Arizona republican., 1904-08-17
The Totterlng of Port Arthur.

The fall Of Port Arthur is now be- glaWsG to be certain. St. Petersburg has given up hope of its much longer eVccessful resistance to the Japanese. Glrg8inG in the fact that General Stoes- set Bad sent his wife away, an indica- teou on the part of the Russian com Erssndsr to give up a hopeless fight
 EsUt the sending of the women and t&tidren and other non-combata1ts RW3y from the fortress is not neces- Eariiy sign that an early surrender Is contemplated. The dispatches of the lsas week have indicated that all the area within the fortress had become o death zone. There was no spot inn FFyne from the effects of the most ter Ysaa and persistent bomberdment in military history.
 The departure of the family Of the Rprsian general and of the other non reFnbztsnts took place about the time that inc emperor of Japan caused it Co De made known to General Stoessel tAsg all non-combatants would be al- b0Gsra to leave, from which 1t was in- ggFF0d that the Japanese intended to laGp~a$s their efforts against the de- geGessszA
 Bat d any rate 1t Is not believed in Bny quarter that the defenders can hold D@s much longer. There seems little Ee@s8a why they should do so for 1t ls R.t@4n that even if Port Arthur Is isnpywsnable there can be no relief usttAia time in which all supplies and aaSsaunition would be exhausted. At tAe sfsrse of the investment of Port Ar thW7 Russian army officials stated that tkeVs were sufficient supplies for one g@AT and that the ammunition would last that long. But as things have fsiten out within the last month, the @sTsst of Kuropatkin and the destruc- Oboa of the Port Arthur squadron, re- lief could not be afforded within the Y@ag. If every energy Of Russia with hsF tmmeasurable resources were bent Ga that direction, neither men nor sup plies could be brought to Port Arthur.
 The prospect that the arrival of the Baltic Beet, which 1t was announced would sail from Cronstadt yesterday, w0atd give Russia the mastery of the ga=ssrn sea and would thus mark the beginning of the end of the war has gFuwh exceedingly dim since last "Wednesday.
 N'AsSs Russia might within a year e&sssR ayEo, or perhaps against, Man CtuQSs&, q force which might overwh elm lhe opposing Japanese, 1t could not be FzpeStsd that any Russian force could quickly arrive at Port Arthur against Sgch s,oIdiery as the Japanese have Raanvsn themselves to be. There there 7GFs See nrs no reason why the slaugh- ter should be prolonged.
 Military experts at the beginning of the siege were divided as to the out C0@ns aF it. Most of them believed the RSNstteH of the Russians to be impreg- nAb|e. using the word in comparative s.rRsp. It vas the Gibraltar of the east. Tbspe Rere the outer defenses to be taken; there were the miles of barbed &ETE arrangements ana there was m0ns aeld through which it was sup posed every possible approach to the fortress lay. A majority of the eI- PsFJs agreed that Port Arthur could not he taken by assault and that was believed to be what the Japanese would try to do.
 But since the experts began to spec ulase upon the fall of Port Arthur the | Jspanese have taught the world some thing about the use of artillery. They | have made the impregnable fortress Unssn2ble. A constant battering by day and by night has made its fall | }Tnsninent and nowhere would it be | hsasd with surprise that 1t had fallen. |