The roundup record., 1911-08-11
THE SHARP
SHOOTER
by il An Nt.ONS<f
Copyright by American Press Asso-
by il An NrON5<i


fortress. Singularly enough. they were
there. the women by their own con-
sent and the children by the consent
Of their parents Discipline was very
lax among the Russians. and number
Of the officers preferred to have their
families with them to being separat-
ed from them General Stoessel.
the Russian commander. set the exam
pie by having his own wife In Port
Arthur. so II was not remarkable that
others followed suit. 1t is said that
number Of children during the siege
were playing about in the fortress and
sometimes among the guns on the ram
parts, exposed 10 shot and shell. But
the enlisted men were not allowed to
have wives or children with them.
Sergeant Boris Tomsky was a gun
ner of renown He was In charge OF
one of the big guns on Two Hundred
and Three Meter hill and did more
damage to the Japanese with his
piece than any gunner in the Russian
army.
With Tom>ky was young sharp
shooter named Alexis Petrof. dead
shot, who did most of the rifle work.
picking off JAPANESE who were work
ing guns that We're doing especial dam
age.
While the sergeant was firing I'M
mense balls from his pet cannon IN an
effort to silence some Japanese gun
that if left atone would surely make
an important breach. PetrOff would be
picking off one by one the gunners that
were directing the firing.
Petroff was Il mere boy. Not hair
! had shown itself on his face. not even
| bit OF down That on his head was
! Of the lightest Of the light northern
| hue, while his eyes were II correspond
| ing azure. He seemed very much ut
| tached to the big man who directed the
| big gun. with his shucky hair and
beard and fierce mustachios Indeed.
each seemed fitted for his especial
work. Tomsky to send forth the great
cannon balls. weighing couple Of hun
dred pounds. Petrutt to dispatch the
thin leaden bullets.
Tomsky kept on dismounting guns
and doing other damage to the Japa-
nese until he became famed among his
comrades for the most useful single
man in the Russian army. They used
to say. "lf all our generals could be
turned into Tomsky gunners the Japa-
nese would never take Port Arthur"
But at last the .Iaps got on to the
fact that this wholesale destruction of
life and ordnance was due to one man.
and they were not long in locating the
big gunner on Two Hundred and Three
Meter hill Then they called for one
of the best sharpShooters in the army
and. pointing out Tomsky to him, or
dered the Jap to eliminate the big Rus
sian. Once the gunner was located
and sharpshooter especially detailed
to kill him he had not long to live 1t
happened that after he was pointed
out he did not show himself for some
time, but as soon as he did he received
q bullet In his forehead that finished
his career.
The grief Of his assistant at his loss
was touching to see. Petron was af-
fected to tears. The Russian peasant
soldiers. who were more like cattle than
men. could not understand how man
could weep But presently Petroffs
feelings changed from grief to revenge.
His comrades could understand that.
and as they saw Petroff take up his
rifle and hug ii as II it were 4 dear
child they looked at one another as II
to say:
Now Petrott is man again: he
will make the little monkeys pay for
killing the big sergeant"
From that time Petroff was always
behind the ramparts watching through
a porthole for some Japanese to show
himself. When one did SO but an in
stant would elapse before he would
pitch forward or backward. and II
would be discovered by his compan.
ions that he bad either been Killed or
mortally wounded.
Every time petroT killed Il Japanese
he would punch a hole In his cap. AS
the siege went on the holes became
so numerous that there was scarcely
they passed the hundred mark But
this did not satisfy the young marks
man, and he went on relentlessly Y max,
ing one Jap after another bite the
dust till the surrender came. when he
had 1T holes punched in his cap.
There were 1900 prisoners taken
by the Japs in the surrender OF Port
Arthur One day when lot OF Rus
SLAMS were lined up to be marched to
q transport a woman passed. She was
dressed In feminine apparel. except the
big military Russian cap. The sol
diers laughed and jeered at her. TAX
ing off her cap. she held 1t up to the
light. showing punctures like a cluster
Of stars.
"Do you see thatE' she said Each
hole stands for Japanese killed be
cause they killed my husband
"Who was your husband|
Sergeant Tomsky.'