Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1904 — CLAIM LOSS IS SMALL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CLAIM LOSS IS SMALL.

Russian Dispatches Say that Five Were Killed at Port Arthur. Another attack by the Japanese .fleet on Port Arthur, beginning with operations by torpedo boats and ending with

a bombardment by battleships and cruisers, took place after midnight Monday. The dispatches to the Emperor from Viceroy Alexieff and private information show that the Russians sustained no great damage, having onlyfive soldiers killed and ten wounded. Vice Admiral Makaroff claims that one

of the Japanese vessels was struck by a shell. All information which has reached ST Petersburg shows that the defenders of Port Arthur had taken seriously to heart tho coup of the Japanese torpedo boats at the beginning of the war and were now maintaining a sharp lookout. The - Japanese torpedo boats were twice discovered sneaking toward the harbor entrance under cover of darkness. T>uT bbth~Tinies they were detected far out nt sea and were"driven off by a hot fire opened upon them. The breaking of day necessarily prevented further torpedo-boat operations, but Admiral Togo brought up his battleships and cruisers. The division of iris fleet was forth, e ptirpose of making a cross-fire upon the harbor in the hope of destroying the town and of damaging the Russian ships- lying hi the basin, or at least of demoralizing the personnel of the defending force.

The bombardment of March showed to the Russians the advantage to the enemy of the position off Liao-Ti-Shin which Vice Admiral Togo’s ships took up, and Vice Admiral Makaroff Sought to minimize this advantage by so stationing the battleship Retvizan that her shells could reach the Japanese battleships. , V . The fact that the Retvizan was used for this purpose proves the falsity of the report that her great guns had been removed and installed as a battery at

Pigeon bay, and it lias given rise to the impression that there is an inadequate number of great guns at Port Arthur, as otherwise a battery would have been erected to protect the town at the only point which Vice Admiral Togo seems to regard as vulnerable from the sea.

ADMIRAL JUIN.