The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-03-25
RUSSlA'S MILITARY, LEADERS

after one of the fiercest of the man
desperate fights before Plevna.
'I was sitting in my tent writing
dispatch," said Forbes, when the fla
was suddenly drawn aside and i'm stalk
ed the most terrible and awe-inspirinI
object I have ever seen in my life. /
was Skobeleff. whom | knew well. blu
I had to look twice before / recognize,
him.
.'His smart Generals uniform wa
torn into shreds and stained with bloc,
and gunpowder from head to foot. Hi
sword. which he held in his hand, wa
simply smothered in blood. and grea
drops of IL fell on the floor of the ten
as he greeted me.
"tThere was n terrible cash across tn,
TON of his forehead. and his eyes still
blazed with the fierce excitement of tn,
hand-to-hand fight which he had jus
had with hundreds of Turks.
while he stood there telling m,
about the battle, his favorite Captain
Kouropatkin, came up and called hin
away to decide about the disposition OF
some of the prisoners. Kouropatkir
looked even more like a god of wa,
fresh from the scene of carnage.
HE was bleeding from half a dozer
wounds. but he stood as steady as q
rock when he saluted Skobeleff. The
latter suggested that he had better &c
into the hospital, but he CURLY replied
".No. General There is work to be
DONE
II heard afterwards that Skobeleff
and Kouropatkin had fought side by
side throughout that bloody day, and
had slain the Turks literally by dozens.
Their exploits formed the theme of
many a story told beside the campfires
| of both armies throughout the cam
paign.''
Capt. Kouropatkin, who was the
right hand man of Skobeleff, all
through the Russo Turkish war, as well
as in the fight at Plevna. is now Gen.
Kouropatkin, the Cars Minister of
War. and the most noted of all the Rus
sian fighting men.
He was trained in a harder school
than most modern Generals. and went
through enough perils to satisfy the
biggest elutton for adventure. After
one of the bloody fights in the Shipka
Pass he was left for dead upon the
field.
All night he Law there, sore wounded
and unconscious. 1t was in the bitter
cold of Balkan night, and he might
have frozen to death had he not been
almost entirely covered by the body of
a dying Turk, who had fallen across
him after he sank to the ground with
the agony of his wound.
In the morning kouropatkin recover
ed consciousness, crawled from UNDER
meath the Turk, ana made his way
slowly ana painfully to the Russian
camp, Where ms comrades received MN
as II ne We're ghost'
houropathiii pecaiile 'le nero OIL tfe
RUSSIAN army second oiily TO MS grea.
le'uei ohopeien' Wy MS oiaVeiS anu
~, IN ,oaa d. VIC o"p'uie VI e'eoN
", -.
araon,s of ,,,i,,,,i,,a. Co,s.a,,t,,,a,,,o ~,
49,, D,,,o r,s.,-...a-s' 80
sreat s,roon tbromo,, centraI Asia IN
the ga+as Of uarat ord Solish,,r,, to,d
the British nuh,ic NOT to he alarmed fo,
the safety of india
",rbav will, NOT he ab,e +o concuer
the Turcomans. he declared ."Tbe
Turcoman barrier will last for our life
time at least"
Gen. Tergoukasoff, the Russian COM
mander in Central Asia, disagreed with
Lord Salisbury. He told the Car that
the Turcomans might be conquered by
three years hard fighting.
THAT is too long" said the Car.
He recalled Tergoukasoff and sent
Skobeleff to command the troops. Sko-
belief promptly secured Kouropatkin
for his chief lieutenant. and together
they performed in a few weeks the
task which the British Premier had
declared would take a lifetime.
Cock Tepe. the great stronghold of
the Turcomans, was carried by assault
after n months siege. The brunt of
the attack fell upon Kouropatkin, who
body of light troops from
1t was a great victory, but it sullied |
the reputation of both the Russian |
leaders. They ordered their troops to |
give no quarter to the Turcomans of |