bos'n's whistles piped the men to quarters. A saluto was to be fired. On the for'd brldgo the captain stood on the port side. He gave a barely audi ble command. A gun In a turret below him fired. Then he turned and walked leisurely across the bridge to the star board side, as though counting his steps. When he reached the other end of the bridge he barely stopped again, another command, ' and a gun on the starboard side fired. Thus he paced his bridge, to and fro, and each time he reached the ' end of a turn, a gun lielow him belched -out a fiery salutr to the personage ap proaching In the launch. Thus, the cap tain timed the Intervals between each shot by the puces he took on the bridge.' I suppose the little chap. with the thin gray beard who came aboard was some rear admiral stationed ashore, but the cere monial reception given him would have sufficed for the mikado himself. While ha marched up one gangway. I crept down another, with the message for my captain In my pocket, addressed In neat Spencerlan handwriting and In Kngllsh. ALBERT SONNICHSEN. Nippon Dcnji to the Front (Continued from Page Eight.) little bronce Images are beginning to take notice In a most western fashion. We are psychologically In what might be called the third period of the war: The first, that of Us beginning, with Its silence; the second, that of victory, with its awakening from dumb Intensity to enthusiasm (both of which I have described); and, finally, that of the real hurrah period. Those first few solemn days stood for the home farewells, the Intimate farewells. . It was taken for granted tltat each soldier was going forth to die. The family, the friends, literally buried him In dry-eyed mourning. If he survived. It would be a resurrection with the attendant Joy. At dinner a Japanese woman said to an American, "Countess So-and-Ro ha four on, all la tha army. Isn't It splendid to give so many Uvea t your country!" Stoicism having accepted the Inevitable, the personal farewells paid, and the move ment of troops begun then the soldiers became the army and their friends tho public. So today there Is a merry goodby. Japan sends her sons away entnasse. as If they were going on a pleasant tour, and they answer back with smiles as If back breaking marches and suffering were not to be their portion. Arches are erected, flags are flung to tho breeze, and the golden baskets of fete days are raised. IIov Armies Are Moved (Continued from Pago Nine.) Italians In New York and other American cities. These carts were drawn by coolies or by the soldiers themselves, and they were so lightly laden that they Interfered little. If ut all, with the mobility of the force. The horse and mule carts were of ths smallest type, und lightly built. Spare animals were made to carry their own fodder, and that of the other animals as well. These means were rendered necessary by the smallness and weakness of tho Japanese horses, which are about the scrawniest ani mals of their kind. The Russians, on the contrary, are well supplied with large, strong, well-bred horses. Horse breeding on an Immense scale was brought to a high pitch of success In Russia by the late Count Orloff, and the type of horse used In the Russian army of today is mainly that which Is known as the "Orloff horse." The nowly broken horses of the steppes arc also UfWd to a considerable extent, espe cially by the Cossacks and the Turkestan contingents. In the Turcoman campaigns In Central Asia camels were employed, but they are hardly ever used today by Russian troops. Thousands of dogs are pressed Into sor vlca, however, mainly for transporting sol diers and supplies In sltdges across L&ke Baikal. In the present campaign the mikado's fighting man Is carrying a great deal moro food with him than his Russian adversary. Against the latter's two days' rations, ho carries two cooked rations of rice In addi tion to six emergency rations. These are . contained in an aluminum mess pan, and as the rice haa been boiled and dried Jn the sun the entire weight Is trifling. It Is commonly supposed that the Japa nese soldier lives entirely on rice nnd dried fish, but such is not the fact. He can live, and fight well, on that spare diet, If neces sary; but he Is given meat and other sus taining foods whenever practicable, as well as beer or "sake." Several years ago a military commission was appointed by the mikado to inquire why the physique of the Japanese troops was Inferior to that of the British, German and other armies. The commission came to the conclusion that beef and beer helped to build Up the stal wart frames of Occidental fighting men, and since then beef and beer have been In cluded In the diet Bcalo of the Japanese army. It would appear, from recent reports, that the food arrangements of the Japanese forces now In the field are excellent. Ac - cording to one statement, each Infantry unit has a cylindrical stove and detachable kettle capable of cooking enough rice to furnish one meal for 100 men, Nine such stoves and kettles are used for cooking for a battalion. Boxes containing half-pound cans of meat are carried by four horses for each battalion. The question of water supply has been carefully . considered, doubtless owing to the. fact that the sick ness among the Japanese troops In the Peking expedition consisted almost entirely of. typhoid fever. Each unit carries a . quantity of sodium sulphate to purify tha . drinking water. CAPTAIN ARCHIBALD M. JAMES. Older the Better "Well, John," aaid Mra. Stubb. "I reckon w better buy some new furniture and then rent a house In a modest locality." -"No, Maria," replied her husband, "we'll keep the furniture and rent a house In a well neighborhood." "But the furniture la all scratched and broken." "That matters not If we are In a swell neighborhood, we can say It la 'colonial.' 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