East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1904-11-01
The Story Of
Lao Yong

We have captured Lao Yang, and
after nine days fighting the enemy is
resting. But while we have occupied
the town and have forced Kuropat-
kin to retreat, the great strategicaI
movement which was planned to
crush the Russians mas failed, says
Will II. Brill, correspondent of the
Scripps- McRae News association, in
Manchuria.
Pursuit would have been practical
v out of the question under any cir
cumstances for the soldiers were i'm
no condition to do more work for
some time They had seen nine days
hard fighting and had lived all that
time on little else than a few hand
fuls of cooked rice. They needed
rest and food and a stop was impera-
tive.
As It is, the Japanese fought the
greatest battle since Sedan and Gra-
velotte and they won it against over
whelming odds. Their plan for catch
ing Kuropatkin worked out exactly,
EXCEPT for one thing. The three ar
mics came together just at the time
and the place planned. 1t was one of
those things that are beyond human
control. incidentally, Kuropatkin ex-
hibited the first cleverneSs that has
emanated from him since the war be-
gan. He. of course. was aware of the
Japanese plan, and the 1nassing of his
men and the entire plan of his battle
showed that he thoroughly appreciate
ed what the Japanese were planning
for him.
The Rest OF Triumph.
The excitement of the great battle
has passed and we have settled down
to the routine life of great military
station. our only excitement now-a-
days is watching the transport carts
and ammunition wagons go by and
receiving calls from the correspond
ents of the first army, to whom we
said goodbye five months ago in To-
kio.
We are quartered here in the most
comfortable house we have occupied
since we left Toxic. It is a Russian
house situated in the center of the
Russian town.
As we sit here on the veranda in
the moonlight our main topic of con-
versation is not the recent great bat
tie. 1t is on the movements of the
army and the probability of another
jgreat battle. We speculate and ar
que on the former occupants of the
house. There was woman here GER
tainly for her hand can be seen in
the planting of the morning glories,
i'm the potted roses, in the flower
beds. Even the big plain topped ta-
Bile on which I write is covered with
dotted lines made by one of those lit
Tie wheels such as dressmakers use
to mark out their patterns. A little
pug dog runs through the rooms of
the house and about the veranda. |
whining and seeking for his mistress |
the woman whose home this once
was and who was forced to fly before
the spectre of war.
There are three or four hundred of |
these black brick buildings i'm the |
Russian town. outside the great walls |
OF the Chinese city of 1Iiao Yang. |
There are large station buildings and |
many buildings designed as office |
buildings for the Russian administra-
1--WE force. over on the other side of |
the railroad track are great shops |
ana roundhouses, nearly all of them
destroyed by fire or by she'll LAO
ang was not only a division point,
II was the main headquarters OF the
Mahchurian railway, which runs
more than 500 miles from Hai bin to
Port Arthur
Signs of the Woman.
But il is the homes that one thinks