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Show 525 MEN PERISH ON RUSSIAN SHIP Seventy-Five Sailors and Marines Escape Prom Sinking- Petropavlovsk Petropav-lovsk War News Meager. LONDON, April 1C. A dispatch to the Central News from Port Arthur, Ar-thur, dated yesterday, gives the following account of the mid-week fighting: ".Late Wednesday night eight torpedo boats put to sea to scout. At about 5:30 the next morning, when the flotilla was returning, two boats, the Bczstrashnl and the Smyeli, were overhauled oy me ships of the enemy, which had been cruising In the neighborhood but out of range of tho guns of the forts. The BezstrashnI and the Smyeli were at-, tacked by six Japanese torpedo boats, which were covered by four cruisers and two battleships. During the firing a Japanese shell struck the torpedo-room torpedo-room of the BezstrashnI. There was a severo explosion and the boat was completely com-pletely wrecTccd. The other torpedo boats turned back to aid the BezstraBh-nl BezstraBh-nl and the armored cruiser Bayan also came to, help.the Russian torpedo boats. Tho Japanese fire was concentrated on ihr P-ivun urViJoh nlMrorl lin flvn Of thf Bezstrashnl's crew and then covered the withdrawal of the rest of the flotilla, flo-tilla, which reached the harbor safely. On the arrival of the flotilla Vice-Ad-mlral Makaroff left the harbor with the battleships Petropavolvak, Poltava and Pobleda and the protected cruisers Askold, Diana and Novlk and attacked the Japanese fleet. The latter began to retire, whereupon the Russian battleships battle-ships returned toward the harbor. On their way back the explosion occurred on board the Petropavlovsk, which sank In two minutes. Seventy-flve members of her crew were picked up, but' the. rest, about 625 men, perished. Vere-stchagin, Vere-stchagin, the . painter, who was on board the Petropavlovsk, perished. This afternoon the bodies recovered after the explosion were interred." |