The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1904-09-22
BARBAROUs Warfare.
Gen. Stoessel Expects Massacre at
Port Arthur. Women Refuse to
Leave.

w Oou' huIUphIkin, ooitS htOIy VI
the siege of Port Arthur, horrible in
its details. Prince Radziwill with
another Russian officer, two civilians
and one woman, the wife of Russian
staff officer, left Port Arthur on the
night of September 16 ON a junk,
successfully escaping the vigilance of
the Japanese and reaching Che Foo
two days later.
The Prince served with the British
in the Boer war, and he said that
until made aware of the state of
affairs at Port Arthur he had no idea
that war could be SO horrible. Prince
Radziwill declares that the men of
both armies are absolutely venemous
ia their antagonism. Gen. Stoessel
has told his garrison that in the pres
ent mood of the Japanese it will be
necessary to resist them to the last
drop of Russian blood, because IL the
Japanese soldiers enter the fortress it
will undoubtedly be impossible for
their officers to control them and pre-
vent massacre. No objection is
made by Gen. Stoessel to civilians
leaving Port-Arthur. The 300 women
engaged in hospital work, when ad.
vised to leave, refused, saying they
would not desert their posts even in
the face of possible massacre.
Flags of truce being ignored mum.
bers of japanese dead lie unburied on
the hillsides, and sentries in some
places posted only fifty PAGES from
heaps of decaying bodies find it almost
impossible to remain at their posts,
only doing so by wearing handker-
chiefs soaked in cemphor over their
noses. In the course of assaults &C.
curing in the last days OF August
two companies Of Japanese finding
themselves at the mercy of the Rus
slams hoisted the white flag, To this
the. Russians paid no attention and
fred volley after volley into the help
less ranks of the enemy. In the mean
time Japanese troops in the rear of
the companies that had raised the
white flag saw what their comrades
had done and expressed their disap-
prevail AS result of this fire from
friend and foe 600 men were annihi-
lated. The dead fell among the de-
composing bodies of those killed in
previous assaults.
Fer days afterward the wounded
men IN this area raised fluttering
handkerchiefs in their hands as pleas
for help, but the Russians were afraid
to venture out to give suooor. Within
week the last arm had made its last
unregarded prayer for help, and the
SHAMELESS were a quiet bat CHASTITY
field of horror.
Among the heaps of dead the
Prince saw two soldiers. one Rus
sian and the other a Japanese, lying
locked in death embrace. The teeth
of the Japanese were sunk in the Rus
slams throat, while the Russian had
forced two of his fingers into the eye
sockets of his antagonist The Prince
cited this as merely an incident de-
noting the ferocity of the conflict at
Port Arthur.
The stories in circulation concern
ing the shortage of ammunition and
provisions at Port Arthur, the Prince
says, are not true There is abund-
ance of ammunition for both large
and small arms, and plenty of pre-
served food. The garrison is main
tanning strong and devoted martial
spirit and has great confidence in
Gen. Stoessel, who is cheered by the
men when he rides along the lines
mime. Stoessel, wife of the gener-
al, is at the head of the Red Gross
work in Port Arthur. She is in con-
slant attendance at the hospitals, and
cares tenderly for wounded men. In
addition to this exhausting work .she
finds time to give suocor to orphans
and widows and to superintend the
making of bandages. The soldiers
consider her their guardian angel.
Life in the town when no bonn
bardment is going on proceeds much
| as it did in time of peace. Church
serices are held as usual in the dis
mantled church. and the band follows
the former custom of playing in pub.
lie twice week.
The Russians do not believe that
the Japanese will succeed in taking
the fortress.
The Brooklyn Eagle commenting
upon the story says: 1.-THE seige, OF
investment, OF Port Arthur has cost
much blood on both sides and it i.
likely to cost a great deal more before
it is finished, but If the Japanes
victory that is generally anticipated
should be stained by a wholesale mas
sacre of the garrison, the credit japan
is eager to acquire in the eyes of the
| world as civilized nation will
be emphatioally withheld. In other
quarters the war seems to have beer
conducted with a decent regard foi