Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-08-30
GREAT FURY.
Continued from page ~

hausted by the duel of Aug "A ANA
Aug. 70, and the desperate and unSuC-
cessful all-day attack of Aug. %.
The sound of cannonadng is heard
palmer in Lao Yang.
Che Foo, Aug. 20. p. m.-Sevcrc
fighting was resumed at Port Arthur.
Aug y, according to Chinese who left
thre on that evening. Between Aug. %
and % there WAS some fighting but it
was less severe than that on the nth.
One of the Chinese was arrested and
compelled to carry the dead from the
battlefield at PaliChuang which the
Japanese attempted to capture on Aug.
&c. Thirty carts were used to carry the
dead, numbering 400 from the trenches
and outskirts to the city. A police
man told the Chinese that the efficient
soldiers in the garrison at Port Arthur
numbered over 10000 men.
The fighting which began on the 9th
soon became general. While the Chin
csc We're at sea. Aug. %, the heavy fir
ing was resumed. Two junks contain
ing contraband of war We're sunk by a
Japanese torpedo boat 10 miles off
I.iaoti promonotory., The Japanese are
using thousands of Chinese coolies to
dig trenches, build earth works and
drag cannon about. The report that
heavy fighting was resumed. Aug. 81,
agrees with a previous rumor from a
creditable source that the japanese had
planned to resume the general attack
on that date.
The information received here during
the past week seems to confirm the belief
that the great Japanese assault upon Port
Arthur which began. Aug. -. WAS by no
means as successful as anticipated. Al
though they succeeded in pushing their
lines forward, the japanese Were unable.
in any instance to occupy the important
positions from which they drove the
Russians. They succeeded only in weak
cning the Russian lines without making
important advances in their own.
The report that the Japanese forces be
fore Port Arthur have received heavy re
Inducements via Dalny has been con-
tirmcd.
\ Chinese who lived near Risluneshan
declares that he saw the Russians occu-
pyinS this fort, from which previous re-
ports stated that they had been driven.
Probably both reports were correct ut the
time they were current, as semi-ofiicial
adviceS state that many positions about
the fortress change hands repeatedly. 1t
is said that fort No. has changed hands
four times and is now unoccupcd. The
Japanese filled the boats in front of this
fort with sand bags.
The arrangement of the Notifications at
Port Arthur is described by n Russian
as very similar to a chess board upon
which every fort, with respect to the zone
covered by its artillery, has the moving
powers of the Queen in the game Of chess.
St Petersburg, Aug. 20.-12.20 =. NJ
Cen. KurOpatllin, since Sunday morn
ing, has been drawing in all his forces
from his eastern and southern fronts
toward Lao Yang, Anping, Tsegow,
I.iandiansian and Anshanshan, consti-
tuting the main position of the outer
defence line of LAO Yang have been
abandoned. The heaviest fighting oc-
CURED on the extreme left where the
japanese advanced to the assault again
and again with bayonets. The posi-
tions ut Tsegow and Anping were held
by the Tenth European corps.
The attacks were delivered with ia
natica1 bravery. The Russians lost a
large proportion of officers, ten guns
and from 1900 to 2000 men, but the Rus
slams had been generally successful i'm
beating the assaults all along the line
and the Russians declare that the order
to retire came as a surprise. just when
they We're expecting orders for gem
eral advance.
This is considered to be proof that
Gen. Kuropa tkin finding his main po-
sitions menaced on the flank and antic-
ipating difficulties in withdrawing
owing to the condition of the roads.
which have cIIlIanIx- two
into mud boss by the rain considered
that a retreat was imperative. The re-
tirement from the east front was
greatly impeded by the conversion of
the Ian river into a mountain torrent
and this probably accounts for the
failure of the Japanese to follow up the
retiring Russians.
The Japanese column moving up the
Lao river and threa tening Gen. Kuro-
patEin's west. is regarded as being ex-
tremely dangerous and Gen. Kurol5i's
extreme right seems also to be WORKING
around Gen. Herschelmann's position
at Anphg and TO be moving toward
Mukden. The strength of the enveIon-
ing japanese armies may be Judged
from the fact that Gen. Oku alone. who
is coming up from the south is officially
reported to have e. 1000 men.
Whether Gen. Kuropatkin intends to
accept battle at Lao Yang may not be
known positively for several days, but
the belief several times indicated in
these dispatches prevails here that he
Will withdraw northward. having
found that he is not strong enough to
cone with the japanese and realizing
that Lao Yang is made no longer