The herald., 1897-04-26

e defeat. Confirmation is received of tn
e report that the Greeks destroyed tn
bridge over the Oseneois and the railwa.
before evacuating Larissa. The conduc
of the Greek officers is above praise. Th
first to flee from the field of battle a
Matt were driven back by Commando
, | Mavromochilis who shot several will
his revolver. Fourteen guns were cap
tured by the Turks. beside vast guam
tity of ammunition.
Volo is practically defenseless ant
Phareala must rely chiefly upon the
strength of its natural position, for tn,
bulk of the ammunition was sent to Lar.
issa, where the Turks captured 1t.
Five Italian volunteers forcibly enter.
ed a train. which was leaving Laraissa
with women and children. The crowd
fired upon the Italians, who returend the
fire.
The ministers went to the palace today
and demanded an immediate change in
the command of affairs. No official ac-
count has been received of the Greek
losses at Matt, but ! learn from trust
worthy sources that very large major
ity Of the officers in the foremost line OF
defense were either killed or wounded.
All kinds of rumors are current against
King George and the royal family, whose
position is in the highest degree unen-
| viable.
AROUND ELASSONA
| LONDON, April 25.- A dispatch to the
Daily Telegraph from Elassona dated
| Saturday says: THE Turks captured
the villages of Upper and Lower Dol
phir, with a loss of twenty killed and
| 100 wounded. Three batteries were push
| ed forward under the fire of the Greek
sharpshooters and kept up a well di-
rected fire upon the Greek position, which
was covered by a long slope thickly with
houses and walls The Turkish skr-
mishers turned to the Greeks left and
advancing through the woodland also
menaced the Greeks right. A wild dash
across open fields followed. The Turks
were exposed to a fire which would have
been dangerous had not the Greeks
fearing that they would be outflanked,
offered but little resistance. The Greeks
speedily took to their heels and fell back
to the main body, which did not long wait
for the Turkish onslaught.
1.-THE Turks encountered but little op-
position in scaling the heights of Kritiri
under cover of heavy fog"
4 dispatch to the Times from Pente-
pigadia, dated Saturday, says: "The
Greeks though weary and without food
or water, fought like heroes. The rein
forcements they expected to arrive and
their ammunition failing they were COM
PEELED to retire. 1 met scores with their
cartridge belts empty and completely
tagged out.
This morning the Greek reinforce
ments arrived, whereupon the Turks
again abandoned the position. All the
Greek wounded who fell into their hands
were killed and mutilated by the Turks"
The Daily Telegraph's Elassona cor
respondent says that Edhem Pasha's
orders with respect to the inviolability of
private property are strictly observed
by his troops. The Greek villages are I
not sacked and only few spirit stores
have been burned.
A COSTLY VICTORY
ATHENS, April Pa telegram from
Arta dated pm. says that at o'clock
this morning fighting was resumed at
Pentepigadia and ragged fiercely several
hours. The Greeks were compelled to
withdraw, and being reinforced re-
Turks retiring without Offering much
resistance. The Greeks suffered Sc
Yerely.
THE GREEK EASTER
NEW YORK, April 26-The World's
snecial correspondent with the Greek
army in Epirus cables from Arta: The
Greek Easter saw the beginning OF the
fighting in Epirus, and the first days en-
gagement resulted in a slight gain for the
Turks. The news that war was immi-
nent reached Arta early that morning
and there was a general flight oil the IN
habitants. The frontier here is formed
by a winding river. On one side OF the
stream is Arta, with high hille rising be-
hind it. On the opposite bank are sew
eral Turkish villages, with hills behind
them. The Turks had constructed bat
teries on theee, mounting twenty-five
guns, the largest of which were OF about
6-inch calbre. In addition the Turks
had forty-five pieces of field and noun
tain artillery. The Turks had concen-
trated four batteries on the hills oppo-
site Arta, each of six guns. They were
commanded by German officers. Each
side had infantry entrenched on the re-
spective banks of the river besides large
bodies Of infantry in the rear. The
Turks had a total of $4,000 men, Greeks
81 600.
Exactly at o'clock Sunday afternoon
the Greek artillery began firing, and
a vigorous cannonade ensued. The
Turks fired wildly at first but improved,
although they We're inferior to the
| Greeks in this respect. The distance
| between the opposing batteries varies
from 1900 to $500 yards, and at this range
| the Greek shells soon began TO take Sc
| rious effect on the Turkish batteries.
Within an hour one of these was 81
| lenced, and as evening set in the Turk
| ish firing became less and less frequent.
! Three batteries ceased altogether, but
the last commanded by a German Off
Ger, gave the Greeks a gyeat deal of
trouble 1t was well supported by field
and mountain artillery, which the Turks
brought up from the rear. AT o'clock
both sides stopped firing, and the result
of the four hours cannonade was that
| three of the four Turkish batteries had
been silenced, none OF the Greek bat
teries had been touched, and only one
Greek officer and one artilleryman had
been wounded.
Some brisk firing took place between
the infantry of the forces entrenched
on the opposite sides of the rive/ but
practically it was purely a battle be-
tween Greek and Turkish artillery, in
which the Turks had a distinct advan-
tage.
At night the soldiers of both forces
slept in the batteries and trenches, ready
to commence operations at any mo-