The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-31
STIRRING SCENES
 ABOUT LAO YANG Russian Diary Tells of the Great
 Assault. FIRING WAS VERY HEAVY Correspondent Gives Vivid Picture of Sights and Incidents in Bom- bardment Made by the
 Japanese Army.
FIRING WAS VERY HEAVY

Mukden, September 1s.-From the diary of one of the Associated Press corre- spondents with the Russian army is taken the following notes on the battle of Liao Yang:
 August 2s-Returning from the funeral oi General Routkowsky, I met whole train of ambuiance carts filled with wounded, two or three men in each. The band of the Primorsky Dragons also passed me going to join the reserves. Troops were moving along every road, officers and orderlies galloping in every direction. All and everything that must be with the reserves was flowing toward Liao Yang in groups and parties, small and great, like little streams flowing into a river. To the rear of our house, high in the heavens. hangs the captive bai- loon. with three officers watching the enemy. There is something uneanny about the immoblity of the enormous sphere-something fantastic and mon strous. No news as yet from the field of battle Two Japanese-one a trooper have just been brought in prisoners. The trooper wears very dignified air, like most of his countrymen. The other is a pitiful sight, entirely naked, covered with bruises and scarcely alive.
 | Ii a. m.-The fighting has ceased. It is | the Japanese custom to give their men rest from Il to every day. They are clever and mean to fight in comfort | 6 D. m.-At 3 o'clock a fierce lombard ment recommended, lasting till this hour. l At times the firing was so severe that 1t l was even oppressive. One of my friends has just returned from the batteries. He says that it is perfect hell there. Riding 1 through the town, I met a number of stretchers covered with sheets and under them were the wounded. A sad spectacle.
 D.. m-The cannonade continues. This constant and unceasing uproar although somewhat dulled by distance, singularly depresses one. Tomorrow will decide the fate of liao Yang. The cannonade stopped late at night. The first large | convoy of wounded came in after dark It was sad ito hear the groans and signs in the darkness. Many of the wounded succumbed before reaching the ambu- | lances
 Bombardment Begins.
 August 29-I was awakened very early | by an unaccustomed roar. At first l could not under stand what was happen ing, and only after carefully listening l understood that a terrific bombardment was going on in the outskirts of the city. Hurriedly dressing myself l went out on the porch Here the firing could be heard much plainer. The boom of can non came now fast now slow; sometimes they combined into one prolonged thun- derous roar from which the very atmos- phere shook At o'clook in the morning a number of carts entered the yard to remove our things to the train. By half past 1even nothing remained in our rooms.
 Are we going to leave Liao Yang or not? That is the question which ills our minds and the roar of the cannon grows stronger and stronger just as fl a monstrous drum was being unmercifully beaten. Beyond the quarters of the staff arises a little hill which is covered with spectators hungrily watching the bursting shells on the heights outside the city.
 To the southwest beyond the village of 1 Showshanpou where the first army corps | is fighting, the firing is particularly in- | tense The entire slope of the mountain ous ridge is picturesquely defined against the sky line Little clouds of smoke dot the sky above it. Despite the fiaring sun light, it is quite easy to distinguish the flame of artillery discharges. Some times they seem to run along the ground like will-o-the-wisps; some times when the enemy Is firing volleys, a whole flock of cloudlets and flames is seen above the hill tops. It looks as though nothing could live under such a pandemonium One cannot realize that the vast majority of the projectiles fly wide or fall short Sometimes it happens that a couple Of hours frightful cannonade will only kill ten or twenty men. but some times, alas in 10 or 20 minutes there is mountain of dead bodies.
 Watch the Spectacle.
 Being condemned to immobility we stand here and watch the spectacle through our field glasses. The captive balloon rises a little to our left; it rises and then stops as if overcome by the grandeur of the sight. l have often seen captive balloon rise above a pleasure ground, but never did it cause such an impression upon me as here amidst the movement of armed hosts and to the ac- compartment of demoniacal cannonading. Everything seems to be changed even here, since yesterday. There is something majestic in the air and in the faces of all present Everybody feels that some thing grand and unusual. something that is going to influence future history is transpiring Alongside the headquarters staff at the foot of our hill the commits