Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 108, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1904 — PROGRESS OF THE EASTERN WAR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PROGRESS OF THE EASTERN WAR

; Reports from thb scehri of bat|le between General Kuropatkin and the Japanese . around Liao-Yang are meager, but a .-study of the various dispatches shows it to have been one of the most sanguinary' struggles 0$ modern times. In the two days' ol lighting i; appears thatso,ooo'ihMd' were sacrificed. The losses are about eyQiUy . distributed, between the. Japanese and Russians, according to allavailable accoutrt&jo® tato-Unbiased naRussian, Botrespondents, however/ in that by far, the heaviest loss'es .been suffered iff the. Japanese.... j- r ' When dp.riuess; closel (jiv'er the gory battlefield /on the second flight neither combatant', apparently, Had. ghined a decisive adv'antage. GeneraT Kuropat--kih'sl Then On the south >slli held their trehcli’es. t>'n .the ,ex-' tremie left flank, boweVer, ;, it' was reported that General Klifroki had found a wtsak spot, that tile- Russian line was wavering and -.the Japanese seemed about .to it so Ks to strike the main Russian position io the ‘' rear { " -- * All accounts agree ift sajlhg that all of’Kuroki's, t>ku’s-and Nbdiu's troops participated irir the renewed "bafile and that Die tiglitlng- was continuous along ■ the entire Russian line, a distance'of about nine miles. *•' .

The Japauese.opened their attack on the second day as. soon as the eastern sky began to show the first " gr;tystreaks of dawn., 'fhe rain oif’-tfib flight had left the. plain sodden«with,. ‘ mud, ! but r this did’ thd Jap ajiese to falter. The sky -was 'clear. : and this fact gav-eitlfe gunners oil sides* their 'ccpafruiiity. . . Frpm .their JdAM-cannon tire -Japanese poured a deadly shrapnel fire into’ the Russian < soon, as possible., 'Japanese stmt up -a- .war. ballbdn’ IT is’searched' plain in an effo’rf'ti TiicateTife Russian trenches. The Rus slan J niOrtar b r ahimered

at the aerial craft,, but were unable to wreck it. The balloon remained immune from hostile shells,' and when its mis.siotr had tfeeii accomplished ft was lowered. Soon 'thereafter tlfd Russians felt the, effect of its service, for tin Japanese cannon and mortars hurled a doubly effective fire into the Russian positions on the south and in the cep ter. Rifle-firing and iiifantry scharges fol lowed'the shelling of the Russian lines and then the combatants clhshOd again and again with the bayonet and tin sword. The onsets were furious, the resistance was no less deadly. In one portion of the battle the Rusrsians took tire offensive. This was along the railroad south of Liao-Yang The JhpaneSe attempted to advance iq the line, but the Russians 'chargee them -and by main strength and brute force im.bayonet attacks pushed them dowp the track for considerable dis at a time. Toward noon rain fell again, and thb hampered the combatants,.on botl sides. /Through the mist. however, th< conflict' was kept up, and at 4:31 o'clock in the afterpdod.it was reported -that the Russian left flank was wavering, that 'Kuroki- was getting around if,"that*he : 'would soon be able to ■ cfossr the Taitse fiver and be abb to attack Kuropatkin in the rear. The long-expected battle .at Liao yang began on Tuesday and the armies of the Czar and Mikado engaged in what was expected to be the decisive battle of the campaign. The general advance of the Japanese began Mon day at noon, the Russian outposts falling back upon the main lines. The heaviest fighting was taking place when the news dispatch was sept, from a point ten miles southeast of Liaoyang, where the Japanese seemed to be concentrating for their innln blow., The Russians suffered principally from the shrapnel tire of the Japanese artillery. The Japanese searched the whole countryside with’ their tire, selecting certain squares of territory on which for a few moments they massed a hail of shot and shell from all their guns. Then they passed to another square, thus working tire whole - Meld, with mathematical precision, frbrn right to loft,. In this way the entire Russian front was systematically searched in the flrat four hours of the cannonading. Then commenced the general Jap anese advance along the whole line.

GENERAL KUROKI.