The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-09-02
HAMMERED BY JAPANESE
LAO YANG Is EVACUATED
CContlnusd fr0m Page onel

and the slaughter must have been i'm.
mense. At in the evening, after hold
ing his outer positions all day in the
face of the most desperate charges,
General Kuropatkin gave the order TO
retire upon the main works about the
city. The Japanese assaults during the
day had been directed principally
against the Russian CENTER a little east
OF Mactung HILL near the railroad and
three miles southwest of Lao Yang
Nothing approaching the severity Of
the infantry and artillery fire here had
been heretofore experienced in this war
General KOndratsvitch's division bore
the brunt and suffered the most. Bay
onet charges succeeded each other in
rapid succession, while The artillery
duel never ceased for a moment.
No attempt was made in the official
advices to estimate the number of guns
the japanese used. except that they
had many hundreds. Each gun car
ried $50 charges and these must have
been expended many times, as several
hundred thousand shells were fired be-
tween sunrise and sunset. General Ku-
ropatkin's order TO fall back on the
I Notifications probably was Cue to the
receipt OF information that the Japan
csc had succeeded in crossing the Taitz
though Generals Rennenkamp's and
Mandariteff's divisions had been espc-
cially placed in position i'm this direc-
ton to checkmate such a movement.
The Japanese crossed at a point called
Sakankankwantun. twenty miles east
and somewhat above Lao Yang, and
marched in force directly westward,
with the evident object of cutting the
Russian line OF communication with
Mukden. Their exact strength was not
established, but a division was made
out.
Pitfalls For japanese.
AS soon as the japanese found that
| the Russians were retiring from their
outer positions southwark they re-
sumed the attack there. although 1t
was then quite dark. Thus pressed, the
Russians arrested their movement 10
the rear and again faced the Japanese.
With the view of eventual retirement
from their outer positions, the Russians
had dug a large number of pits with,
stakes concealed in their bottoms The
| pits were artfully concealed among the
! high Chinese corn. When the Japan
csc charged after the Russians they fell
i into the pits in hundreds and We're en-
quilted and impaled on the stakes. and
l their lines were thrown into confusion.
/ When the Russians faced about and
returned to their old positions they
! found those death traps filed with dead
and dying.
The rattle Of musketry and boom OF
cannon continued until midnight. when
at last silence brooded over the bloody
| battlefield and the tired soldiers lay
down where they had fought, while the
Worn out surgeons and angels Of
mercy ministered to the wounded all
night and the Chinese coolies worked a.
carrying them into Liza Yang
| General Sakharoff. in reporting the
/ battle, says the japanese suffered enor-
nous losses. much larger than those
( of the Russians. who also lost heavily
! No statement is made Elm regard to the
! losses.
! General Stakelberg. who is among the
wounded. still remains i'm command Of
his army corps. although he els no long
er In chief command Of the southern
army which has since been cousoli-
dated under General ZaroubaiefT,
StakeIberg's injury is slight and he did
not leave the field
! General Naro1ovsky. who was also
Wounded. commended the artillery Drf-
gade. He distinguished himself during
J the sSuppreSSlOl on Inc Boxer lrOuDIeS
/ in China. His wound is severe.
/ There has been no interruption of
/ Geographic communication with Lao
/ Yang up 10 this hour. which the gen.
eraI staff considers to be conclusive evil
dence that il the Japanese Ranking
movement was pressed north of Lao
( Yang today il was unsuccessful.
The receipt Of press and private dis
patches has been delayed. the chief
/ telegraph office at Lao Yang having
/ been moved north, which is invaria bly,
done when fighting proceeds at such
{ close quarters. The main Office of the
/ field telegraph is working at all points
{ in the field occupied by the army corps
staff.