The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1904-02-26

-
Port Arthur continues, and heavily
laden trains are pouring out thou
sands Of useless refugees who will
consume the provisions required by
the troops. Two thousand travellers
!, are waiting for possage over Lake
Baikal. They are suffering severely
from the extreme cold. One hundred
and twenty thousand men of corps
d'armee from Moscow, Kieff and
Poland are expected, and within
twelve days there will be in Man
churia 100000 Russian soldiers.
Two hundred Japanese disembarked
Tuesday at Talienwan. Two-thirds OF
them were sabred by Cossacks. The
rest escaped and returned to their
ships.
Looting Town Without Restraint.
Shanghai, Feb. 2O.-Refugees who
have arrived here from Chefu on
board the wenchow report that when
they left Port Arthur on the 18th, SOL
diers and bandits were looting the
town without restraint. So far had
this gone that the Russian tradesmen
in the town were barricading their
premises against marauders.
Abandon Port Arthur.
Berlin, Feb. 20. - From sources in
exceptionally close touch with Rus
sian military opinion it is learned
that Alexieff, in view of the utter i'm
possibility of maintaining and protect
ing a line of communication 1000
miles long as vulnerable to attack as
is the railway through Manchuria,
has determined to fall back upon
Hardin, leaving Port Arthur to work
out its own salvation.
He is now fortifying Hardin and
preparing the place as the base of a
large army. He has the fullest con-
fidence that Port Arthur will be able
to stand prolonged siege, should the
Japanese be allured by that tempting
bate, as were the Beers at Ladysmith,
Kimberley and Mafeking.
Place Japs in Dilemma.
The Japanese will be placed in a
dilemma If they advance on Port Ar
thur, and there will be perpetual
menace to their rear If they do not
advance. Alexieff will collect his
forces at Hardin and wait until
spring, meanwhile concentrating his
troops. Then, it Is claimed, he will
advance in such overwhelming
strength that no resistance to him
will be possible.
The news has been received in Rus
sian military circles with consterna-
ton. It has caused more painful
sensation than the calamities which
have befallen the Russian fleet, as 1t
more clearly than any event that has
occurred reveals the formidable ma
ture of the enemy to whom Russia is
opposed.
A Mere Incident.
st. Petersburg, Feb. 20. - Admiral
Alexieff has transferred the central
seat Of Russian military authority In
the Far East from Port Arthur to
Hardin, and the fate of Port Arthur
and the peninsula now is mere Incl
dent in the viceroy's scheme of de-
tense.
Informed Of the far-reaching char
acter of Japan's plan of campaign,
Alexieff realized at once that the chief
commanders proper position was at
Hardin, where the trans Siberian rail-
way divides into two. branches one
going to Port Arthur and the other
to Vladivostok.
Russian troops are concentrating at
Hardin as they arrive from the west.
Some Of these forces will be dis.
patched to reinforce the army at vlad-
ivostok and others will be sent south
To Join the Forces 81
at Newchwang, Tachwangho, Antung
and the other lower waters Of the
Yalu river. The troops sent to Vlad-
ivostok will be distributed SO as to
guard the coast between Yladivostok
Il and Korea and the Southeastern
Manchuria frontier. Thus It'll Will be-
seen that Admiral Alexieff appreci-
X ates the enormous scope Of the opera.
lions Japan is initiating. vi. II I!
Ahead Of the Russians and Japanese.
Z are hardships that would be- enough to-
dishearten any but the most indon-
table generals. The mountains Of
Manchuria are difacnlt Of passage
the roads are terribly rough, the
weather cold and stormy q and the
population an uncertain and danger.