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Show I CONTRARY OPINIONS HELD BY RUSSIANS ST. PETERSBURG. April 17. "Notwithstanding "Not-withstanding Vice-Admiral Togo's laim that the mines laid by his vessels ' were responsible for the disaster to the Petropavlovsk," yald a high naval authority au-thority who Is In a position to have ac- ess to all Government reports, "I am more than ever convinced that the Petropavlovsk and the Pobleda did not strike Japanese mine... Each ship was . truck under the hull amidships, while 1 a mine would have exploded on firiit ontact near the bows. The fact that iu both cases the ships were struck imldships might warrant the accept- I once of. the theory regarding sub- J 1 narlne vessel?, although personally I do I pot hold that Idea. The Pobleda nrob- I ably escaped the fate, of the Petro- I i pavlovek because she carried coal in H, l er bunkers- between the bottom and the 1 1 hollers, which, moreover, are of the 1 P.elleville type, whereas the boilers o Hie Petropavlovsk were of Scotch make aud were not protected by her bunkers." ' Believes Japs Laid Mines. Ii, t One of the shrewdest naval attaches I ' K, at St. Petersburg, however, told the As- I ' soclated Press that he believed the I j Japanese laid the mines which were re- I -sponsible for the disaster, pointing out I that this way one of the oldest systems I (' of blockading when ships did not dare I ;i io run the risk of entering under an I i enemy's guns. The attache said he 1 thought they would do this when he no- IV i Iced that the Japanese fleet always llif made a wide detour of the entrance. It 1 is also significant that Chineo Junks I t, have been reported a.? cruising off the I -! harbor, and it Is considered possible I,,?) that the Japanese kept these junks I , ! there systematically in order to throw 1 " the Russians off their guard In that I thy ivere seen AVhen the actual time 1 I arrived to lay the mines. I Capt. Crown, ivho went down with the If. Petropavlovsk, joined that ahip on the I A vprevious day, having succeeded in get- ting through from Shanghai, where he left IiId vessel, the gunboat Mandjur. Capt. Crown was a descendant of a Scotchman who fought with Russia In the war with Sweden, when he captured the first Retvlzan. |