The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-02-01
A BATTLE IN THE DARK
marvellous Exploit of Russian Infan-
try Whilst Fighting a Turkoman
Horde.

The Russian soldier dies at his post.
have seen him in winter on sentry duty on
the heights of Shipka, says writer in Har-
per's for January, die standing. surrounded
with snow, and trans formed literally into a
statue of ice; | have seen him die on the
march, striding over the sandy desert, and
yielding up his last hreathiwiththe last steps
have seen him die Of his wounds on the
battlefield or in the hospital. at distance
of 5000 miles from his native vilage-and in
these supreme moments have always found
the Russian soldier Sabine.
In the Khiya campaign, on the night of
July Is, our troop broke camp at 2 a. m.
Hardly had the first squadrons, with Prince
| Eugene de Leuchtenberg at their head,
started along the road, than suddenly the
air trembled with clamor, bowls and savage
| war cries from crowd of several thousand
men, and seven Turkoman tribes, men ano
women together, fell upon our troop. Our
| squadrons were flung back upon the rest Of
| the cavalry by force of the shock upon the
infantry. The confusion was terrible. We
| could not see the confusion, for it was too
| dark, but we felt it. No more could we dis
| tinguish friends from enemies. At this
| moment was crowded in the midst of a
group of Cossacks, and my horse was push
| ed gently and slowly, as II by waves, first
| one way then the other. At first, not a
/ SlDRl6 SDOL was DuI UulH IUc mud OF
| sabers striking human bodies and the la.
mentables cries of the wounded. Suddenly
| there was flash and glare in front of us.
and violent explosion then second and a
third. The rocket battery, being amongst
the irst sguadrons had succeeded, thanks
to the darkness, in placing its stands right
In the middle of the enemy. Unfortunately,
the rockets burst without rising. Probably
hey had got wet and the heat had split
them. However, the explosions frightened
tue rurk"mans. and had the result Of form
ing Tor moment little opening In the mass
| OF the combatants.
"'Then | heard behind me an energetic
| voice, Make way" and two companies of
the I'd Battalion of Turkistan Rifleman
| pas ed through the midst of the Cossacks,
had taken its stand. jnlnrd the right wing
| of the first company. Fret re-echoed the
| word of command, and discharge was
heard so uniform that it sounded like a
single shot. 'Firen | heard Immediately
followed. Fire! little further, and yet
further, and then further still, to the light
OF " here l was, one volley after another, and
at last, In the distance near the gardens we
heard the rolling of the cannon. Eight sue
cessive rounds were fired by the companies
near which was, and in peace time, during
reviews, l have often heard worse firing
Between the second and the third rounds a
group OF Turkomans dashed through the
first company and killed four soldiers, but
this did not prevent the regularity of the
firing. The company was there, standing
firmly as If IL had not even remarked this
little episode, waiting all attention for an
other command to fire.
When the sun, with the rapidly usual in
the East, rose on the horizon, our troop was
found to be drawn up in semicircle, one
company by the side of the other, in an order
as exact as II the maneuver had been eXecu-
ted in broad daylight and by special word of
command. 1t was the regular volley firing
which had shown the battalons their places.
Ii the firing had been confused and irregular
the troops would not have been able to dis
cover their whereabout In the general chaos.
In the camp lay the dead and the wounded
Furkomans and Russians. The chief of the
detachment, Gen. Galowatscheff, and the
chief Of the staff, were both wounded with
| saber cuts. In front Of our companies was
| piled up compact mass of fallen enemies
and 10 the distance the horizon was literally
covered by the tall caps of the fleeing Turko
/ mans