The St. Louis Republic., 1904-06-26

| q arms and even women are assist
! = ing in completing the defenses- =
| y Sixty civilian bicyclists maintain =
| Q communication with the outside q
| . world The enemy is twelve miles y
| = from the fortress. -
q = . o . q . = = = . . . y = %R
Toxic. June 2s.-Admiral Togo reports
| that on Thursday his patrol boat dis
covered the battleship Peresviet and
| seven other vessels. accompanied By nina
| torpedoboat destroyers, near the entrance
! OF Port Arthur harbor.
They warned him wirelessly and he irnt
mediately advanced his entire feet exceps
those engaged On special duty.
| The Admiral then discovered that tho
| Russian feet, which consisted OF six bat@
| tIeships, five cruisers and fourteen de-
| stroyers, evidently planed z dash south-
ward by sundown-
ATTACK AT PORT ARTHUR
The Russians stopped outside the enc
| trance to the harbor. and after nightfau
a feet Of Japanese torpedo-boat Destroy
ers resolutely attacked the Russian ships
| and succeeded In torpedoing and sinking q
| battIeship Of the Peresviet type and Dis
| ablinE the battleship SevastopoL
A cruiser OF the Diana type was OBJ
served being towed into the harbor on
Friday morning, and It was evident she
had sustained serious damage.
The Japanese ships sustained little dams
age The torpedo boat destroyer Shira-
kumo was hit by a shell which fell in the
cabin and had three men killed and three
others wounded The Chidori. vessel Of
the same class, was hit behind the engine.
room. but no casualties resulted therefrom.
Torpedo boats stxty-four and Sixty-sx
were slightly damaged
TWO LAND VICTORIES
A portion OF the japanese troops at
Tnku-ShRn were In two engagements on
Thursday. They first surprised and routed
squadron Of Cossacks posted at Ia
Tehe-Kias, ten mile0 northwest OF San
To-Kow. on the road to Ta-Che-Kaio. and
next repulsed q force OF Russians. who
occupied hill north OF 6an-To-Kow.
Tho Russians Tetreated to the northwest,
their artillery and infantry posted at
Hsaia-Ha-Tou. covering their retreat
The enemy left sixty dead on the field.
RUSSIANS LOSING HEART
Niuchwang. June A.-(via Messenger to
Koupantze-)-The Russians seem unable
to reform their plans. which have been
upset by General Kuroki. and are losing
interest and heart in the struggle. The
local censor is not passing any communi-
cations The secret police are extra dill
gent. and Il Is extremely hazardous to at
tempt to send out uncensored dispatches.
Niuchwang is filed with rumors OF
more fighting to the southwark. The re-
ports come from native sources. A few
Russian officers. who talk guardedly, say
the rumors are untrue.
The field telegraph between Kai-ChoW
and Niuchwang. which was finished
Wednesday. was cut in three places lass
night and i've miles of wire carried away.
Il IL supposed to have been the work Of
Chinese In the pay Of the japanese.
This Is regarded as evidence that the
Russians cannot hope for the friendship
of the Manchurians.
ROBBER BANDS.
Large bands of robbers are giving the
Russian outposts much trouble northeast
OF NIuchwang. The Japanese It Is said.
have supplied the robbers with /, 900 mod
ern rifles and much ammunition. French
correspondents from Mukden report that
the Japanese up TO last Monday had made
no demonstration near Liao-Yang. These
correspondents are now with the Russian
forces south OF here. but American and
British correspondents are not permitted
to see the fighting.
vIceroy Alexieff has issued a proclama-
ton to the effect that all traffic on trS
Lao River south OF MuSden must stop ana
that foodstuffs must be delivered to the
Russians. According to native reports the
Russians are losing thousands Of horses
from glanders.
Foreign military attaches who witnessed
the fighting at Fung-Wang-Cheng declare
that the Japanese artillery Is superb and
that the japanese Army is equal to the
best OF European troops.
MORE FIRING AT PORT ARTHUR.
Chefoo, June Is. II D. m--There was fir
ing at Port Arthur last night. June "a. and
tonight The booming Of big guns was
distinctly heard here tonight
Eighteen japanese transports have been