The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-03-15

out interrupting ti1e northward move
ment Of trains was delicate piece Of
train dispatching, but the oVerworked
railroad staff accomplished it success
fully. At 3 a. m. the second string was
started nCrthWard and at 9:45 g. m. the
last train of the third string Of sixteen
departed. All the trains had fifty-two
to fifty-five cars. Three trains contain
ed the ammunition Of the artillery
which had been dispatched the evening
before in $40 cars: another train car
ried warm clothing, one was coal-laden
and one was. loaded with Red Cross
supplies. one with engineers depot sup
plies, three with commissariat freights
and the remainder with wounded.
The last train out was. the service
train with all the employees of the rail-
way, property and station papers. The
skill, exertions and devotion of this lit
tie band of civilians rendered service
the Importance of which cannot be
overestimated for the future of the
Russian army. It saved thousands Of
wounded soldiers. an immense amount
of ammunition and millions of dollars
worth Of property and cash. 1t must
be remembered that five miles north of
Mukden an .uneeasing fight was in
progress. Trains earlier had been bonn
barded with shimose shells and the
railroad was twice damaged The
trains travelled. unlighted and without
whistiing, under eight-minute Roadway.
All about fires blazed in a gigantic ring,
burning straw, coal, wood. corn and
biscuit. Occasionally boxes of car
tridges exploded with a disagreeable
dry rattle, or rockets rose and burst in
clusters of stars. The flames had plen-
ty of material, as there We're over $500
carloads of corn and biscuit and over
$4,000 cubic feet of coal, straw and
millet. This was only the reserve COM
missariat and other stores that We're
destroyed The wounded crowded the
station, filled every vacant place in the
cars, and the brake beams, buffers and
roofs were occupied, while Others were
hanging to the steps. 5ss#:8
The last train pulled out as General
Tserpitzky's troops began to pass the
: station, shortly before the explosion
j which wrecked the Hun river bridge.
/ On the platform remained eight teleg-
raphers who had volunteered to stay
at their keys until the arrival of the
japanese. In the hospitals of the 1.-Two
MAN division of the Red Cross and
! medical staff were 1850 severely wound-
ed, including 1854 japanese, the Chinese
governor of Mukden giving his word to
defend them until Mukden was occupied
by the Japanese. How many wounded
reached the station after the evacua-
don IS not known.
OF the military railroad all but 125
miles was abandoned and the wagon
cites destroyed. Several tens of thou
sands of boxes of ammunition were
abandoned. But most important of all
from material point of view is the
loss of the Fushun coal mines which
supplied the road with coal.
The trains were heavily bombarded
ateswitch 81, but came through safely.
The retirementaofsthe wagon transport
was twice imperilled by panic the
morning of March 10. a Japanese
squadron and guns concealed in the
mountains opened fire and the drivers,
who were undisciplined peasants, ain-
accustomed to the sound of shinose
shells, began to desert their carts and
wagons, cutting loose the horses or
throwing the stores from the wagons.
Confusion became rampant and spread
to the ror-stricken civilians, and
even glnners, and was communicated
to some infantry troops. The gray-clad
crowd, without formation. hidden by
dust, surged ON The Japanese, how
ever, soon ceased firing and order
was restored. Troops following the
wagons carried 4off a few cannon but
were unable to gather the ambandon-
ed property Soldiers broke open off
GERS boxes and portmanteaus and ran
sacked them for valuables.
Just before dusk another panic oc-
. CURED at the station of Santaitse,
where an enormous collection of carts
had halted for the night. A column Of
Russians advancing was taken for Jap
anese and the cry Of Japanese caval-
. ry'' was raised. The unarmed drivers
! commenced to flee, while those with
rifles fired in every direction. The
cooler heads claimed the panic-stricker
mass, but a number of lives were lost
and additional property sacrificed.
? The retirement Of the central anC
i. western armies was effected by -four
roads and also over the fields between
, The army Of General Linevitch follow
ed the eastern roads from F'ushun, I'M
pan and Flu pass. The third army re-
. tired in eehelon, leaving a strong real
[ guard. '&s' F5$.-s y}
The Japanese who at 1lightfalI occu.
: pied half Of the village of santaitse
burst at daybreak into the park of the
! imperial tomobs and opened a heavy
, rifle fire. The Russians. however. re-
, Trained from opening fire in the holy
, places of the Chinese. The Japanese
did not press severely from the rear
bending their efforts to thrust in from