The San Francisco call., 1904-12-10
Slaughter at Port Arthur.

/ the gorge between the fort hill and
Hachimadjama and intTenched on the
hill in an effort to assist the assaulters
Of the fort, who were attacking it from
the rear and met with terrible fire
from the outer works and with shrap-
mel from a ridge in the rear. A small
party Of Japanese gained a roadway
leading to the rear of the fort, but was
forced to retire.
The attempts which were first made
TO rush the western part of Rihlung
Mountain, officially called Sungshu
Mountain, also ended in failure. The
Japanese reached the parapets from
the moat, but fed as fast as they came
under the fire from within the fort
The walls were black with the assault
ers, who were deluged with shells from
the fort on Antse Mountain, across the
gorge of the Shuishi Valley. between
the two fortified ridges and from a fort
Immediately I'm the rear called the sup
porting fort of Sungshu Mountain.
HAND-TO-HAND ENCOUNTERS.
At 9 o'clock at night a force of 20OO
volunteers from the right division. led
by a general, started from a point
southwest of Shuishi village. pushed
up the gorge between the two fortified
ridges and attacked the supporting fort
of Sungshu Mountain, which is a short
distance outside the western confines
Of Port Arthur, with the intention of
enveloping the city from the west. and
also for the purpose of assisting the as
saulters Of the two Rihlung Mountain
forts. This force reached the fort hill
and engaged a strong force of Russians
upon its slopes in a hand-to-hand en-
counter, which lasted for two hours.
At the same time the japanese as
saulting the east and west RihIung
forts made desperate attempts TO rush
the interior Of the forts They gained
the ramDarts. inside which they estab-
! lished trench lines.
The interior defenses of both forts are
the same as those on North Keelxwa n
Mountain, but the east Rihlung fort is
the largest and strongest of the three
forts. 1t has upper and lower levels.
The two lower levels were the scene
of the most awful struggle, which last
ed from 10 o'clock until midnight. I'm
DER cover of darkness the Japanese
poured over the ramparts and furiously
attacked the first section Of bomb
proofs. The defenders received them
with bayonets and dynamite grenades.
while the machine guns on the upper
levels poured a deadly hail into the
ranks Of the Japanese.
The struggle was absolutely hand-to-
hand. The defenders of the greater
part Of the bombproofs on the lower
levels of the fort were annihilated. and
the sections and cross-sections of the
bombproofs were piled with corpses.
MOVED DOWN BY SLAVS.
The japanese gained practically the
whole OF the lower section Of the fort,
but were moved down by machine
guns and rifles when they attempted to
assault the higher levels.
For an hour before midnight the
japanese artillery shelled the higher
levels, while the Russian guns shelled
the lower levels.
A similar struggle was going on all
the time in the west Rihlung fort.
where the arrangement of the defenses
was the same.
At IL O'Clock a desperate effort was
made by the Japanese to push a force
up the gorge between the east Rihlung
fort, and Hachimakijama TO assist the
assanlters against the supporting fort
of Sungshu Mountain, but again and
again this force was repulsed by the
Russians behind the works and by the
guns on the ridge behind the fort.
At midnight the column attacking the
supporting fort of Sungshu Mountain
was compelled to retire, having lost
half the force.
The struggle in the two forts was
continued until dawn, when the as