The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1905-03-27

1 tfbIl TIT rain vi SHttAn
"We had bombprOofs made of steel
| rails, and these were some protection
| against the six inch shells, but when
| the eleven 'gch shells began TO pour
| down upon us our bombproofs might
| Just as well have been made OF card
| board for all the good they did Under
| ground burrows might have been pro-
| lection, but there was no opportunity
| to use them, for every available man
| was needed TO repel the attacks of the
enemy. The japanese soon got the
! range and sent their shells with deadly
precision wherever they would reach
| the most men. They had long before
| wrecked the town with their lombard
ment and In the latter months they
aimed at the men. We grew callous.
| The incessant shrieking of shells over
| and about one has its terrors at first,
| but one soon grows used to even this,
and we ceased to pay attention to
| them.
Port Arthur Is the first city in the
| history of the world that was ever
| bombarded by eleven inch guns When
| the first OF these giant shells fell among
| us we thought 1t had been thrown from
| a warship, but when they followed one
after another with perfect precision
and aim we knew that no ship had fired
| them, for such accuracy OF aim is i'm
possible from floating battery. These
shells wrought carnage In our ranks.
The number of them the Japanese
threw was stupendous. | know that
on one day 800 fell, which is an aver
age Of more than one every two min
utes
THE noise Of such constant cannonad-
ing day and night and the necessity of
being ever on the alert and of taking
your tarn on the firing line or the ad-
| vanSad posts had a fearful effect upon
our nerves, and II Is wonder we were
| not ell maniacs before the capitulation.
We became so accustomed, however,
| to having the din OF battle In our ears
that on one dayI think it was Jan q
when the Japanese fired no shells at
us we were dazed by the silence We
kept putting our hands to our ears as
IL we were deaf. You know how after
a long journey by rail, with the rattle
of the wheels constantly In your ears,
when you reach your destination you
continue to hear the rattle of the
wheels. You know how you feel the
motion of ship after you step ashore.
Well, ii was a sensation not unlike
that. The roar was In our ears, though
mufiled, even after the bombardment
had ceased"
And then there was the noise of
your own guns" remarked the re-
porter
sour own guns?" replied Captain
SAKE. They did not count, for we
had no ammunition to fire except
what the Japanese sent us and did
not explode. The fighting was fierce,
but on our side 1t was all at close
range. The enemy We're SO close to
us that we could hear them cough
and sneeZe. 1t was no use to fire
rifles at them they were too near.
Our men threw hand grenades and
fought them back with the bayonet.
They had only twelve feet to leap to
be inside our fortlhcatlons, but for
months we held them back by sheer
force of fighting, and they never We're
able to make that twelve foot leap"
And what OF General Stoessel, about
whom his subordinates express such
varied opinionsY
"A grand man, n noble man!' cried
Captain SAKE, his eyes glowing with
enthusiasm. "He shared all the hard
ships OF his men; he asked no one to
go into any peril where he would not
60 himself; he inspired us all with his
heroism General Kondratchenko was
as brave and as loyal, but no more so.
He was Stoessers right arm through
out the siege. They worked and
fought together, and when Kon
dratchenko fell a hero perished."
''Is there any man who can be sin
gled out as the hero of Port Arthur"
Every man who was through the
siege proved himself a hero; none more
than another. Such hardships, such
wounds. such scenes of CHASTITY horror,
such fighting endured so long with such
splendid fortitude, entitle every man
of the thousands who defended Port
Arthur to the laurels of hero. Stoes-
sci surrendered because there was
nothing else 10 do. To have resisted
further would have meant a wanton
sacrifice of life, for the soldiers were
dying by thousands of starvation, dis
ease and wounds We had no ammuni-
ton left to fight with and no food left
to sustain us. The Japanese had beaten
us back inch by inch, and no human
power could prevent them from cap
turing the city. Therefore capitulation
was all that was left for us. We had
made as good a fight as men could
have made, and there would have been
no sense in fighting against the lnevita
BILE. We who were with the general,
working under his orders and seeing
his conduct, know he is hero"
At this point party of ladies, arriv-
ing to take Captain Sake to an enter
tainment brought the interview to a