The Muskogee cimeter. [volume] (Muskogee, Indian Territory, Okla.) 1901-19??, 1904-08-25
PORT ARTHUR
IS DOOMED
NEWS OF THE FALL OF THE
FORTRESS EXPECTED HOURLY
BELIEVED TO Be JApS' FINAL ASSAULT

Position Of sesieged 10 Such That the
Japs Are Urging Them to surren.
der-Heavy and Determined Fight.
ing Reported-May be Last Fight
LONDON: A dispatch to the
Central News from Toxic says that a
big oil warehouse at Port Arthur is
blazing furiously. and that the pos
ition of the besieged is such that the
Japanese are urging them to sur
render. The sortie of the Russian
warships from Port Arthur is regard.
cd as q confirmation of previous re-
ports that the Japanese have occu-
pied an important land position, the
fire from which compelled the Rus
sian vessels to leave the harbor. 1t
is not thought that they returned to
their former anchorage after the
sortie.
Junks which left Port Arthur on
August 13 report that heavy fighting
was in progress.
ST. PETERSBURG: News Of the
defeat of the VladivostOck squad:on
has added another crushing blow to
the reverses before Port Arthur. No
public announcement has yet been
made of the sinking Of the Rurik. Tho
Che Foo report of the sortie of the
Russian war ships from Port Arthur
naturally cannot be confirmed, and
the admiralty Is puzzled to know
whether it refers to the ships which
remained in the harbor when the
main squadron went out on August
10, or to the ships of the late Ad.
miral Withoeft's original squadron. In
either event, however, 1t Is construed
as evidence that the shells of the
the harbor, rendering it Impossible
for ships to remain there any longer.
1t Is interpreted in some quarters as
indicating the eve of the storminy OF
the fortress.
The opinion is growing that the
heavy losses sustained ty the Port
Arthur fleet may com mnietely alter the
plans regarding the Baltic squadron
a division of which is cruising In the
gulf ready to sail.
LONDON: Port Arthur's day G.
doom has come. in the opinion of mill
tary experts, and news Of the fall oi
the fortress is expected almost at any
moment. The Japanese have begur
what Is believed to be their final as
sault and after several days of con
tinued fighting they are raining shO
and shell upon the place from com
manding position on Laing mountain
close to the harbor and the inne
forts.
At sea Admiral Togo is declared Il
he aiding with his heavy naval guns
and the crippled ships of the Por
Arthur squadron, driven out by th'
merciless fire of the besieging army
have steamed out to meet their fate.
Aiding the murderous fire fr)u
Laing mountain, the Japanese are re
ported to have heavy siege gun
planted on the Liauti hills and a
Sushiyen. These two batteries ar
fewer than three miles north of tn
fortress. The guns that the Japan
ese have carried forward In their ad
vance are heavy ordinance. The ,ei
feet of their fire at this short rang
must be murderOus in the extreme.
The Russian cruiser Novik is RI
ported to have been sunk iorty mile
= of Using Chau. There Is no corfi
nation of this, however, although tn
presence Of q detachment Of fast Sal
anese cruisers Is reported off tina
port, whittier they had followed tn
Czarevitch and the three destroyer'
and this lends color to tho report.