The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-02-20
THE ROAST
OF STOESSEL
JUDGE ADVOCATE sCATHING IN
DENUNCIATION OF SOME FAM
GUS RUSSIAN OFFICIALS.

ST. PETERSBURG, Feb. 4.-Deatn
for Generals Stoessel, Fock and Reiss
was demanded today by General Cur
sky, judge advocate of the court mar
tial which is trying the officers FOR
the surrender of Port Arthur to the
Japanese.
In his summing up General Gursky
characterized Stoessel as the respon-
sible agent for the shameful surren-
der of the fortress and the cowardIy
ending of its glorious defense, and
Fock and Reiss as the men who ms
pired and abetted him. For General
Smirneff, who was declared guilty or
not having taken measures to prevent
the surrender, the judge advocate ask
ed punishment of Imprisonment at
forced labor for four years. The Judge
advocate admitted the right of the
court to take into consideration the
former records of Stoessel and Fock.
He alluded to General Fock's heroic
conduct in the battle of Shlpka Pass
during the RussoSTurl1ish war, for
which he was given the Cross of st.
George; but he said that General Reiss
did not have the slightest claim 70
clemency; that he was a liar and a
vainglorious boasteT.
During the scathing indictment of
the judge advocate which lasted for
nearly six hours, Generals Stoessel,
Reiss and Smirnoff schowed extreme
nervousness and depression. General
Stoessel shifted uneasily in his seat
and flushed and paled alternately as
General Gursky toe his reputation to
shreds. He made no attempt to in
terrupt the speaker. General Reiss.
when his turn for castigation came,
Wrung his hands in distress, while Gem
eral Smirnoff was entirely without
that tlippant air of sell confidence
which he has hitherto maintained.
General Fock alone was not intimidat-
ed. During the entire address of the
judge advocate he glared ferociously at
his accuser from under his bushy eye
brows.
General Gursky paid the highest tri-
butte to the brave defenders of the
fortress. several hundred of whom
were seated in the crowded courtroom.
He said it was necessary to draw a
sharp distinction between them and
their leaders. He said history might
be searched in vain for failure to pun
ish the men responsible for such a
surrender, and he declared that their
undeserved decorations should be torn
from the breasts of the uniforms they
had disgraced Continuing, the Judge
advocate made light of the idea of a
massacre which General Stoessel had
advanced said that even the civilians
in Port Arthur had no fear of such
an occurrence. The passions of the
early days of the siege had given place,
he said, to a quiet fulfllment of duty
by Russians and Japanese alike.
General Reiss was accused CT disre-
garding the interests of Russia in the
negotiations the dangers of the situa-
ton in order further to terrify General
Stoessel.
General Fock dealt with the pre-
mature evacuation OF important
Notifications in order to impress the
garrison with the necessity for a
speedy surrender. In general the
judge advocate devoted himself to a
consideration of the surrender itself,
passing over the minor charges incor-
porated in the indictment. He con-
cluded as follows:
THE accused must receive the most
severe penalty provided by law in or
der that the principle proclaimed in
the time of Nicholas that the Rus
san flag, once hoisted must never be
lowered, be maintained"