The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-10
Russian General Awaits With Terror Result of the Pend-
 ing CouTtnaTtiaI
PORT ARTHUR'S COMMANDER
 EXPECTS ID BE EXONERATED
Indictment Is Filled With Many Ugly Charges and the Surrender of the Fort to the laps Is Being
 Deeply Probed.

St. Petersburg, December 9.-The final stage of the courtmartial of Lieutenant General Stoessel will begin in this city tomorrow. There have been protracted delays in taking the testimony in the far east but now this material is in order and proceedings will go ahead rapidly.
 General Stoessel is accused of having before he had exhausted all the resources of defense.
 The punishment for this, under the Russian code, is death. He is to be tried alsJ on the charge of lacking initiative and with having exceeded his powers. General Fock and General Ress are CO., defendants with him. The first is &C., cused of having conspired toward the surrender of the fortress and the second with having executed the order of sur render General Smirnoff, General Stoes- sells most bitter enemy, is to be tried on a minor count The court will be composed of nine generals under the presidency of Vice Admiral Doubasoff. It will include Generals Kuropatkin, Billing, Myloff and others. General Gursy will be judge advocate. General Stoessel will be defended by Deputy Syrtlanoff and Colonel Veliamoff
 The basis of the indictment is prac- tically identical with that set forth in the secret report of the defense of Port Art..ur. made by Generaf' Smirnoff. The trial in causing the most intense interest m army circles.
 Stoessel In Bad Shape.
 lal eta fa of excitement and the doctors are appre- hensive of the effect upon the veteran officer. who has suffered two paralytic strokes since the fall or the Iortress The general said today that he was glad thai the trial was coming to a close.
 He expects to be fully rehabilitated
 The indictments against Generals Stoes- sel, Ress, Fock and Smirnon are iuii O. silelights on the final stages or the siege of the fortress and on the condl- tons which existed in the defense with +h ambiguous position of General Smir- noff. Nominally the general held the chief command of the fortress, but actual ly he was supplanted by General Stoes- ,se,. who was little more than the mouth piece of General Fock.
 Before communication with Port Ar tbur was finally cut off General Kuro- natkin both telegraphed and wrote to t,t.eral Stoessel, instructing him to hand over the command of the fortress to General Smirnoff and rejoin the Man ehurian army. General Stoessel did not follow these instructions. On the con trarv he remained at Port Arthur and arrogated to himself the supreme author 3ty General Smirnom found his hands completely tied. His suggestions were ignored, his orders countermanded and his subordinstes received direct orders from General Stoessel, without any ref-
 
 at the preliminary inquiry turned on the allegations against General Stoessel of military incapacity, lack of foresight in regard to the collection of the supplies a.. the failure to make the best use of his troops by providing them with baoequate rations.
 Military Council
 At military council held December :, the food condition was thoroughly can cassed and the first idea of surrender was formulated in General Stoessel's s name by General Ress. chief of staff This proposal was rejected by the coun- cil. Later General Fock was appointed chief of the land forces in succession to .General Kondratenko, who had been IlSilled. General Fock is conceded to be irresponsible for the evacuation of the vital points between December 4 and January h. and the evidence on this point is in- Icontrovertible. The military council was held at Port Arthur on the evening of December 29. The council voted 19 to 5 in favor of holding out to the last ex- tremity. Generse Stoessel held no active mart in the discussion, but General Reiss, who recited a number of reasons for sur render undoubtedly spoke in his behalf. The most sensational port of the indict- ment restes to the immediate circum- stances of the surrender.
 On January 3, the day after the evacu-
 SA points. General Stoessel sent General Mac henko with a letter to General Nogi nroposing to enter into negotiations for the surrender of the fortress. Generals Reiss and Fock appeared to have been the only superior officers cognizant of General Stoessefs Intention to capitulate. The news of the dispatch of this letter when it came out three hours later, caused great indignation among the generals and admirals. Some of them protested by telegraph to Admiral Alexieff and Gen eral Kuropatkin. Admiral Wiren de- nounced General Reiss as traitor. The same day General Stoessel sent his much commented telegram to the Emperor, be- ginning with the words:
 StoesseIs Telegram.
 Great sovereign, forgive us. We have done everything within human limits. Judge us, but judge us mercifully'
 General Reiss was given fuii power oy General Stoessel in the negotiations. Etoessel should not bid farewell to the troops when they marched out of the fortress after they surrendered. He re- tained for his own use 10 Of the Is carts placed by the victors at the disposal of the Russian women in Port Arthur. His only solicitude, witnesses have affirmed, was for his own baggage.
 It will be the -Ity of the courtmartial 10 determine whether the equalization of Port Arthur on January 1 was justified hccording to Russian military usage and lthics. There were probably some 17,0OO