The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-09-28

| born defence. They were, however,
each time recaptured by the Russians
at the point Of the bayonet.
The Japanese left a number Of dead.
After each bayonet engagement the
Russians dug pits in front of their po-
sitions. These in some cases were
completely filled with Japanese
corpses. The Japanese losses must
have beel- enormous. The dispatch
adds:
The night passed quietly. Up to
6 O'CLOCK in the morning there had
been no movement on either side"
General Stackelberg was slightly
wounded, but remained n the fighting
line.
The news of the evacuation of Lao
Yang and the withdrawal of the Rus
sian army to the right bank of the Tai
Use River reached only a small section
of the people of st. Petersburg at q
late hour and caused intense excite
ment and disappointment.
The majority of the inhabitants re-
tired to rest, believing that Russian
arms had again been successful, and
that the Japanese attacks had been
repealed.
Ugly suspicious. however, had been
rife during the day. owing to the alb
sence of press kilograms from Lao
Yang. leading to the belief that the
communications had been cut by Gen
eral Kuroki.
The following statement was OBJ
tanned by The Associated Press from
the War Otice at 10 o'clock at night.
general kuroki'S army crossed in
force to the right bank Of the Tai-Tsc
River. and it therefore became ncccs-
sary for the Russians to be in q posi-
ton to repel a blow in this direction.
I'm view of this development in the
operations. General Kuropatkin decid-
ed to abandon his positions OH the left
bank and to concentrate his whole
army Oh the other side of the river.
This position is the strongest, both in
character and site.
by withdrawing to this position the
Russian army avoids the danger of
being divided by the river, and enjoys
the advantage of compactnesS.
General Kuropatkin's move, there
fore. is not to be considered as q re-
treat. but rather a. the carrying out
of q well-defned idea"
The determined pursuit by the Jap.
anese of the Russian outpostS when
General Kuropatkin gave the first or
der to withdraw was probably due to
their anxiety to keep the Russians
south of Liao-Iang until General Ku-
roki should be able to strike from the
northeast. General Kuropatkin, how
ever, saw the trap and cleverly avoid
ed it.
A correspondent Of The Associated
Press at Vladivost0k telegraphed that
the Japanese are relying on the aid of
a gunboat 1otilla for future operations
against Liao-Yang and NIukden. The
gunboatS. the correspondent says. have
not get materialized, but in any case
they would be in no position to render
aid to 4 force on the right bank in
time of need because they would be
unable to run the gauntlet Of the forts
at Liao-Iang. The strongest forts are
situated on the right bank, where the
Russian army is now concentrated.
battle HAS BEATEN RECORDS.
The fighting at Liao-Yang has beaten
all records for the desperate valor Of
the assailants and the stubbornneSs of
the defenders. The whole history of
warfare tells of no such lombard
lnents, no such carnage, and 10 such
persiStency. Day after day the fight
has been resumed at daybreak and
kept up with scarce a moments inter-
mission until after nightfai!.
War-scarred veterans scarcely believe
the stories which come from the seat
Of war, and declare that it is beyond
human endurance for an army to fight
without respite for q whole week, each
day of which has exceeded its prede-
ceSsor in the intensity Of struggle and
greatness Of slaughter. Day after day
the thousands of dead bestrewing the
battle field have to be removed. The
Japanese have invented new methods
to incinerate the heaps of dead. COM
/ rades taking charge of the ashes for
the hOnors Of burial in Japan. The
wounded present a most serious prob
lem, as they tax the transport capacity
on either side to the uttermost.