The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-08

no sight of them; hardly any sound of
them.
When morning came the sappers sank
YEARLY TO rest and the scouts, disheart-
ened and nonplused, returned for con-
sultation to Imazawa. That is one
reason why the Japanese did not en-
ter Port Arthur on the emperor's
birthday.
Moat Flooded, Not With Water but
Flame.
But the doughty japanese are not
the ones to be given way. They did not
turn back, did not mourn, showed no
despair, came to work TO meals. as
cheerfully as ever in the rice paddles.
Yet winter was coming on, the wind
was bitterly keen, the thermometer fell
to zero and below, while the equinoxial
gales blew in from both seas They
We're living in trenches, surrounded by
the charnel houses of their own making,
and were protected by miserable dug
outs, shielded from cold and wind by
a few broken bOUghs. light shelter tents
and hastily packed earth. Death was
preperred to a wound, for the wounded
had small hope of succor; yet living
! was welcomed, cherished and fos-
! tered.
Meanwhile the Russians were busy.
Much Of their available kerosene was
taken through a subterranean gallery
/ of the Two Dragons into the immense
noat, and there poured over piles of
straw along the bed. Then they wait
ed.
On the fifth grand assault at the
same time when the north battery of
the east CockscOmb was taken, the Two
Dragons was attacked.
The kerosene and straw were set on
fire and the parties who leaped into
the moast expecting to find the ca
l.
| comb were caught by flame. There
were no capOnieres on this fort. Many
persisted miserdbIy. Some vaIiantIy
fought the flames. A few survived
These few-that is, the few who do
the work in WaTfare-the few who ac-
comphsh that for which the thousand
die-theSe few made possible the Jap
anese advance. Through. over. and be-
yond these few. the japanese viii some
day enter Port Arthur
Taking and Holding Forts Against
All Rules.
According to all scientific maxims
! the forts the Japanese take are UNI
tenable. Dominated by other and SUI
peTiOr forts, wise gencraliShp would
seem to dictate that they retire until
( such time as they can take a series
in toto This Napoleon laid down:
this Won Moltke believed; not Nogi-
Give him an inch and he keeps it.
II he has done nothing else at Port
arthur, he has given the lie to the
critics of the Japanese at the begin
ming of the war. who predicted that.
though these new wonderful soldiers
might have Irish elan and Yankee
tmpetUOsity, they would prove to be
without the dour British pluck when
the long reverse came. But they have
borne up now for five months under
conditions as hard as soldier ever faced
have not gigged rod. have kept at
it patiently night and day, not to be
denied, never resting. never appalled,.
however severe the losses or however
great the hardship.
The Japanese soldier holds on be-
cause he can exist in conditions that
would unnerve those of another race
| BY nature Clearly, in all his instincts
neat abstemious by necessity. he lives
! there on the same space Of ground
under which he will eventually liza
six-foot plot.
! In some places, like the bloody angle
! of the Eternal Dragon. he is sur
rounded by the stencil of his own dead
and would weller in his own filth were
! he not a marvel for sanitation.
! Wedged in between the Russian
! forts. with the enemy within fifty
yards on three sides. under the men
/ ace of three Russian batteries whose
guns at any moment may rip him out
/ he yet lives and holds his stake there.
with something of the reluctant Ger
! lI-nlN 4 man WOulu nave were his
! head between his enemy's legs.
] The great forts holland there have
been FIVE grand assaults: one on the
I 18th Of August. one on the 18th of Sep
/ TENDER. one on the 2Sth of October one
on the 2Sth Of November. and one on
! the IS Of December. They come about
/ a month apart, for an army needs
I that time for rest and the progress of
I its subsidiary operations. All the as
saults have been at the same objec-
/ tive, to pierce the Russian right cen
+ ter. All have failed and succeeded
/ failed TO break the right center but
tyet have succeeded in driving one more
nail. little or big, as the case may be,
/ into the Russian coffin.
The great slaughter was during the
I first assault Since then the losses have
been small. The Japanese are learn
} ing that there are some things that
even fanaticism and fatalism cannot
/ do.
/ Nogi's Butchers Bill'' of Shuishing
! Valley.
/ Crossing the Shuishing valley in Au-
/ gust, entirely without protection. Nogi
/ lost $4,000 men, and did not take the
forts
Then the army sat down and went
to work with pick and shovel by night.
This was done under the enemy S
| searchiights and star bombs and with
in rifle range. IN places it was done