OCR Text |
Show LIFE AT PORT ARTHUR. j Russians Report the Situation as ' j Satisfactory. j g St. Petersburg, April .".' A corre- I . si.or.dent of the Associated Press at Port Arthur, who returned to the fortresses fort-resses yesterday from an Inspection trip to southern Manchuria, telegraphs that that country is strikingly full ot an unusual and active- life, that thc-troops thc-troops are vigorous and healthy and animated an-imated by a. desire for active operations, opera-tions, and that the entire native population, popu-lation, including that of the commercial commer-cial world, is friendly to Russia and full of faith in the Russian arms. The correspondent says: "Russian money, which was shakv at the beginning of the war, ia again firm. , "The Chinese volunteer militia, formed there present a good appear- ance. wearing a special uniform with' epaulettes bearing the Russian nation- I al flag. The. natives provide provisions j freely, and are selling . horses brouznt ! from the surrounding country. The mandarins are an exception to this general gen-eral rule, as they are cautious and are trying to carry water on both shoulders. shoul-ders. As their conduct is passive, it does the Russians no harm. Railway in Good Condition. "The railroad holds out splendidly and works regularly, all the attaches of the road being Imbued with the high importance of their task. Sentries ar.j posted at the boundary end are doing 1 duty in the neptral zone dividing China and Manchuria. The weather is warm and the rivers are open. In Port Arthur Ar-thur all is quiet and the inhabitants 1 have become accustomed to a state of I war, though some of them are impa- ! tient that the enemy has been for so long a time invisible " In a second telegram the correspondent correspond-ent gives picturesque details of the last attempt of the Japanese to block the harbor, as follows: "Following a reconnoissance our fleet returned and anchored in the interior of the harbor. After midnight the darkness dark-ness became more profound and our searchlights were constantly in operation opera-tion piercing the gloom. Suddenly a shot thundered, and then a second and a third. Golden hill and Tiger cliff opened fire when the enemy was discovered. dis-covered. From the battleship' Petro-pavlousk Petro-pavlousk a launch put off with Vice Admiral Makaroff and other officers heading for the gunboat Bobr. At the! same time the torpedo boats Silni and Reshitelny signalled to prepare for ac- I tion and to attack the enemy. The gunboat Otvajny discharged her six-inch six-inch guns and the torpedo boat Silni fired a broadside while hurrying toward the enemy, and let go a torpedo which fairly struck the prow of the first Japanese Jap-anese steamer, carrying it away. Rain of Bullets. , "Other Japanese steamers- came on at full speed, raining Ho'tchkiss bullets bul-lets at the Silni, which fired a second torpedo at the steamers and then ran aground. i "The commander of the Silni discov, ered five of the enemy's destroyers further fur-ther away and the- big ships valiantly rushed to attack, firing their guns as they did so. The enemy then separated and disappeared in the darkness. "Meantime the Bobr and the Otvanj-ny Otvanj-ny continued to fire on the stranded steamers and on the small boats putting put-ting off from them. "Commander Travinsky of the Reshitelny Resh-itelny saw a large steamer making toward to-ward the center of the channel, and fired a torpedo, which exploded on the side of te target. Lieutenant Krinitz-ky, Krinitz-ky, commanding the Silni, having fought five of the enemy's ships for a long time in the darkness, was himself wounded, and his chW eii,-,- -vrl six men. were killed. " "With his machiiierv dNahl.vi the helm of the Silni tenant Kritinisky -decided (.. ,',,, ing, but. fearing to leave th op,n Z' ranee to the harbor, he apt.n, " the shallows near (ldo,, hili . n, 1 I i off in a boat with another officer to fv tinguish the fire on the nearest i er and to render aid to the twelve lV 1 anese who had been wounded.' ' ' ' "The Otvajny sent surgeons' to ,-ir for the wounded, and boats wore - m to the other steamers at a terrihi".. ',i to cut the wires connecting the t,, pedoes which the Japanese had ar- i ranged to destroy the steamers. ' "The fiames on the ships were extm- ! guished." I |