Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-09-16
THE RUSSO JAPANESE WAR,
Port Arthur Still He'll. May Soon Surrender.
Kuropatkin Beats in Foot Race, But
Does Not larry At Mukden.
RUSSIAN wARsH1P AT SAN FRANCISCO


until the war is over. We expec,
that the officers and crew will be SEM
home by way of New \ ork."
Aud then he added:
cit is hard to be so far away from
the war when one can only make :
record by fighting"
On the deck were between 200 and
300 sailors. Among them was d
priest of the Russian Greek church
with long hair and beard, wearing d
soft felt hat and what looked like Il
gray kimono. Silently he stood al
the rail counting his beads and look.
ing at the tall buildings of the
strange city. An inspection of the
decks of the converted cruiser, to
which no objection was made, re-
vealed the fact that she had 25 guns
mounted.
Speaking with another of the of.
hcers the question of the safety of
the Pacific mail steamers and the
question of contraband of war was
brought up. "Ah, that is a thing of
the past. We cannot fight" he said
as he looked at the guns of the u. S.
Battleship Ohio. "But," he added,
'if the Government will rot let us
dismantle the ship we will have to
make hasty repairs and put to sea-"
RUssIA's EASTERN FLEET SAILS.
Sunday noon the Baltic squadron
started for Libau, where it will
remain until joined by the Orel
Jemtoung and Szumrud, and will
then proceed to the Far East.
The fleet formed iu double line,
led by 10 destroyers, aud made an
imposing showing. 1t included three
sister battleships of 1856 tons
the Ruvoroff, Borodino and Alexan.
der III, the first named flying the
pennant of Admiral Sojestvensky;
three other battlesbips, the Oslabia,
Sissoi Veliky and Navarin, the first
lying the pennant of Admiral Felix
erson; the cruisers Olga, Nakimoff,
Dmitri, Donskoi, Aurora and SWEET
lana and the trim little Almas, in
tended originally as a yacht for
Admiral Alexieff, flying the pennant
of Admiral Inquist.
BLOODY WORK AT PORT ARTHUR
How long the brave defenders of
Arthur's port will hold out cannot
be told. A friend of Gen. Stoessel
at st. Petersburg's court makes
this statement: "After deliberation
OF the highest authorities in
the land a decision was reached
that it was useless to hold Port
Arthur except for the value of
the warships there. Accordingly an
imperial order was given for the
ships to go forth and not to return.
This accomplished, Russia's honor
having been fully vindicated by the
gallant defense, the garrison was to
give up the fort in order to save
further loss of life. This humane
intention was frustrated by Admiral
Ouktomsky's defiance Of instructions.
and his return to Port Arthur after
the famous sally.
"Once again the fleet is to go out.
Immediately afterward the ships
unit to go To sea are to be blown up.
Then General Stoessel, who has been
decorated with the highest order for
bravery, will be instructed to surren-
der the fort"
The report published in Paris
that Rear Admiral Prince Ouktom-
sky had been tried by court
martial, sentenced to death and shot
for disobeying the order not to return
to Port Arthur after the sortie of the
Russian squadron on August 10, is
untrue. He has not been tried by
court-martial, but will be recalled.
A japanese column numbering 700
men, while marching along at night
on a road in valley before Port
Arthur, met with frightful dis
aster through the explosion of
an electric land mine, care
fully laid by the Russians three
weeks ago. 1t covered nearly q mile
of available marching space. The
explosive was placed at the bottom.
Rocks were placed next, and on top
of these clay was packed so carefully
that the ground gave the impression
of not having been disturbed. The
indications of Japanese activity in
this vicinity put the Russians on
guard. Near midnight the outposts
rushed in and reported that the
Japanese were approaching. The
Russians withheld their fire for some
time. Suddenly they threw search
light up the valley. The Japanese
opened with rifle fire. The Rus
slams waited until apparently the
whole japanese column Was in the
danger gone. Then the mine was
exploded, The force of the explosion
Knocked number of Russians down.
and the sight of Japanese rifles, water
bottles, legs aud arms hurline
through the lighted space made by
the searchlight, was an awful spec
tacle. Some rocks landed inside the
Russian lines. There was one
appalling moment, during which the
garrison itself was stunned, then a
deathlike silence. The searchliebt
coldly lighted up the road and hill
sides strewn with dead. The follow
ing day the Russians buried the dead
but owing to their dismembered and
mptllated condition, the Russians
were unable accurately to estimate
the number of killed. A few Jana
nese escaped, however.
THE FIGHT IN THE NORTH.
The Japanese losses in killed aud
wounded in the battle of Liaoyang
are officially placed at 1888. Gen.
eral kuropatkin estimated his own
Killed and wounded at 1900. The
impression prevails that both.tbese
hgures were exceeded, both armies. il
10 believed, losing about 10000 each