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Fighting Leaders of the Russians
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1 GENERAL KOUROPATKIN, RUSSIA'S MOST FAMOUS FIGHTER,
THE GRAND DUKE ALEXIS. HEAD OF THE RUSSIAN NAVT.
(Copyright, 1904, by T. C. McClure.)
M l.ln A Piilil tin 11 rnrhAB Vi
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I I fatnouH war correspondent; used,
I tit tin fnnrf tt tilMnir linur hn inpt
Bkobeleff, tha greatest of Russian
generals, after ono of tho fiercest
of the many desperate fights before Plevna.
"I was sitting in my tent writing a dis
patch," said Forbes, "when the flup was
suddenly drawn aside, and In stalked tho
most terrible and awe-lnsplrlng object I
have ever sewn In my life. It was Skobeleff,
whom I knew well, but I had to look twice
before I recogrized him.
"Ills smart general's uniform was torn
Into rhreds and stained with blood nnd
gunpowder from head to foot. Ills sword,
which ho held in his hand, was simply
smothered In blood, and great drops of it
fell on the floor of the tent as he greeted
me. There was a terrible gash across the
top of his forehead, and his eyes still biased
with the fierce excitement of the hand-to-hand
fight which he had Just had with hun
dred n of Turks.
"VVhllo he stood there telling me about
the battle, his favorite captain, Kouropat
kin camo up and called him away to de
ride about the disposition of some of the
prisoners. Kouropatkln looked even more
like a god of war fresh from the scene of
carnage. Ho was bleeding from half a
dozen wounds, but he stood as steady as a
rock when he saluted Skobeleff. The latter
Buggcstcd that he had better go into tha
hospital, but he curtly replied, 'No, gen
eral. There is work to be done.'
"I heard afterward that Skobeleff and
Kouropatkln had fought side by side
throughout that bloody day, and had slain
tho Turks literally by dozens. Their ex
ploits formed tho theme of many a story
told beside the campflres of both armies
throughout the campaign."
Captain Kouropatkln, who was the right
hand mnn of Skobeleff all through the
Ruswo-Turklh war. as well as In the fight
at Plevna, is now General Kouropatkln, the
cznr'a mlnlMer of war, and the most noted
of h11 tho Russian fighting men. He was
trained in a harder school than most mod
ern generals, and went through enough
perils to satisfy the biggest glulton for ad
venture. After one of the bloody flghts in the
Phll'ka pans, ho was left for dead upon
the field. All night lie lay there, sore
wounded and unconscious. It was in tho
Mtter cold of a Balkan night, and he might
have frozen to death had he not been al
most entirely covered by the body of a
dying Turk, who hud fallen across him
after he sunk to the ground with the agony
of his wound.
In the morning Kouropatkln recovered
consciousness, crawled from underneath
the Turk, and made his way, slowly and
painfully, to the Russian camp, where his
comrades received him as If he were a
ghost.
Kouropatkln became the hero of the Rus
sian army, second only to his great leader
fikobelcff, by his bravery and fine general-
ft
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GENERAL RABRIKOFF. GOVERNOR-GENERAX. OF FINLAND AND A FAMOUS
FIGHTER j
ship at the capture of Geok Tepe In 1882.
When the Russians, balked of tht-lr
dream of winning Constantinople by the
lierliu congress, were muklng 'their great
swoop through Central Asia to tho gates
of Herat, Wd Salisbury told the British
jiulillo not to be alurmed for the safety
of India. "They will not be able to con
quer the Turcomans," lie declared. "The
Turcoman barrier will last for our life
time, at least."
General Tergoukasoff, the Russian com
mander In Central Asia, disagreed with
Ixrd Salisbury. He told the ciar that the
Turcomans might be conquered by three
year's hard fighting. 'That Is too long,"
said the tsur. He recalled Tergoukasoff,
nrd sent Bkobeleff to command the troops.
Skobeleff promptly secured Kouropatkln
for his chief lieutenant, and together they
performed in a few weeks the task which
the British premier declared would tako
a lifetime.
Geok Tepe, the great stronghold of the
Turcomans, was carried by assault after
a month's selge. Tho brunt of the at
tack fell on Kouropatkln, who commanded
a contingent of light troops from Turk
estan. It was a great victory, but it sullied
the reputation of both the Russian leaders.
They ordered their troops to give no quar
ter to the Turcomans of either sex, and all
the horrors usual when such orders ore
given .were perpetrated.
Spectators say that even when the Tur
comans fled in a disorderly mob across tho
desert, men, women and children mingled
together, no mercy was shown to them.
Artillery and cavalry followed in their rear
and mowed them down, until darknnss put
an end to the pursuit. In that few hours'
chase 1,000 pursuing Russians slaughtered
8.000 fugitives, while over 6,000 were mas
sacred In the fortified camp of Geok Tepo,
"The whole country was covered with
corpses," said Samuel Gourovitch, an Ar
menian Jew who acted as interpreter in
the Russian forces. 'The morning after the
battle they lay In rows like freshly mown
hay, as they had been swept down by Ui
mitrailleurs and artillery. Hundreds of
women were sabred,' and I myself savr
babies bayonetted or slashed to pieces.
Many women were ravished before being
killed. The troops, mad with drink and
the lust of fighting, were allowed to plun
der and kill for three days after the as
sault." This is the single great blot on Gen
eral Kouropatkin's record. It is true that
he was not In supreme command, but his
Turkestan troops played the leading part
In the slaughter.
He is a great leader of men. The march
of his Turkestan contingent across tho
almost unknown deserts of Central Asia,
In order to join Skobeleff for the siego of
Geok Tepe, was as fine an achievement as
Lord Roberts' famous march to Caudahar.
"Kouropatkln," Bold General Anneakofr,
Who met him at the end of the march,
"had been for twenty-six days marching
over a sandy and waterless desert, yet his
force inarched In clean and trim, and as
fresh as a daisy."
An English newspaper correspondent,
who attended the funeral of Skobele'ff at
Spasskoe Selo in 1882, was there thrown into
company with many of the dead general's
favorite officers.
"More than once," he said, "I heard a
controversy among them as to whether
Kouropatkln was not almost as good a
leader as their lost general.
" 'Kouropatkln,' said a Turkestan officer
to me, during one of these discussions,
'posseses all the characteristics of Sko
beleff cast In a cooler mould. They worked
admirably together, Kouropatkln imparting
coolness and calculation to Skobeleff, and
Skobeleff fire and enthusiasm to Kouropat
kln. We are desolate now that Skobeleff
Is gone, but it Is a consolation that we
have still got Kouropatkln. He ia now the
Skobeleff of RusBla.'
"During the first few days succeeding
Skobeleff's deatli a strong and angry feel
ing prevailed In Russia against the govern
ment. It was felt that the dead hero's
merits had never been properly appreciated
by the state, and I encountered various
officers at Moscow who were persuaded he
hud been poisoned. To appease the army
the emperor felt that he could not do better
than summon Kouropatkln from Central
Asia and give him a high appointment at
home. Since then he has been treated as
a favorite at court, and if he has secured
little notoriety abroad it is simply becauso
he has always devoted himself to his pro
fession and left politics alone.
"Skobeleff had in him all the elements
of a great statesman, as well as those of
a great general. Ills political Influence was
becoming positively embarrassing to tho
czar's ministers when he died. Kouro
patkln has never Bought to form a party
In Russia he Is quite content to be a great
general, and nothing more."
This Judgment was pronounced away back
in 1835. It does not hold good today. Gen
eral Kouropatkln is now the unchallenged
(Continued ou Togs Sixteen.)
