Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-02-27

Cnee FOO,f EeD. 2I.-SeVeraI Japa- nese officers and sailors landed here from an open boat early to-day. They refused to give any information as to whence they came.
 At the Japanese consulate it was given out that the men belonged to gunboat which was damaged in the fight off Port Arthur and which sank trying to reach this port. E
 The statement that they were mem bers of the crew of the merchant steamers sunk near the entrance of Port Arthur for the purpose of block ing 1t and that they were pic--ed up by the torpedo boats in company was positively denied. They crossed the gulf in the open boat in which they arrived. The consul claimed that he had been expecting the arrival of sur- vivors of the action off Port Arthur
 St Petersburg, Feb 27.-The Port Arthur correspondent of the Russ tele- graphs as follows:
 ''On the morning of February 25 a Japanese squadron consisting of six battleships and four light cruisers, ap- peared on the horizon. The Russian cruisers -Askold, Bayan and Novik were in the outer harbor. The .apan- ese ships, upon attaining a position within thirty five cable lengths (about four and quarter miles, of the Rus sian ships, opened the attack. At this time two of our torpedo boats were re turning to our ships from Pigeon bay. All the Japanese cruisers attempted to cut them off; nevertheless one of the torpedo boats succeeded in reaching Port Arthur, while the other turned back. The scene of the battle was thus cut in two, the Japanese battle ships cannonading the Askold, Bayan and Novik, which were supported by the batteries, and the cruisers pursu- ing the Russian torpedo boat, which entered Pigeon bay.
 ''The cannonade lasted forty minutes and several shells fell at various points in the fortress. One Chinaman was mortally wounded by slinter and one by a shell.
 Tn yesterdays affair the maneuvers of the Japanese appeared to be defec- tive. While turning back to sea the Japanese battleships got punched and our ships did not fail to take advan- tage of this fact They opened a run ming fire and one could clearly see shells bursting amidst the tremendous target. This clumsy maneuver on the part of the Japanese is considered as affording weighty reason for the belief that the enemy's losses were heavy.
 a Japanese torpedo boat lies on a bank off Fort White Wolf It is ap- parently one of those which partici- pated in the night attack with the freighters.
 s'I close hearing our cannonading, but without knowing the occasion of it.''
 Tokio, Feb 27.-The official report of the attempt made last Tuesday night to block the entrance of the harbor of Port Arthur reached Tokio last night (FTidayl. The report was writ ten by Vice-Admfral Kamimura, divis- ion commander under Admiral Togo. The report recites that at a certain point near Port Arthur Tuesday even ing a number of merchant steamers, escorted by torpedo flotilla. were dis patched for the purpose of closing the entrance to the harbor. The torpedo fiotilla rejoined the fleet at 10 q. m. Wednesday at rendezvous previous ly agreed upon and reported that the steamer Hokoku Maru had been sunk at the foot of the lighthouse on the left side of the entrance. The Bushiu