Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-01-04

Toxic, January. 2. n Port Arthur has
surrenderedl Exhausfed by months lof
almost constant fighting, decimated by
disease and Casualties and hopeicssly
sealed In it's rocky fortress, tho gallant
garrison has yielded to its gallant be-
Isiegers and the end is now written OF the
most dramatic war incident Of modern
| times So ri t9,t
At9 o'clock last night General Nogi,
commanding the Japanese army of in.
Iyestment, received from the Russian
General Stoessel note saying that he
found further resistance useless and ask
ing for q meeting to arrange terms of
capitalization. The note was simple and
direct and the Japanese general immedi-
ately nemed commissioners to confer
with representatives of the Russian CON-
mander.
/ The nature of the terms agreed on lis
not yet known, but the dispatches from
Toxic indicate that they will be of the
most magnanimous character. The EN-
peror of SJepan himself, through the
chief of the imperial staff, has given pub
lie his expression that "General Stoessel
has rendered commendable service to his
country in the midst of difficulties and
that it is his wish that military honors
be shown him.
a dispatch from Toxic quotes military
opinion as believing that the entire gar
rison will be allowed to march out under
arms and may be sent to Russia on parole.
Late dispatches from Japan have shown
that the gallant defense OF General sss;ttoes-
sci and his men has nowhere been given
| a finer appreciation than in the land of
his foes, and it is more than likely that
Japan will embrace tho opportunity to
show her magnanimity and admiration of
the gallantry of Port Arthur's defenders
by allowing them all the honors which
war permits victorious army to bestow
on avanquished foe.
The siege and the defense of Russia's
stronghold in the far East have been
marked by bravery, gallantry and des-
peration unequalled in modern warfare
and hardly excelled in military history.
Daring Exci.es Worlds Admiration.
In the doomed fortress its people have
lived in devastating rain of shell and
shrapnel.
On scanty rations, on every side know
ing that hope of succor or escape was in
vain, the garrison has fought with a
tion of the world They met the untiring
assaults of the Japanese with a grim
valor that won even the praise of their
foes, and the fighting has been waged
with a relentlessness that often refused
truces to bury the dead and collect the
wounded.
Over corpse-filled trenches men have
fought hand to hand with cold steel and
dubbed guns, aud at short range have
hurled at each other hand grenades filed
with high explosives. The whole story
is one of undannted courage and sublime
bravery.
What Port Arthur has cost in human
life and in money no estimate of even ap-
proximate correctness can be made. The
losses have been appalling.
1t has been reported that in some an-
gagements leading up to the recent cap.
ture of 2G3 Meter Hill, the attacking force
! lnst as high as forty per cent of the force
engaged, while the garrison losses, of
which no word has come, must have
/ / tbessn boom ffrriightful.
The defense of the position which fell
to her as a heritage after the Chinese
Japanese war has cost Russia practically
/ her entire fleet in those waters. Her
ships lie from Port Arthur's inner basin
| to Chemulpo in Korea, and along the
Shantung peninsula, as hulks of once
| proud vessels or ignominiously disman-
tied are inferred in neutral Chinese har-
bors. Save the three or four cruisers and
smaller craft that lie in the ice. bound
i refuge OF Yiadivostok, not q warsnip
now flies the Russian CROSS ia the wators
| of the northern Orient. Japan, too, has
had her losses in the long drawn-out
siege.
Fighting Has Been Terrific.
Togo's fleet lost many flne ships and
smaller vessels since the morning of Fsb..
ruary 8, 1904, when he hurled bis fiest al
| tho Russian ships in Port ArthpYToad-
stead.
i The siege of Port ArthIM properly
dates from May 81, whepsr eng aging