Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-03-02
W AS A SURPRISE.
MISSIONARY FROM SEOUL GIVES
NEW VERSION OF FALL OF
PORT ARTHUR.
Rev. A. A. Pleters Says That General
StoesseI Paid Little Heed to the
Wishes of Staff - Council of War
Decided to Hold Out.

y
General Stoessel surrendered Port
Arthur, to the entire surprise of
his staff, three days after holding a
council of war with his officers, in
which it was decided to hold the fort,
is the news from the battlefield which
Rev. A. A. Pieters of Seoul, Corea, now
in Des Moines, obtained from two par
oiled Russian officers who were pas
sengers on the same steamer with
him on his return to America. Rev.
Pieters Is a missionary to Seoul, and
a brother-in-law of I. R. Campbell of
the Iowa Automobile and Supply COM
pany of Des Moines.
Rev. Pieters and the two Russian Of
fcers, Artillery Officer Bondy and En-
gineer Below. sailed from Corean port
on January 81 and came as far as Van
couver together, the Russians taking
the Canadian Pacific to st. Paul,
thence to Chicago and Rev. Pieters go
ing on down to Seattle and thence to
Des Moines.
"The Russian officers and soldiers
who we're in the siege of Port Arthur
are very indignant at General Stoes-
sci and talk freely Of the way things
we're conducted within the fortress
said Rev. Pieters. According to the
information given out by these two Of
ficers and from other sources learned
that a council of war was held three
days before General Stoessel surren-
dered and it was decided to hold the
fort. The officers were dumfounded,
then, when they learned three days la
ter that Stoessel had decided to sur
render They say he conferred with
his wife, after the conference with
the Russian officers and then decided
to give up the fort.
Another Defended Port.
81 am informed that General Kon-
dratenko was the brains of the man
agement of Port Arthur and not Gen
eral Stoessel, and that when General
Kondratenko was killed while holding
a council with other officers by the
bursting of bomb in the midst, there
was no capable head of the fortress.
Three weeks after General Kondraten-
ko was killed, Stoessel surrendered.
Both Artillery Officer Bondy and
Engineer Below were on the warship
Sevastopol, Officer Bondy leaving the
ship to go UP into the mountains and
construct two of the forts Of Port Ar
thur. These were impregnable and
Officer Bondy told me that not one of
his men was injured. Engineer Below
three times kept the Sevastopol from
sinking. After the fort was sur.
rounded all of the warships were sunk
so that they could be Of no use to
the Japanese.
stpofb 80 oarn eo;J tI,o+ 1r,o T,r
anese had stormed Port Arthur at the
beginning of the war they could have
taken it with ease, as it was not well
fortified then. But it has cost them
the lives of over $4,000 men and as
fully as many wounded. The. Russians
claim they have lost about 10000 men
and had 10000 injured in the siege of
Port Arthur.
Japanese Badly Slaughtered.
There was an awful slaughter of
Japanese soldiers when they first at
tempted to take the fortress by storm
the latter part of June. The Japanese
believed they could storm the fortress
as they had done it in the war with
China when they took it from the
Chinese Hence they marched boldly
out In the open up toward the fort, re-
fusing to be checked until thousands
of them had been moved down, their
ranks falling like theistalF grass under
the scythe of the reaper.6 The Rus
SLAMS exploded mines beneath the feet
of the advancing troops, blowing hun
dreds of Japanese soldiers to perfect
atoms. They hurled the bombs from
the fort into their ranks which, ex-
ploding. caused the death of hundreds.
The Japanese learned after thousands
had been killed that they must use
different methods.
The Japanese then began to besiege
the fort by digging trenches in zig-zag
fashion from their base of supplies up
toward the fort. They finally got
within twenty rods of the fort and
could fight behind their entertainments
with comparative safety, while their
adversaries could not get at them But
it was a costly victory for the Japan
ese.
1.-The Russian officers whom I met,
like the other officers of Port Arthur,
were only allowed to carry out with
them from the fort forty-fiv pounds
of baggage. These fellows had moth
ing but the clothes on their backs.
They had to buy some necessary ar
ticles at the first city they reached"
Korea Will Be Prize.
He believes that Korea will be prac-
tically controlled by Japan if the ia
panese nation wins.
"The people Of Korea expect that
Russia will win." said Rev. Pieters. IT
don't know why they have this belief
unless it is the thought that Russia is
all powerful and Japan is too small
country to stand a prolonged war
AS to what the people prefer. Of course
that is independence. When it comes
to choice Of who should be the ruler
believe they would prefer Japan to
Russia.
Ever since the beginning of the war
Japan has occupied the principal ports
of Korea and shaped her government.
While Korea has an emperor and he
has his cabinet, Japanese influence
dominates the government and has
since the beginning of the war. ia
pan knows too we'll If Russia ever
gains control of Korea that it will
mean the ultimate control Of Japan
| by the Russians. Hence the ultimate
control of Korea, while neutral terri
| tory, is really one of the most import
ant issues of the war
| "Of course what the people of Korea
want is independence, and yet that
| country is in much the same condition