The Daily News MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1904. THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 260, 7 November 1904, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1904. THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR.

But few details of the famous.siege of the Russian stronghold have been allowed to transpire, but such as become known give a faint idea of the awful and tragic struggle that is going on wit-bin and without the forttvss. The special correspondent of the Auckland Star, writing from Hongkong on October 3rd, says that no official information of any kind will lie allowed out, and the whole siege i», as far as possible, Ijeing conducted su-b rosa. Numerous stories of tremetiidouia losses, of sensational disasters, of savage butchery, have trickled through, and, although they were scouted at lirst, people are now beginning to give them credence. The opinion is fast gaining ground that the Japanese are paying dearly for any successes that they aie gaining in the vicinity of the -fo'itress. Most of the information that comes from -Port Arthur is circulated by the blockaderunners, and the stories they tell are extremely contradictory. It can be gathered, however, that 'the garrison is in a tci'iible condition, meat sup--plies—excepting horse-flesh and tinned provisions—havingi run entirely out. The high angle lire of the Japanese is doing enormous damage, and has been so well directed that the docks have been almost entirely destroyed, and the town is daily being sot on fire. Destruction to life and property is greatest when shells loaded with Shimose powder burst. These are so powerful that they have been known to shatter whole houses and kill or mangle all people within a rajdius of iifty yards. The hospitals are flowing over with thousands of wounded, and what with injured citizens and the wounded soldiera, the medical corps are hard put to find accommodation for all the sufl'ereiE coming into their hands. There are hundreds of women in tl.o town, but -they will not leave, despite the fact that death stares them in tite face the whole time that they remain. Daily, almost, the Japanese, storm some section of the defence or other, and daily there ore terrible scenes of carnage. According to a Russian naval officer who has reached Ohefoo, tho fighting has resolved itself into mere butchery, both sides slaughtering one another, irrespective of humanitarianism or the demands of civilisation. In describing the unprecedented! natuiv of the engagements, he says that it originated owing to a misunderstanding with regard to the use of the Red Cross and white flags, and now neither side respects them, and neither asks for nor gives l ojuamcr. As a means of protection or deception the displays of such flags are uselets, and when they are flown bring is never suspended. Instead, they seem to bo tho signals for. renewed effort. In one recent action, says the officer, 000 Japanese advanced to assault a position, and found their retreat cut off. They displayed handkerchiefs, and otherwise indicated that they wished to surrender, but their signs were ignored, and they were bred upon until , a ii were dead. Neither side will even suspend lire for the ambulance corps which ventures to pick up tho dead and wounded, and the consequence is that corpses are heaped in piles within fifteen paces of the forts, and cannot be taken away. So overpowering is the odour that tWe decaying bodies are giving off that the Russians are compelled to fight in the forts with cloths soaked in- camphor oil tied over their mouths and nostrils. So great is tho brutality into which the fighting has degenerated that the officer says it is feared in I'ort Arthur that if tho Japanese manage to enter the fortrtess they will massacre the occupants. Consequently General Stoessel has issued instructions to officers and mem to fight to the very last, declaring that the hostile feeling is so tfreut oil both sides that the Japanese officers' may be unable to restrain their men from committing shocking excesses. The officer reports that there is- neither beef or mutton in the fortress, only horseflesh and tinned meats. The desperate condition of the remnant of a I garrißon is very well indicated by recent cobles-, which state that they have losit all -hope of relief, and imany men and some officers wish to !surrender, though Commander Stoessel has posted a proclamation directing the besieged to light while there are enough men to main one gun. Japanese sappers -have tunnelled nearly to the heart of the fortress, and soon the besiogcis and IvesiegVd will be at hand-grips, mud then the end.