The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-06-02
FIRST DETAILED
UNCENSORED REPORT
OF GREAT YALU BATTLE.
From pngc One.

bridge. y second shell fohoWeu QUICKLY
ana a third. and both seemed to burst
right among the japanese.
The Russians had the range as exactly
as IL they had measured it with line
Their shells exploded with great precision
all about the bridge. No damage was done
TO the Japanese. for at the very first they
had scattered on the run. The men at
work at the Kinteito end ran to cover un-
der the bank. and after ten minutes or SO
the Russians ceased firing.
MEN WORnING ON BRIDGE
SCATTER SECOND TINE.
There followed half an hour of silence
A man or two came out on the bridge, and
one venturesome chap sculled Sampan
across the stream. A long string of pack
ponies came up behind WIFI. bringing
planks for the bridge They gathered in a
bunch about the shore. on the reverse
slope of tho hill a couple of companies of
infantry had halted and stacked arms. The
Russians evidently took note of the trans
portation punched on the river bank. and
again the guns opened. and again there
was a scattering of men from about the
bridge
The animals ran, too, some of them with
their loads. Many ponies had two planks
for load. one fastened on each side.
One pony ran back toward the town, and
as he went the planks slipped from their
fastenings, worked under his feet and
threw him fiat.
The shells were bursting about very
rapidly now. and n shout went up that the
horse had been hit, but n man went up
and freed him from the planks and he got
up and cantered away. The only damage
done was by a shell which set fire to
house in VIII, and that was quickly put
out by soldiers. who climbed to the roof
and stripped off the thatch.
Several shells struck among the houses
in Wiju and it seemed that considerable
loss must have resulted, but it turned out
afterward that no one had been hit. The
last two shells went screaming clear over
the town in the direction of General ku-
rokis headquarters.
Apparently the Russians did not realize
the damage they could do in Wiju, for
they threw few shells into the town. They
might have caused considerable loss, for
the houses were not early occupied by
the men of the guards division, and If
vigorously skelled mary men must have
been hit. The only way to protect them
would have been TO withdraw them from
the town.
ADVANTAGE OF SMELLING
wIJU NOT APPRECIATED.
II the Russians knew the situation they
did not care about II, for only an occa-
sional shell came into Wiju. It seemed
more likely that what they were after
that morning was to- drive the japanese
TO reply with artillery, and thus disclose
the position of some of their batteries.
But the japanese guns were obstinately
silent
For three days the Russians kept deS;ul-
tory fire from their guns. throwing shells
sometimes on Kiueito, sometimes toward
Wiju and at times up and down the river
at places where they saw some japanese
at work. or thought they did It was as
If they fancied that this sort Of thing
would worry and bother the Japanese and
hinder them from trying to get across the
river.
It is hard to believe that the Russian
commander was thinking seriously Of the
work he had in hand.
Meantime, the japanese were working
with the utmost energy and rapidity.
At two or three places down the river
they began what seemed TO be prepara-
tons for bridging. The Russians sp-
pareutly believed them TO be such, and
frequently turned their guns upon them.
but the real work was going on in the
opposite direction The bridge material
and the pontoons that had been massed
below Wiju were loaded on carts again
and sent around to the right 1t was
done 80 swiftly and quietly that did one
not happen to see it going on, he would
never have known it.
CORRESPONDENTS KEPT
AT RESPECTFUL DISTANCE.
The Japanese took good care that no
one should SEQ it who could be prevented.
The foreign correspondents were forbid
den to climb any hill or go on any high
place. No iutimation of any sort as to
what was being done came from any jap
anese. Regulations were issued which
promised US that we might go about as
we liked and make our own observations,
but they also ordered that we must not
approach certain military works, none of
which were perfected.
The result was that whenever 1t suited
any sentry. he could turn correspondent
back from any place. Under that ar
rangement all could be seen II the regu-
lations were not faithfully observed. OF
course, no one violated any regulation and
consequently there was a much less ac-
was going on that has happened in most
other armies with which correspondents
have served.
That is the reason am unable to give
as explicit an account of the doinss of
the three days that followed the occupa-
ton of Kurito Island, as 1 should like TO-
In the afternoon of the 18th the shelling
was considerably heavier than it had ever
been before this time. Some of the
Japanese batteries took part in it. Up
TO then. there had been almost no firing
py the Japanese guns One battery, Just
east OF Win had thrown a few shells at
the russians, but that was all. This aft
ernoon, however, the firing was persistent
and at one time rather heavy. Several
Japanese batteries were engaged all up
pounded away in letsurely fashion. Kin.
work.
The also sent out men who fired most
Of the buildings on Ching-Ping, as il pre-
pairing to withdraw from the island
Just at the close of the day there was
SUDDEN increase in the vfgor of the she'll
continued for only few minutes. 1t de-
reloped later that a battalion Of one of
the regiments of the imperial guard had
been sent across from WIFI to Tiger Hill
In an effort to discover how far east the
Russians were present In any strength
sCRIMMAGE IN THE HILLS
OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE.
This was successful, for when the men
were discovered by the Russians on Tiger
Hill they sent out Cossacks from the di-
rection Of Chu-LIang-Che The Cos
sacks took up n position in the hills back
OF the Al River, and there was a short
scrimmage between them and the men of
the guard, which was not serious to either
side. 1t showed, however, that the Rus
stems were not near enough to the Tiger to