The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1904-09-07
RUSSIANS FALLING BACK
Knronatkin's Formidable Lines at Lao
Yang are Badly Broken. 1852
Excitement in St. Petersburg.


The news of the occupation OF Lao
Yang and the withdrawal of the Rus
sian army to the right bank of the
Taitse river reached only a small Sec
ton of the people Of st. Petersburg at
! a late hour Thursday night and causa
ed intense excitement and disappoint-
! ment. The majority OF the inhabitants
retired to rest, believing that Russian
arms had again been successful and
that the Japanese attacks had been re-
PEELED. Ugly suspicious, however, had
been rife during the day, owing to the
absence of press kilograms from Lao
Yang, leading to the belief that the
| communications had been cut by Gen
eral Kuroki
The following statement was obtain.
ed by the Associated Press from the
war office at 10 o'clock p. m;
General Kuroki's army crossed In
force to the right bank Of the Taitse
| river and it, therefore, became neces-
sary for the Russians to be in posi-
ton to repel blow in this direction.
I'm view Of this development in the
operations General Kuropatkin deci1-
ed to abandon his positions on the left
bank and to concentrate his whole ar
my On the other side Of the river. This
position is the strongest, both in char
acter and in site. The great issue will
be finally decided there.
by withdrawing to this position the
Russian army avoids the danger of be-
ing divided by the river and enjoys
the advantage Of compactness.
General kuropatkin's move there
fore, is not to be considered as a re-
treat, but rather as the carrying out
of well-defned idea"
The News from Toxic.
A Toxic dispatch of Thursday night
says: At daybreak the Japanese army
on the left delivered a fierce and sue
cessful assault against the heights to
the west of Hsinlingtun and the high
ground to the west OF Shushanpao 1t
pierced the Russian lines and later
forced the retirement of the Russian
troops from their position on the right
and center. Marquis Oyama tele-
graphs that his losses in these as
saults were heavy. It is believed that
General Kuopatkin has been sweep
! ingly defeated
Japs Caught in Pitfalls.
The battle Wednesday was of the
most desperate character 1t ragged
continuously from dawn until mid
night and the slaughter must have
been immense.
At in the evening, after holding
his outer positions all day in the
face of the most desperate charges,
General Kuropatkin gave the order to
retreat. upon the main works about
the city. The japanese assaults dur
ing the day had been directed princi-
pally against the Russian center a lit
! tie east of Maietung hill near the rail-
road and three miles southwest of
Liao-Yang. Nothing approaching the
severity of the infantry and artillery
! fire had been heretofore experienced in
war
AS soon as the japanese found that
the Russians were retiring from their
outer positions southwark, they resum-
ed the attack there, although it was
then quite dark. Thus pressed, the
Russians arrested their movement to
the rear and again faced the Japanese.
With a view Of eventual retirement
from their outer positions, the Rus
slams had dug large number of pits
! with stakes concealed in their bot
toms The pits were fully concerted
among the high Chinese corn. When
the japanese charged after the Rus
slams they fell into the pits in hun
dreds and were engulfed and impaled
on the stakes and their lines were
thrown into confusion. When the Rus
SLAMS faced about and returned TO
their old positions they found these
death traps filled with dead and dying