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Show GENERAL BATTLE RAGES. ALL ALONG LINE; JAPS ARE SHELLING MUKDEN (s 5 WHY THE JAPS DO NOT TAKE MUKDEN. ! Many newspapers throughout the world, since the fall of Port Ar- thur, have criticised the Japanese for having used up so much energy in capturing that stronghold, contending that It would have been more advantageous, irom a military standpoint, to nave taxen Mukden, the capital of- Manchuria, and the center of the theater of the war. There is no doubt that the capture of Mukden would have been greater as a victory than the taking of Port Arthur, but the Japanese reason for not doing so is somewhat peculiar, 1 f not startling. Mudken is a sacred city. In the eyes of the Chinese, and if. In the whirlwind of war, it should be despoiled, the curse and possibly the vengeance of the Chi- nese would be upon the nation responsible for it. 'Mukden is Identified with all that is great and glorious in the records of the Manchu Em- perors. and within Its precincts rest the bodies of the Manchu fathers. It is well known that their dynasty Is the oldest in the world. The Manchurlans have become so intermingled with the Chinese that the -veneration of the city is a matter of considerable moment In such sa- cred. regard has the city been held that the Siberian railroad, which en- ters so many of the other important cities In Manchuria, makes a wide detour as it approaches Mukden. The Chinese rallwa from Shan-hal- Kwan. Instead of being continued to Mukden, has aats terminus Sing- mln-Tung. a. small town about thirty miles west pff the capital. The city stands in the middle of an alluvial plain, and he olT for miles around Is rich and highly cultivated. Success Magazine. BULLETIN. MADYADANT, Manchuria, Feb. 27. After fighting of the most desperate des-perate nature, the Russians remained yesterday evening in possession of Che and Da passes, against which the Japanese had been flinging themselves them-selves madly from noon until dark. The Russians, -who were greatly outnumbered, out-numbered, sustained repeated attacks, at-tacks, some units losing as high as 70 per cent In killed or wounded in hand-to-hand fighting with the bayonet. BULLETIN. ST. PETERSBURG, Feb. 27. Gen. Kuropatkin, in a dispatch dated February Feb-ruary 26, announced that the Japanese Japan-ese have commenced cannonading In the direction of Gauto and Wanfun passes. NEWCHWANG, Feb. 27. (Via Tien Tsln, 6 p. m.) According to a person who has just returned here from the front the Japanese are shelling Mukden with eleven-inch mortars. The bombardment which was recently commenced is further reported to have caused great damage far behind the Russian lines. Advices from Chinese sources say that a general engagement Is In progress all |