The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-12
OUT OF THE TRAP.
kuropatkin Falling Back Slowly to
Tie Pass.

Tie Pass.
St. Petersburg. March 12.-(2 a. nj
Russia still has an army in the far east,
and its line of retreat is not cut. Field
| Marshal Oyama's trap was again
sprung too late to bag the prey he de-
sired. and. though pounded on the rear
and both TANKS and artillery, and los
ing heavily in killed, wounded and pris-
OnerS. General hurODatkin with the
main portion of his forces intact, is fall
ing slowly back to Tie pass, whittier a
considerable part of his army has al
ready arrived and Joined hands with
the reserves in preparing a position
behind which the beaten army may find
shelter.
Beyond the Jaws of the Trap.
General Kuropatkin himself, with the
rear guard, was reported Saturday aft
ernOOn in the vicinity of Syanzia, TWEEN
| ty-five miles below Tie pass, having &C
| complished some fifteen miles of his re-
| treat and being already beyond the
| jaws of the trap as originally set. How
many of his men he was obliged to
| leave behind. and whether any of the
| units of his army were cut off or cap
! tured before the retreat began, is not
| stated.
Unbounded Relief.
Both General -Kuropatkin's official
| dispatch and that of the Associated
/ Press from Tie Pass were filed Satur-
J day afternoon. The news contained in
| these dispatches will cause unbounded
| relief in st. Petersburg which, in the
| absence of any information since Ku-
| ropatkin'S lacOnic retreat begun" pub
| lished Friday, had come to believe To-
| kio rumorS that the entire army would
| be driven to the mountains and forced
| TO surrender.
Long Days March Ahead.
A long days march, or even two. re-
| main to be accomplished, but the re-
! treat now presents no tactical difficult
| ties, and is believed to be largely
| question of shaking off the pursuing
| Japanese from its TANKS and rear, and
| apparently no longer a matter of cut
ting its way through a formidable
| force.
Hard to Get News Through.
The Associated Press dispatch from
! Tie pass was filed with great difficulty
by the correspondent, who left Mukden
! with the rear guard. spent Friday with
General Kuropatkin and took a long
ride to Tie pass Saturday morning.
| after which he again returned to the
| front. The dispatch indicates the STRAIT
egg of Field Marshal Oyama's double
turning movement.
The attack on the west side is regard
/ ed as a feint, but as having been de-
| signed to have the Jaws of the trap
n
wan. on the Mandarin road, where a
II mountain range pointing like a gigantic
finger sOuthwestward toward Mukden
begins to slope sharply away from the
road and the railway.
General NogTS share in the scheme
has already been sufficiently chroni-
Cled- General KurOh was to spring
the other jaw. which. closing in be-
tween the Sadiaputze and Madzyadani
positions, and, striking the river at Flu
pass, bit deeply into the Russian flank,
was all but sprung shut.
Still Chance.
Whether General Rennenkampffs
corps or even General Linevitch's army
was cut off to the eastward by his
stroke, or whether they had already
turned on the central army, it is i'm
possible to learn, but even if these
forces are cut off they might have a
chance of conducting a retreat.
According to the Associated Press
dispatch from Tie Pass General Kuro-
patkin seems before the battle TO have
yielded in his decision to retire TO Tie
Pass in Difference to the united opinion
cf his principal generals, who We're in
favor of standing at the Shakhe river
and offering a battle and later on in
ordering a retreat. to have gone
counter to the opinion Of the same
council.
MOI d MOMENT 90 boon.
Events show the decision was taken
not d moment too soon. The credit of
bringing off the army therefore is
largely Kuropatkin's. as he took per-
sonal charge of the rear guard and ex-
posed himself as fearIessly and reck-
lessly as the merest private on the
lighting line. Whatever may be the
verdict of history with regard to the
/ %eneralship in the battle nothing but
n f0h IAa he
Russian rank and file.
Too Soon to Decide.
Whether the retreat will pause at
3 | Tie Pass or whether the army will
: make its next stand further along on
4 the road to Hardin will depend on the
extent to which Kuropatkin has inn
proved the naturally strong adVant-
4 ! ages Of this position, and the condition
of his army, especially the extent OF
& the supply OF munitions and artillery,
and largely to the condition of the pur-
4 suing ia panese, who exhaustion may
be too great to enable them to push
home a determined attack at Tie Pass
ST. Petersburg Rumors.
Among the rumors current in st
petersburg yesteI6 day, one was that
General KauIbars and his staff were
4 among the captured. 1t is impossible
20 obtain confirmation of this or amp
CT the other rumOrs assigning various
Il specific portions of the Russian army
u to the fate of their Port Arthur
! brethren. 1t appears best to await au-
81 thentic information before jumping al
n conclusions.
II In the Russians dark hour of defeat
q the influential newspapers raise ne
q voice. \ number of them attribute the
major portion of the blame to a Ions
u series of reverses, not to military
81 causes. but 10 the faulty internal or
4 sanization of the country.
81 Bureaucracy Blamed.
81 The Novoe Nremya in Il burst of bit
u ternesS lays all TO the door of the bur
81 eaucracy, as was the case in the Cri
u mean war. The government, in sharI
a denial of peace rumors, shows that "a
u present, at least. there is no intention
a Of suing for peace, and intimates tina
81 the first oYeTtures therefor must enan
n ate not from Russia, but from Japan.
RETREAT OF kUROPATKIN.
"A Ru1ei.n= wAnt Throunh Rain n