Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1904-09-23
A LADY RUNS
The BLOCKADE
First Woman to Succeed In Getti 9
Out Of Port Arthur.
TRIP THRILLING ONE
Tells q Graphic Narrative Relative
TO Conditions as They at This
Time Exist In the Much
BOmbarded Place.

Chefoo. Sept. 23.-Mrs. Anna Krav-
tehenko. the English wife of a Russian
army officer. who arrived here the
night of Sept. II. with Lieutenant
Prince Razivil from Port Arthur. 4,
the first woman TO run the blockade
from the Russian stronghold since the
japanese increased their vigilance to
prevent egress from the port. Her trip
was rendered extremely perilous be-
cause she came out with the prince
and his companion. Lieutenant Christ
oforff. who carried messages from
Northumberland Stoessei to Gener-
al kuropatkin. Both these officers
were disguised. and had they been
captured by the Japanese they GER
tainly would have been executed.
Mrs. kravtchenko was so worn out
and exhausted by her adventure that
she was unable to see the correspond
ent of the Associated Press until
Wednesday. In an interview she spoke
as follows:
We left Port Arthur at o'clock on
the night Of Sept. Is. There was a gooo
wind and the moon was bright. We
were successful In avoiding the dam
ger OF the first Japanese blockading
line. We came up TO the second line
when the moon was under a cloud
Searchlights were flashing on all sides
but our junk was not discovered. We
suddenly discovered ourselves close to
another junk, with Japanese crew on
board. They presumably were pirates.
but we outsailed them and drew away
AT o'clock the next morning we
saw a steamer coming our way. She
had the appearance OF a cruiser and
was terribly frightened. When we
saw the cruiser Prince Radzivil and
Lieutenant Christoforoff went below
l strentched myself out on deck and
covered myself with dirty blankets.
Chinese were lying at my feet and
at my head for nearly an hour; al |
though nearly smothered I kept my
position. / never uttered a more
thankful prayer when I was informed |
that the steamer We had seen was a
Red Cross vessel and that her captain |
had no Intention of overhauling us.
Wonderful things are being done
by the STATS of the different hospitals
al Port Arthur. who are assisted By
ladies. There are thirty nurses for
each 1000 patients. The ladies devote
most OF their time to the making of
eiothess for the soldiers. The lauG
work is done by the poosr~eun
fhe wives OF the enlisted men. /
sick and wounded thus are kept sup
piled with clean clothes. The iaun-
dry work has 10 be done In dreadful
heat
There are no contagious diseases al
Port Arthur. but many deaths are re-
sulting from the bite OF large. red
headed fly. which feeds on the decom-
posing corpses scattered over the bat
tlefields. A doctor. who was bitten
on the thumb by one OF these flies. in
stantly severed that member. He then
had his arm amputated. but not before
the poison had reached his heart. The
result OF the bite was fatal.
EVERY day in the week the band
plays at one of the hospitals.
THE wounded men recover quickly
from the wounds inflicted by Maxim
projectiles and the bullet OF the Osaka
rifle. but the wounds resulting from
explosive bullets are awful and re-
covery is impossible.
tine old town OF Port Arthur is al
most entirely wrecked. The streets
are filed with holes made by explod-
ing shells. The loss of life In Port
Arthur from the bombardment has
been remarkably small.
."once / counted ffty-seven Japan
ese shells fired at a Russian battery. moi
one OF which reached its mark. The
Russian garrison is cheerful. 1t would
be impossible TO imagine a brave or
finer lot of men. They return from
three days duty with songs on their
lips.
Although many places in the ranks
are vacant all the men have unlim-
tied confidence in their power TO hold
the fortress against the enemy.
4 assure you.'' the lady said iT
conclusion to the correspondent that
! believe Port Arthur will stand
against the japanese: don't think the
stronghold win fall