The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-01-10
STOESSEL DECEIVED.
He Thought KuropatIin Was Coming
to His Relief.

Headquarters Third Japanese Army,
at Hoft arthur, Jan. z, via Tientsin,
Jan. 10.-Captain Tsunoda, the Japa-
nese staff officer who was sent to Port
Arthur to inform General StoesseI of
the contents of the message of the en-
peror of Japan. saying that the garri-
son should be treated with the greatest
consideration, says:
General Stoessels first inquiry was
about the whereabouts of General Ku-
ropatkin. said I did not know exact
ly, but understood he was somewhere
about Mukden.
General StoesseI remarked that he
had last heard from General Kuropat-
kin october s, saying he would come To
Stoessel added that he had sent out
Chinese spies, who returned and report
ed that General Kuropatkin with a re-
lieving army was at Kinchou, 20 miles
north of Port Arthur. General Stoessel
was plainly incredulous at my state
ment, that General Kuropatlxin had
been defeated and driven back toward
Mukden, so 1 produced maps, showed
him the position of the two armies near
the Shakhe river and gave Stoessel de-
tails of Kuropatkin's defeat with the
loss of SO, 900 to $4,000 men, at which the
Russian general expressed amazement
and quickly remarked that he had been
misled.
general stoessel then asked where
the Baltic fleet was, and I told him that
some of the ships had not passed the
with a hopeless expression, General
Stoessel said:
Now that Port Arthur has fallen,
there is no use for the fleet coming any
Il then asked General stoesseI what
had caused the most damage to the
garrison during the siege, and he re-
piled:
arrived our defense works became use
less
general stoessel then pointed out
that he and Admiral AIe.ien had been
through the Boxer trouble and had seen
the work of the japanese army. Cen
eraI Stoessel also said he had been as
sociated with the Japanese Generals
Yamaguchi and Fukushirna at that
time and expressed the opinion that the
Russian and Japanese forces had borne
the lions share of the work. Since
then he had a high idea of the organ I
ization and fighting qualities of The
Japanese army.
1.-THE real cause of the war was, in |
General StoessePs opinion, the ignor- /
ance of the Russian people of the fight !
ing qualities of the Japanese. The fist
attack on Port Arthur in February by
the Japanese fleet was a tremendous
surprise. The forts, he explained, were
only partly garrisoned by 1000 troops.
'.At this point General Stoessel safd
he had always opposed the scheme OF
Governor sSakharoff, of Port Dalny, in
spending money in building up Port
Dalny instead of finishing the defenses
of Port Arthur. Sakharoff, who was
an engineer officer, died of dysentery
during the siege.
Continuing General Stoessei
praised the ingenuity. pluck and pa
tience of the Japanese infantry, espe- /
cially in making siege parallels and
trenches to the forts.
referring to the artillery, General /
said that at first he did not |
think the artillery practice good, but
he was soon compelled to recognize
how good it was. General Kondrat-
enko and a colonel of engineers (Ir- /
mani. General Stoesse1 pointed out /
were killed in North KeekWen fort by |
Z, JaDanese shell just prior to the ex-
pIosion of December IS. General
Stossel felt their los greatly as Kon-
dratenko was a clever engineer.
General Stoessel further said he
had served his emperor in three wars
and he had been trice wounded, first
in the RussO-Turkish war, second in
the Boxer trouble and third at Port
Arthur Now he felt he had earned
the right to return to Russia to live
in his old age with his family. The
general added that he was taking
home with him five children of Of
fcers who had been killed during the
'7After his conference with General
Nogi. General Stoessel expressed grati-
hcation at meeting so pleasant a gen.
tleman. He had not expected the
him. General Nogi appeared to Cen
eraI Stoessel as an old friend rather
than as the commander of an army
which had forced him to surrender"
To Protect VladivostoIx.
St Petersburg, Jan. 1O.-The Russ
.odax confirms the Paris Temps re-