The San Francisco call., 1905-01-04
sToEssEL's DISPATCHES.
Messages That Informed the Gar o1
the GarrisOn's Plight.

the Garrison's Plight.
ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 3.-General
Stoessel's dispatches by way Of Chefu
to the general staff relate how the po-
sition of the fortress Of Port Arthur
gradually became less safe and more
critical, the ravages of scurvy in
creasing enormously the casualty list.
already so considerable from the jap
anese assaults and bombardments
Toward the end of the year the sup
ply of ammunition completely gave
out; there were Ia 900 sick and wound
ed In the hospitals, and 300 fresh
casualties daily. The general reports
that at the end of the siege he had
only 10000 men under arms, the re-
meinder of the original garrison hav-
ing either been killed or disabled. On
December rs the general wrote:
The position of the fortress is becoming very
painful. Our chief enemies are Sc1rvy, which
is moving down the men. and 11-inch shells
which know no obstacle and against which
there Is no protection. There remain only a
few who have not been. attacked by scurvy
We have taken all the possible measures but
the disease is spreading The passive endur
ance' of the enemy's bornbardment the 11-inch
shells, the inpossibiifty gof replying for want
of ammunition, the outbreak of scuryy and
the loss of a mass of officers-aH these causes
diminish daily the capabilities of the defense
and the tale of losses of higher officers is an
indication of the enormous losses we have sus-
tained. OF ten generals. two-Kondratenko
and Tserpitzky-hare been killed, Raznotvsky
is dead. Two are wounded myself and Con-
nadeer), while Gorbatowsky is suffering from
contusions. OF nine regimental commanders
and colonels. Prince Matchabeli Naoumenko
has been killed. Dourie and Glagolew have
succumbed to wounds and four others have
been wounded. One lieutenant colonel has been
killed and two are wounded.
On December 29 General Stoessel
wrote:
At 10 o'clock yesterday morning the jap
anese blew up part of the parapet of Fort No.
ment along the whole front, but especially on
Fort No. 3: At about o'clock in the after
noon they dashed to the attack OF the parapet
from the moat and glacis, where they had been
held in readiness. Two attacks were re-
5ns By e tse @
reinforced by their reserves, began to run
across the fnoat in groups of about FIVE. They
talions had entered the interior of the fort
Our troops fought from the entertainments.
which were badly damaged Part of our
troops hid themselves in the easements but
the japanese placed machine guns in front of
the exit of the easements. thus .depriving our
an attack Three counter attacks from the
outside by our reserves met with mo success.
The fort consequently remained hkthe posses
sion of the Japanese Our losses were consid-
cradle. especially in officers The survivors of
Sy the b H fsssts S Of the he
this fort the Japanese became masters of the
whole north front and the fortress hold
out only few days more. We have aimoS
no AMMUNITION. will take measures to pre-
vent carnage In the streets
Scurvy .is sensibly weakening the garrison.
/ have now under arms only 10O0O men, all
sick. ,s,'' 80
Generals Fock and Nikitina have been ver-
liable heroes and admirable, celiaborators
Among the artillery Colonel Ramon was
wounded, Colonel Peterhoff was killed and SIX
officers were woundeds Among the other high
Of1Cers there was enormous a
killed or several. times wounded Many com
panies are commanded by enslgns and the
companies only average sixty men strong.
trained from Hseaulting Yesterday they ex-
ploded mine under the Notifications of Fort
No. and about d score of hardy Japanese
by, bayonets and hand grenades In revenge
the Japanese bombarded all night long and all
day long with ll-inch shells. ESPECIALLY the
full well that there was no possibility Of our our
tenders.
There are 1900 sick and wounded in the
daily.
General Stoessel's reports of Decem-
Der % and 20, painting the Narrowing
picture of the depleted and exhausted
garrison fighting on hopelessly, were
posted on the bulletin boards this aft
crnoon and attracted enormous crowds,
whose grief at the fall of the fortress
was overcome by admiration for the
heroic defenders. The War Office and
Admiralty were soon besieged by grief
stricken relatives and friends of those
at Port Arthur, eagerly asking for
news
The city is perfectly quiet, the agi-
tators finding that the people were in
no mood for demonstrations against
the Government.