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

proofs protecting the ammunition.
Under the traverses, covering the
galleries and bomb proofs, is heavy
masonry from two 10 three feet thick.
Then covering the whole is a pile Of
earth two feet thick. The original in
tentions was to have on top of all that
d thick wall of concrete, but this inten-
ton has been effected but partially on
one of the forts, not the East Keek-
wan.
All through November the engineers
were busy mining from the advantage
Gus hold they had on the north bat
terry. They began digging straight
down through the solid rock.
Remember that they were fighting,
not only what the engineers of the
great New York Subway and the en-
sineers of a railroad tunnel had to
fight. They have the hidden subtleties
of nature against them, as we'll as the
scientific ingenuity and all of the bit
ter hatred of a resOurceful and hardy
human foe.
Wonderful Work of the Mine Maker.
They had to use pick and shovel on
this welI-sWept height, and they could
do it only by night; and even by night
the Russians used their searchlights.
and whenever the searchlights found
them out they had to cease work and
) lie now. They could continue only when
Then they could only work few
men at a time and these few could
work only while the iine protecting
them, but few yards in advance. was
held by their comrades. vigorously fir
ing to keep back the enemy one hun
dred feet beyond.
In the midst of this, sometimes half
Concealed in the earch. sometimes
wholly underground. and toward the
latter stages many yards below there
would suddenly break forth a company
of desperate Russians, fired by hope
or reward. for Stoessel promises his
men the Cross of St. George, highest
decoration Of Russian merit, as well as
money prizes for breaking up any Jap
anese work.
Thus at night. bounded by shells.
sleuthed by searchlights, and routed
by heroes from across the way the work
has gone on. Forty feet down the
digging went Forty feet was neces-
sary to get below the level of the gal
leries and bomb proofs, then another
twenty feet forward to pierce a line
lateral with their heart. At last the
work was done and on December Is a
quarter of ton of dynamite was placed
in two of such mines. The galleries and
bomb-proOfs of the north battery were
blown into the air, followed reluctantly
by the demolished bodies of some forty
five Russian troops, forming the late
garrison.
The numbers of japanese enEa ged
in such work as this are not and could
not possibly be very great The whole
force engaged at any one time against
such single point is but several
hundred, and the losses on any day.
unless IT he a day of grand assault do
not exceed one hundred Yet the total
loss amounts into the thousands while
the expenditure of energy and the test
Of he
of are the hardest which physical con-
ditions can impose on man.
Epic of Assaults on the Two Dragons.
Against the great Ehrlung fort,
known to all who have ever seen Port
Arthur, as the Red Sarth Redoubt.
because it sticks out against the sky
line more conspicuously that any
other fortificatiOn there, and known 10
our language as the Mountain of the
Two Dragons, assaults of the same
number and Of equal fierceness have
been conducted.
During the assault OF Oct 90, which
was expected to reduce the fortress. in
troductory to a grand entrance into
Port Arthur on the emperor's birthday,
Nov. 3, the besiegeTs ran UP against one
OF the numerous Russian surprises.
They knew = mo- lay around the
Two Dragons, but how deep o
vide that liIOdJ WAS ,--~y did not know
and could not determine For the
same reason they could not determine
the presence of the caponieres Ia the
Northeast Cockscomb.
Scouts were sent out to investigate.
but they had TO operate within one
( hundred yards of the Russian sharp
shooters. over ground bare OF any COW
er. Their work was done so hastily
that apparently it was not done we'll.
Based on their reports and on inves-
tigation of the distance through spy
glasses, Colonel Imazaya the con-
structing engineer, devised scaling lad
ders to be used by the assaulting party
when they reached the moat. for the
purpose Of crossing it. The scouts had
reported the meats were ten metres
wide. Imazawa made his ladders four
teen metres long.
On the afternoon of Oct. o. the as
saulting party went in under heavy fire
with the scaling ladders. The survivors
who reached the brink of the moat
rested the ladders against one side and
dropped them across. The ladders
failed to touch the other side failed
to touch the bottom, and disappeared in
the moat.
That night pioneers issued from the
sap heads nearest the fort and dropned
one thousand sand bags at one place
irto this frightful moat- The sand
bags were swallowed UP. There was