The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-17
our right in spite of the fact
that we had suspended our fire.
JAPANESE EXPLOSIVES.

that we had suspended our fire.
| JAPANESE EXPLOSIVES.
A holocaust the equal of which the
world has rarely seen, is going on at
Port Arthur. According to a junk
which left the besieged city on the 22nd
| inst. severe fighting has taken place
there every day. The Japanese expio-
sives are terribly destructive. They
strike batteries, buildings, and warships
without discrimination. The projectiles
| fired from the Japanese siege guns are
| of an enormous size. When striking
/ the ground, they penetrate to depth
of some six feet and then explode with
tremendous force, blowing all the buiid-'
] ings in the neighborhood TO pieces.
/ The tragedy occasioned is beyond de-
Scription. The Russians are losing all
/ their positions, one after the other.
Their daily casualties are innumerable.
| AS there is no one to attend to the
burial of the soldiers, the remains are
piled up in heaps, and only those of the
officers are buried, this being done in
| the most simple manner. The wounded
are being brought from the front by all
available jinrikshas and carriages
There are five hospital steamers in the
harbor, but they are now crowded. In
consequence, the wounded are being
taken in by ordinary residences and
therefore proper medical treatment cam
not be obtained.
The warships in the harbor are the
battleships Peresviet. Pobieda, Retvi-
san and Poltava, the cruiser Pallada,
and the gunboat Gilyak, and twelve
torpedo boats. All of them are severely
damaged, and nothing remains upon
their decks. In particular, the Peres-
Wet lost 900 men out of her complement
of about a thousand. The damage TO
the Pallada was comparatively slight.
The docks have been severely damaged
and are unavailable. The workmen all
fed. The Civil Governors Office has
been totally destroyed by gun-fire.
A RUSSIAN PRISONER.
The Sasebo correspondent of the To-
kio Asahi, wiring under date OF the
10th inst, states that among the Rus
sian prisoners now detained at the
Sasebo naval barracks there are one
Second Captain and nine other officers.
An interesting feature in connection
with the Second Captain is that his
father was on board the first Russian
squadron which visited many years
and was one of the party who taught
the japanese the method of steering
foreign-styled vessels, for which pur-
pose a schooner was built by the Rus
slams. The correspondent further
learns that the Captains father is still
alive and is now holding the rank of
Vice-Admiral in the Russian Navy, the
tilt of Count having been conferred
on him by the Tsar in recognition of
valuable services rendered to the Rus
sian-Government
REMNANTS OF A FLEET
1t is reported that the remnants of
the Russian squadron now at Port
Arthur have since the recent battle
placed a considerable number of sub,
marine mines outside the entrance to
the harbor and occasionally come out
of the latter, cruising off Laotiehshan,
while within the harbor they frequent
ly change their anchorage from the
west to the east harbor and vice versa. |
Our fleet is therefore vigilantly watch |
ing the movements of these vessels, |
which may at any movement make an |
other sortie or, when compelled by |
pressing necessity, may blow them |
selves up.
TOGO'S NARROW ESCAPE.
During the battle of the Yellow Sea,
on The 10th inst, Admiral Togo with
the Captain of the Mikasa and Rear
Admiral Shimomura Chief Staff Off
Ger, stood on the middle of the fore
bridge of the flagship. Lieut. Com
mander Uyeda was on the left end of
the bridge, four yards in front of Sec
ond-Sub.-Lieut. Nakazawa, and Lieut.
Commander Ogura stood on the right
extremity of the bridge. The battle
ship was in hot pursuit of the eneny's
squadron which was seen on her port
side During the chase 12-in. shell
struck the Mikasa just in front Of the
A fragment of the shell
shattered the right. jawbone and
shoulder blade of Lieut.. Commander
Uyeda, broke the right upper arm Of
Second Sub.-Lieut Nakazawa, and
Lieut. Commander Ogura. The frag-
ment, which wounded three officers at
once, travelled in a crooked direction,
avoiding Admiral Togo, as if inten-
tionaIly. Lieut. Commanders Uyeda
and Ogura We're once reported to be
in serious condition, but we now
learn they are doing well. Recent press
from Sasebo attributed to
Lieut. Commander Ogura the state
ment that the Mikasa was surrounded
by the enemys warshipss He now
this report as a mis-repre
sentation of his remarks to the effect
that the Mikasa was made a focus of
the enemy's fire. Of course no one
could have imagined that the Mikasa
had ever fallen into so difficult a posi-
ton as to be surrounded by the Rus
sian war-vessels.
FUSHIMI FOR AMERICA
Marquis Ito returned to Tokyo on the
evening of the both inst. from Ikao,
no |