Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-02-22
Russian People, Dissatisfied
With stoessel Verdict, De-
mands Trial of Others
SENTENCE TO BE COMMITTED
Believed That Emperor Will Spare
stoessels Life His Defense of
Fort Stubborn Tragic Ending Of
Great Career - Once Proclaimed
Hero.

ST Petersburg. Feb. 22-The passing
of sentence of death by a court martha
upon Lieutenant General Stoessel
who was tried on charges of coward :
ice and treason in surrendering Port
Arthur to the Japanese is received
with little satisfaction in the Russian
capital. where it is felt that the trial
of Generals StoesSel Flock. ReSs and
S,nirnoff has done practically nothing
toward establishing the real response
bility for the fall of the fortress.
The newspapers express sympathy
with General Stoessel and declare that
the death sentence undoubtedly will be
commuted. They demand also that
General kuropatkin. Viceroy Aexieff
and other officers still more intimately
responsible for the loss of the war, be
placed on trial.
The court recommended that the
death sentence upon Lieutenant Cen
eral Stoessel be committed to ten years
Imprisonment in fortress and that he
be excluded from the service
BY great effort of self-control.
General Stoesse maintained rigid.
soldierlike mpassivity. General
Smirnoff also was seemingly unmoved.
but there were tears in the eyes Of
General Reiss.
Communication of the sentence was
asked on the ground that Port Ar
thur beset by overwhelming forces de
Tended itself under General Stoessefs
leadership with uneXampled stubborn
ness and filled the world with astonish-
ment at the heroic courage of its gar
rison; that several assaults had been
reputsed with tremendous losses on the
part of the enemy: that General Stoes-
sci thruout the siege had maintained
the heroic courage of the defenders
and. finally. that he had taken ener-
getic part in three campaigns.
Before the sentence was read meas
ures We're taken to prevent demon
stration in favor of Stoessel by ID num-
Der of the younger officers and Wit
nesses who We're present. These later
sent a dispatch to the empress, saying
that they would humbly bear testimony
that General Stoessel was the soul of
the defense of Port Arthur: that he
had always encouraged and put heart
into the garrison and that in case of
war they would wish to serve again
under such a hero. They asked the
empress graciously to bespeak from
the, emperor a full pardon.
There was a dramatic moment after
the reading of the sentence. when de-
tachment of soldiers fired into the hall.
The spectators, thinking that they We're
about to seize General Stoessel. dis
played great excitement. several Wom-
en- fainting. 1t developed, however, that
this was merely a guard for the dis
posal of the court.
General Stoessel who was accompa-
MED by his son, was the object of a
sympathetic demonstration, friends
kissing him and shaking him by the
hand as he left the court leaning on his
sons shoulder.
The passing of the sentence of death
upon Lieutenant General Stoessel is a
harsh and tragic ending of the career
of this Russian commander, who three
years ago was proclaimed around the
world as the "hero Of Port Arthur"
The general. who was decorated by
Emperor William of Germany and hon
ored by the Russian army for his gal
liant defense of the Port Arthur fort
ress. has now been tried and found
wanting in courage and capability by
his own people and sentenced to give
up his life to the fetish of army pres
tige