The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-20
Japanese Troops Were Greatly
 Outnumbcrtd at Mukdsn
\ CORRESPONDENT WRITES
Debris strewed the Line of Retreat and Fields Were crowded-Dust Clouds Formldable-Japs
 Employed Innovations.

St. Petersburg. March 2o-u:sO a. m.)-A sheaf of belated Associated Press dis- patches filed at Mukden Tie Pass and Kaiiyuan, reached St. Petersburg last evening, having been discovered among other papers committed to the censor at the front. where they had lain from a week to twelve days Writing under date of March B. the correspondent mentions that General Kuropatkins confident de- claration of satisfaction with the situa- tion, has steadied and encouraged the army after eight days battle until the wounded, exceeding in number those of the battle of Liao Yang. were crowding the station and the Russian settlement and in the settlement cemetery chaplains were conducting funeral ceremonies A fey quotations from the correspondents note book indicate the gruesomeness. of the scene:
 Everywhere are pale faces of eorpses sleeping among dead horses, slaughtered animals and abandoned quarters of beef. Bloody bandages which had fallen off. strew the roads. There is bursting shrap- nel everywhere: six horses are killed hundred feet away. A wagon train ahead has stopped and two soldiers are quarrellng on the plain over horse feed. Dead and wounded are passing on the shoulders of soldiers or in mule filters, carts, wagons or Chinese vehicles. Here. one Russian and one Japanese wounded side by side, feed each other there lie several little Japanese wounded to whom big Russians are kindly attentive In the soft sunshine. grave-diggers are at work on all the roadways Japanese of- ficers who had been taken prisoners are seen in the street of the settlement Every- where are evidences that the two great armies have come closer to handgrips than ever before"
 Japanese outn.mbered. In the concluding portion of dispatch from Tie Pass, the first part of which was published March Il, the correspondent states that according to information the Japanese strength in Mukden was eighty battalions less than that of the Russians. The Japanese also were inferior in guns at many places. The number of men at the beginning of the battle was 70O O00, manning the greatest field works ever constructed. Not only in duration and the number of troops and guns engaged. did the battle exceed all of former con- tests, but also in expenditure of ammunl- ton, the accumulated stores of which were so enormous that after continuous artillery fire of ten days. both sides were still able to continue
 Describing the retreat, the dispatch pic- lures debris strewn along the road, marching soldiers increasing their loads by spearing bread, vegetables or fruit on their bayonets, at the same time discard- ing heavy boots. Chinese garments, knap- sacks and blankets. The correspondent then continues:
 After the initial excitement at Tava. where few wagoners plunged, without reason, into gulches, the army arrived at the steep banks of the Pu river, where heavy artillery hastened down upon the water-covered ice which slowly gave way and tremendous exertion was required in getting the guns out and up the further bank, the men in the little gorge get- ting into a white heat of excitement.
 ''The passage of division through the retreating column route to the south west to strengthen the right flank. gave confidence of short duration, for Japanese cavalry. breaking through above Tie Pass, overlook us at Santaitse.
 Road and Fields Crowded.
 ne TOHu ana HeluS are H SOilu mass of transports, and the dust Is so formid- able that 1t Is impossible to see a hum dred yards. Japanese grenades gave the initial impression of shrapnel. and with rife set the mass Into confusion. Day break disclosed the plain covered with riderless horses. horseless vehicles. frag- ments of harness. heaps of stores and furniture Night found the army brave:y bivouacing in bare plains. swept by cold. searching wind. with not a soli- tary dugout to shelter them, but prepar- ing a new position.
 Under date of Kaiiquan, March B, the correspondent says:
 "The Russian army east Of the point where the Japanese pierced the line at Flu Pass was entirely unaffected by con- fusion during March l0 Fully two bat talons of mixed troops escaped north by rail, and were found at Gunshu Pass. sixteen miles northward
 "The Japanese in battle employed phe- nomenal innovations, unknown to Euro pean military practice showing that they are not mere copyists. One Japanese de- tachment had the Russians beaten near the northern tombs and could have en- tered Mukden two days earlier but re- treated.
 When the army arrived at Tie Pass everything was inadequate to the wants of the occasion. The city was filled with troops crowdIng every available spaccs and even now there Is nothing better to accommodate the army"