The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-11
REPUTATION AND
LIFE At STAKE
Lieut.. Gen. StoesseI Pleads Not
Guilty to Charge Preferred
Against Him.
COURT ATTITUDE INIMICAL
MANY OFFICERS OF HIGH RANK
PRESENT.

st. Petersburg. Dec. 1o.-Before a
brilliant assemblage of his old COM
rades in arms, Lieutenant General
StOessel was today placed on trial to
answer with his life and reputation for
the loss of Port Arthur on the list of
January, 1905, and in firm tones and
with quiet manner the general pleaded
not guilty to the charge of needlessly
surrendering the fortress and thereby
humiliating the Russian army.
The trial took place in the audito-
rum of the Army and Navy club. The
room resembled more a social gather
ing of officers of high rank than the
scene of a court-martial Among the
judges, spectators and witnesses were
General Kuropatkin. General Line
witch, Genera! Rennenkampf, Vice Ad-
miral Wren and scores of other prom
inent leaders in the Russo-Japanese
war. There were also present 200 Off
GERS and soldiers who had been at Port
Arthur, and who today were clad in
their full-dress uniforms with stars
and decorations.
Wore His Decorations.
General Stoessel was alone in civil
attire, and this made him conspicuous.
He wore proudly around his neck the
Gordon of the military order of St
George, which was conferred upon him
by the emperor during the siege and
on his breast was pinned the cross of
George III, awarded for conspicuous
bravery in frontier fighting. The same
coveted decoration was worn by many
of the witnesses and spectators. Empty
sleeves and crutches, especially among
the men who had been at Port Arthur,
showed that many of them had seen
hard service during the war.
The other accused officers, Generals
Fock, Reiss and Smirnoff, came to the
court clad in their uniforms. General
Smirnoff, who is a bitter enemy of
General Stoessel, ostentatiously seated
himself as far away as possible from
the central figure of the proceedings. -
Court Called to Order.
The court was convoked by Vice Ad-
miral Doubassoff. He declared it to be
the duty of the court to proceed with
the trial of the four officers charged
with the responsibility of surrendering
the fortress on terms dishonorable to
the garrison and humiIiating to the
prestige of Russia. He then called the
roll of 200 witnesses, including General
Kuropatkin and Vice Admiral Wren.
Several of the witnesses were absent,
but the court decided to proceed with
the trial. The entire afternoon was
taken up with the reading of the vol
luminous Indictment
Request Denied.
One or two incidents showed the at
titude of the court to be unfavorable
to StoeSsel. His personal request that
two additional witnesses be called in
was dismissed without ceremony. One
of these witnesses, DR.. Rozanoff, was
chief of the Red Cross within the fort
ress, and at the preliminary hearing
testified at the time of surrender Cen
eral StoesseI had 5000 able-bodied men
to defend the hundreds of miles of for
tihcatiOns, and the cold winds at the
time made it difficult for the soldiers
even to hold their rifles.
General Maiden, the other witness
excluded. is the author of a deposition
similar to that of DR.. Rozanoff. The
general commanded the firing line at
Port Arthur.
The correspondent of the Associated
Press spoke with witnesses of all
ranks. They declared the trial to be
an insult to General Stoessel and to his
army.
A prominent colonel said:
IF Stoessel is guilty. we all are
guilty"
Soldiers True to StoesseI.
General Stoessel is in receipt of tel
egrams from Irkutsk and VIadivostok
from the Siberian regiments formerly
under his command, declaring their
solidarity. General Kuropatkin said
to General Stoessel today:
Il trust il will end WE'LL
1t is generally understood that Stoes-
sci is in possession of a weapon in the
shape of telegram received by him
before the surrender of Port Arthur, in
which the emperor said:
Don't push the defense to extremi-
ties" meaning by this TO spare the
lives of the Russian soldiers when their
power of resistance was exhausted. Is
the emperor feared that the Japanese
might repeat the feat of former cap
tGre of the fortress, when they put to
death 10000 Chinese.