BUT CAN THE JAPANESE
FIGHT?
One Cossack Is Worth a Battal-
ion, Says Russian.
A little man with a lambskin cap shaped like a cow bell, and with military boots and trousers, attracted some attention among the loiterers at the Union depot last night. He brought his heels together and raised his right hand obliquely across his face in some strange military salute when accosted by George Jenkins, the depot interpreter.
Thereafter he stood at respectful attention while the official gathered information necessary to find his three brothers. He said they were Russians and lived at 44 Porter avenue, Kansas City, Kas.
"How long did you serve in the army?" the interpreter asked in the Russian tongue.
"Five years. I am a cossack of the Don," was the answer in the same language. "I am Corporal Keprijon Kazniux of Ozarich. No one in my regiment could ride better or shoot straighter than I. Perhaps the Japanese know that."
"Ask him if the Japanese can fight well," interrupted a bystander when the interpreter had translated.
The interpreter did so and then for a minute the little man sputtered fiercely in his own tongue what sounded to be one continuous word of unharmonious syllables.
"He says they fight fairly well in their own country," translated Jenkins, "but they can't shoot and they can't ride worth -- something in Russian. He says that one cossack is worth a battalion of Japanese cavalry. That's all he has to say about the Japanese."
Kazinux has a military carriage and although short in stature did not compare unfavorably with several soldiers from Fort Leavenworth who were standing near. He wore a richly embroidered silk shirt and tight fitting blue-gray trousers, with a thin green stripe, tucked into the tall boots.
