VOL. XLV. N.O 13,806. POKTLA1ND, OKEGON, THURSDAY, MAEGH 9, 1905. PRICE FIVE CENTS. FULL FLIGHT Russians Are Fleeing to Tie Pass. FIGHT AS THEY FLY Japanese in Close Pur suit of Ar my. LEFT WING IS IN DANGER RennenkampfF May Be Cut Off and Captured. KUROPATKIN'S FATE SEALED Choice of Successor Discussed Talk of Peace Revived Defeat Raises Liberals' Hopes of Reform at Home. TOKIO, March 0, 4. A. 31. The Jap anese have cut the railway north of Mukden. GENKRAI, KUHOKI'S HEAUQ.UATI- TEItS IX TUB FIELD, via Fnson, March S (Morulas;)' The Russian last night, under cover of the darkness, eraucated the whole line along: the Shakbc River and are doit in full re treat northward. The Japanese Infantry in presslnc theni closely. Before retreating the Ruscian set fire to great heaps of supplies, Trhlch burned thronehout the night. The fall of Mukden appears Imminent. The Japanese are puslilne "the Rus sians hard on the east. WA-JvUINGTOXr MrrcU S. The State Department Ik officially Informed, from Tokio that the Japanese have achieved A jcrcnt victory before Mukden and that the Russian army Is In full retreat. The casualties are numerous on both sides. MUKDEX, March 8 (10 A. 31.). A heavy cannonading: is in progress north Treat of .this city, causing: the walls of houseM here to tremble. An engagement Is In progress at the Imperial tombs. TOKIO, March 0. Advices received here Indicate that General Kuropatldn Is badly beaten in the bloodiest battle of the present war. TOKIO, March 9 (8 A. 31.). It Is offi cially anuounced that the Russians be gan retreating yesterday morning. The Japanese armies are pursuing them. 3IUKDEX, March 8(40 P. 31.). The Russian army is evacuating Its posi tions south of 3Iukden. RUSSIA CONFESSES DEFEAT. Kuropatkin's Failure Will Mean Losses'of His Command. ST. PETERSBURG. March 9.-(3 A. 1L) The battle of Mukden has resulted la a Russian defeat. Field Marshal Oyama has once more proved himself one of the greatest masters of offensive strategy since Napoleon, "while General Kuropatkln Is now endeav oring to defend his title as a master of ruocosslul warfare and bring off his army with its immense train safely to Tie Pass, whore a position was long ago prepared with this contingency In view. The problem before the Russian. Commander-in-Chief is much more difficult than the one he met successfully at Liao Yang, since now he is threatened on both Hanks, his left wing being entangled in a mountainous region far from the railroad. Nevertheless Russian military men here express a fair degree of confidence in General Kuropatkin's ability once more to extricate his army and avoid a Rus sian Sedan. Besides his skill in rear guard action, thej' base their hopes on the physical condition pf the ' Japanese sol diers who, though they are conceded to be the greatest marchers In the world, are well-nigh exhausted by their strenu ous endeavors of the last fortnight. Breaking the News Gently. Only to the initiated Is the news of the reverse positively known at this time. Emperor Nicholas and high military offi cers of course were informed by General Kuropatkin's telegram of Tuesday, stat ing that Mukden must be abandoned, and they received details of the beginning of the withdrawal as they appeared In por tions of the official dispatches given out yesterday. Last evening a newspaper contained a vague report of doubtful origin, credited to Chinese sources, but tho first positive statement was derived from the Associated Press dispatch irom General Kurokl's headquarters, the -contents of which were quickly telegraphed to many Liberals from friends abroad. The report probably will not be printed In this morning's papers, the government, true to Its policy of breaking the news gently, only preparing the way by author ising tho publication of a number of tele grams. The Tiews, however. Is only what was expected, ultimate retirement having been discounted from the moment Oyama Inaugurated his brilliant move westward. From information lit the possession of the Associated Press it is known that General Kuropatkln contemplated retire ment before the beginning of the battle. and that he had hoped to accomplish It without serious combat. The Japanese, however, forced him to accept battle. The double turning movement compelled him to send the major part of bis reserves to the fighting line and rendered an effective counter-stroke out of the question, and the decision to retire was immediately taken on March 6, as was stated by the Associated Prcfs'on that day. With drawal was actually begun durjng the night. Race for Tie Pass. The great question now, -and -the one over wbioh the general staff butned its lights late into the night, is whether Field Marshal Oyama has entangled the Russians In his strategic net suf ficiently to prevent a succesfUl retreat to Tie Pass. General Rennenkampff's force to the eastward admittedly is In great danger of being cut off, and a considerable force of Japanese appears to be operating on the Russian right. well toward Tie Pass. If tho Japan ese succeed in reaching the railroad and interrupt traffic if only for a few hours, it may have the greatest conse quences for General Kuropatkln, who is now engaged in a literal race with the Japanese to reach a naturally de fensible position 40 miles northward. Thus far he has stood off all attacks directed against the Hanks of his army and holds the way of retreat open. He undoubtedly was forced to abandon a number of siege guns on his Shakhe position, but If he succeeds in turning over the army intact, with the princi pal portion of Its artillery train, to his successor, the Russian case will be by no means desperate, for Oyama will again have missed bis quarry and a comparatively barren victory -will have been purchased at enormous cost of life. AH reports indicate that the Japan ese were utterly reckless of sacrifices. making attack after attack, especially on the center and west, against ma chine guns and infantry fire, which lit erally mowed down the advancing col umns; making human flesh so cheap that the survivors could bastton them selves behind piles of corpses. Kuropatkln Will Be Deposed. After this action General Kuropat kin's deposition may be regarded as certain. War Minister Sakharoff is picked as his probable successor, though Grand Duke Nicholas Nlcholae- vitch. of the Board of Strategists, may be entrusted with the direction of af fairs. A strong faction of the army, those high in influence about the Em peror, opposed General Kuropatkin from the first, and though his early defeats were condoned because It was realized that he was doing all that man could with the tools at his com mand, it Is now felt that, after twice having had the opportunity to show -what he could do with a powerful army and having failed to accomplish vic tory either time, his removal is ad visable. A high military official said last night that the Emperor bad had enough of a Goueral who?a Interpretation of victory" was a successful retreat; that Fabian tactics are well enough in their way, but that Kuropatkln went beyond those of Fablus and neglected to take account of favorable opportunities for counter strokes. Friends of Gereral Kuropatkln, how ever, say that no other General Is apt to do as well as he has done and declare that his removal may mean, as In the American Civil War, the exchange of a Hood for a Johnston. Talk of Peace Revived. The news of a retreat on Tie Pass Is bound to revive talk of peace, though, If Field Marshal Oyama has failed to crush -General Kuropatkln, peace Is no more imperative now than It was last month. Peace advocates point out the departure of Vlce-Admlral Rojestvenskys squadron from Madagascar simultaneous ly with the loss of Mukden and intimate that perhaps the movement of the fleet may have been adopted In view of the latter event. The movement, on the other hand, may be in pursuance of a plan for a Junction between Rojestvensky and the reinforcing squadron preparatory to giving battle to Togo's fleet. The peace movement admittedly has a strong following even in the ministry; but It cannot be stated now whether the de feat at Mukden has been effective enough to turn the scale. No decision can be taken at least until the extent of the reverse is known. Defeat Rejoices Liberals. More important still, howe'er. is the effect on the international affairs of Russia. Defeat is not unwelcome to the Liberals who argue that the graver the government's difficulties, the greater the extent of the reforms which It may be forced to concede. At the present crisis the project of the reform rescript of March 4 Is not worked out, although It has been the subject of much deliber ation. A commission is yet to be ap pointed. Whereas yesterday the idea was to have a purely consultative body, meet ing perhaps separately according to es tates, the existing condition of affairs may force the commission to propose long steps toward a more Influential body possessing the initiative In legislation. The strange spectacle is thus presented of men who claim to be patriotic Rus sians rejoicing over the defeat of their country on foreign battlefields. The revolutionists probably will use the result as a pretext to renew demon strations against the war. FIGHT TO GUARD THEIR REAR Russians Attacked Near Railroad North, of Mukden. MUKDEN, March 8 ((11 A. M.) Muk den Is still In the hands of the Russians, but withdrawing of the line on the Shakhe River is In full progress. The Japanese are making a strong attack north of Muk den, where they occupy a right-angled position, one side parallel with the rail road and three and a half miles distant, and the other facing northward' three miles north of the Imperial tombs. The Russians have retired fro pi the po sitions they occupied yesterday in the region of Tatcbeklao. but are making a strong stand against the force there. The Russians also arc holding the village of Ushuntun, which at nightfall was partly in the hands of the Russians and pary in those of the Japanese. At - o'clock this morning the Russians succeeded in i Concluded on Fourth PxceJ HIT TRAIL HOT Cowboy's Experience at Inauguration. SOUP BOWLS A PUZZLE His Legs Shoot Apart on Paul Morton's Rugs. SCENES AT BALL SHOCKING When They See Women Attired Only in Lariat and Saddle-Blanket, Men From the Plains Blush. CHICAGO, March S. (Special.) "Skinner" Humphrey, of Broken Timber, Mont., passed through Chicago today on his way home from the Inauguration cere monies at Washington. Mr. Humphrey, In company with "Long" Thompson, of Garry Owen; Fred Maxey, of Crow Hills, and "Slider" Avery, of White Creek, had a strenuous three days in the Nation's Capitol last week. Humphrey's impres sions of what happened arc vivid. In speaking of what stood out most dis tinctly in his mind, he said: "Cuspidors, rugs and women what don't wear clothes took the eyes of all the boys noon 's we struck the town. We went up to give the President the glad hand cause we all knew him when he was on the range, and, as wo were hitting the trail bot, Maxey says to me: ' " 'Get on to the soup bowls.' "In every room everywhere we ponied around was a bowl. " ' 'Taint for soup, Fred,' says 2, 'but then, I can't get on to its lay.' "Just then (we were waiting now for Mr. Loeb, who was going to palaver us in to the President) a big fellow with long, black, hair and,an eagle eye came Into the room and be stands off about ten feet and lets drive at one of these bowls, bit ting It square In the eye. " 'Gosh, says 'Long Thompson, 'them's cus-pi-dora ' 'Long's traveled some and has more curves than the rest of us. ' "Must be kind of lonesome, obfervea Maxey, not to bave a" mile or so of prairie for that kind of work. Mr. Loeb Solves Mystery. "Weil, Mr. Loeb came in and he tells us 'Long Thompson was right about the bowls. After a time we got accustomed to seeing 'cm everywhere, but none of the boys 'cept 'Long Thompson would use 'em, the rest of us just sidled up alleys or went where we could hit the grass. "Some of us made a call on Secretary Morton, 'cause we like him, and we bad a hot time In his private rooms. They was covered with fur rugs and underneath It was sllppler than a back slope of a draw when It's melting. We all had our boots on and spurs and were togged to catch a pretty girl on a mlle-away sight, but the rugs got us. "I goes In first and a tiger's head or a bearskin or something else got mixed up with my feet and I began to slide do the split right then and there, and all the boys whooping. Humphrey Splits end Splits. " 'Rope me In," I yells, seeing I was go ing, but not a danged one of 'em would help. They Just grinned and whooped. It was worse'n a buckln broncho on a frosty morning. I went right straight across the room, splitting and splitting until I couldn't split any more, and I landed In a heap 'gainst the waJK "Avery gets over to me by coming on his hands and feet and hauls me out where I bad sound footing, but after that we all steered clear of rugs. Maxey had one in bis room, but he bung It out the window for fear It would start In the night when he was sleepin' and carry him off. "But say, tajk about dressing. We do some dog In clothes at Broken Timber, but we were laid out cold at the Inaugural ball. I guess the President fixed It we should have tickets, for we was taken care of proper. Thompson wanted to take his six-shooters along, but we reckoned bis nibs- at the White House wouldn't need any gunplay that night, so he left 'em in bis grip. Made bun feel kind of uneasy, though, for a fellow don't like to be without his weapon in a corner. Shocked at the Ball. "We gets into the ball and the first thing we see was a stunning woman ca vorting across the floor with a fellow in a swell uniform. But the girl didn't ap pear to bave any clothes on she looked cold and lost. " 'Long Thompson turned his head away and blushed, something he hasn't done since he was a cs.1l on the range of life. He whispers to us, especially to 'Slider Avery, who was staring until his eyes begun to bulge: " 'For God's sake, fellers, don't look. That poor heifer's broke loose without knowing how she looks. Give her & chance to duck.' "So we all shuts our eyes but Avery he never was respectable, anyway. After a time, when It got tiresome, we opens our eyes and there's a hundred or more women skating around like the first noth ing on but a lariat and a saddle blanket. " Tra going to bed, says Maxey, 'for If I ever talk in my sleep after I get borne and my old woman gets onto what sinful things Fve seen here, it's all day.' "So we backed out, ' rejoicing we didn't have to live where clothes was so scarce. Otherwise we had a bully time. "Teddy's all right. We arc going to send hlra a horns this Spring that will beat anything Washington ever saw." The party remained In 'the ' Polk-street station for an hour today before starting Wert. With the Montana men was "Sun down Bus." of Deadwood. also returning to the wilds. Roosevelt Receives Cowboys. WASHINGTON, March .-Captain Scth Bullock and his company of cowboys, whose picturesque appearance was a fea ture of the inauguration day parade, were given a reception tonight by President Roosevelt. They will lcavo lor home to morrow. BALTIC FLEET IS BETUBH1N& Sails North From Madagascar to Jibuti! In the .Red Sea. PARIS, March S. A dispatch to the Temps from Tananariro, capital of the Island of Madagascar, says the entire Russian fleet has left the waters on its return to Jibutll, French Somallland. indicates Desire for Peace. LONDON, March 9. No confirmation has reached London of the report that Vice-Admiral Rojestvensky's squadron is returning from Madagascar to Jibutll, nor are there any dispatches printed in the morning newspapers throwing fur ther light on the position of affairs in Manchuria. Should the report concern ing "Vice-Admiral Rojestvensky be con firmed. It will be regarded here as a strong indication of Russia's desire to arrange terms of peace with Japan. RUSSIAN PLANS UNDECIDED. Arrangements for Coaling Baltic Fleet Show Czar's Irresolution. HAMBURG, March 8. Shipping circles are not surprised at the return of the Russian fleet to the Red Sea, since re cent events here indicate that the Rus sian government is undecided with refer ence to further attempts to send the fleet to Eastern Asiatic waters. The chartered steamer St, Nlnlan, wnlch was on the way to Batavla with coal for tho second Pacific squadron, returned here the other day upon orders from the Russian government. The recent muddle about the buying of Hamburg-American Steamship Com pany vessels further emphasizes Russia's irresolution. It is now stated that Russia I has actually arranged to buy eleven Ham- uuK-Aincncan steamers anu was nego tiating for the purchase of others. As the Hamburg-American Company an nounced on Saturday, these negotiations were without result. Then It was stated on Tuesday that Russia had decided to buy only the Palatla and Phoenicia, but today the Palatla and the Armenia sailed for Libia under the German flag for transfer to Russia. These two steamers loaded the coal of the British steamers Franklin and Conway, which bad been chartered by the Hamburg-American Com pany to carry coal to Port Arthur but were ordered back, by the Russian gov ernment after the fall of Port Arthur. The other nine steamers pass again into the possession of the Hamburg-American Company. 4f It was a ?reat surprise here when the Russian order arrived directing the ts- peniiion -of xjJgo-Uklng." CONTENTS OF TODAY'S PAPER The Weather. TODAY'S Fair; winds mostly north to east. YESTERDAY'S Maximum temperature. 72 dec-; minimum. 46. Precipitation, none. Tho War in tho East. Russians in tell retreat from Mukden, with Japanese in pursuit. Page 1. Effort will be made to stand at Tie Pass. but Japanese have cut railroad and may block retreat. Page 1. Details of the last fighting. Fags 1. Russian army badly demoralized. Pace 1. Kuropatkln. will be recalled. Page 1. Baltic fleet returning north, and may go home. Face 1. Affairs in Russia. Troops sent to Caucasus to put down revolt. Page 4. Open advocacy of massacre of rebels. Pace 4. -Feasant rising la Central Russia spreSds. Pago 4. Foreign. British government sustained on fiscal ques tion. Fage 2. Balfour has difficulty in filling places in Cabinet. Fage 2. Indignities suffered by tourists in Venezuela. Fage National. Senate committee amends Santo Domingo treaty. Fage 3. President's message In favor of treaty. Fage 8. President will remove some Canal Commis sioners. Page 4. Expenses of Government during last four years. Fage 4. Marshal Matthews will sot be removed. Page 1. President will appoint Democrats to office in Georgia. Fage 4. Politic. How Boss Murphy, of New York, maiej money. Page 1. Republican split In Colorado may Veep Gov ernor Adams In office. Pago 5. S&ata Fe official refuses Information in Kan sas rebate investigation. Fage 3. Domestic. Cowboys tell bow they enjoyed themselves at Inauguration. Fage 1. Trafflo Director Stubbs, of the Union Pacific, resigns. Page 3. New York rapid transit lines operated by nonunion men. Fage 3. Government case against Mrs. Cnadwlck completed. Fage 5. Facia o Coast. Washington Legislature will end its 60-day session; many bills are still on the calen dar. Fage 6. Referendum movement is meeting with ap proval of rural voters In the Willamette Valley. Fage 6. Woodmen of the World hold convention to elect delegates to bead camp. Page 6. Commercial and Marine. Weekly 'review of local produce and Jobbing markets. Fage IS. Slump in July wheat at Chicago. Page 15. Tone of hesitation in stock market. Fage 15. New wool reaches San Francisco market. Page 15. Trouble threatened between Longshoremen's and Sailors Unions. Fage T. Nnmantla clears for Orient with valuable cargo. Page 7. Portland and Vicinity. Gasoline motor car to run on West Side line Is built for speed and safety. Fage 24. Contractors charged with placing obstacles In streets appear In court. Page 10. Exposition strikers xnay get help from other labor unions. Page 14. Land fraud Investigation to be resumed this .month. Page 14. Columbia Theater is sold to Belasco-Mayer for $100,000. Page lL Charges against Chief of Police Hunt to be investigated today. Page 14. Effort by Mayor Williams friends to get him again to run for office. Fage 10. Willamette Valley people want better rail way service. Page 10. Sheriff Word wins suit brought against him by Chinese. Page 7. Water Board plans new and extensive sys tem for East Side. Page 10. Congressional committee tovlslt Exposition is named. Fage II. Forestry building Is completed. Page 0. Governor Chamberlain may call extra ses sion to eettle normal'school matter.. Page MILLIONS IN IT Murphy Family Com pany Has No Equal, TAMMANY BOSS1 CRAFT its Profits Would Make Jweed Green With Envy. GETS ALL THE FAT CONTRACTS Jerome Is on Its Trail, and May Make It an Issue, but Murphy Has Raked In Seven Million Dol lars Already. NEW YORK, March E.-(Speclal.) "It would make Tweed turn over In bis grave with envy." In these words District Attorney Jerome gave bis opinion of the New York Con tracting' & Construction Company, better known as the "Murphy Family Com pany," and It Is an open secret that the affairs of tho corporation are now under going Investigation at the hands of the District Attorney's corps of county de tectives. The prediction Is confidently made that before the. primaries 'ire held, legal action of some kind will be taken, enough, anyway, to make the matter an issue at the polls. Every time Tammany bas been, beaten it bas taken an issue to do It. Tweed was the Issue In 1S73, when Edward Coop er was elected Mayor. The Lexow com mittee exposures of crookedness and' cor ruption all along the line made the issue in 1KH, which gave Strong tho victory, and Low won in 19-31 because of one issue, the personality of William S. Devery, "the best Chief of Police New Tork ever had," to quote Bob Van Wyck of lament ed memory. But none of the Tammany leaders since the days the organization was formed have made the money that Charles F. Murphy has cleared during the trifle over a year' that McClellan bas been In office. "Ho bas made Tweed look like a piker," Is tha comment of one envious district lead.and the. charm qt the'Sjrstemr that, even admitting everything charged against him. It 3 doubtful If any crimi nal charge can be preferred. For Murphy himself is a trust. Tou might call him the "pull trust," for he has so arranged things that nobody has a pull except himself and the New York Construction and Contracting Company. Tweed a Novice by Comparison. Tweed's methods were as crude and childlike as those of the detectives of 1G0 years ago compared with the up-to-date deductions of a Sherlock Holmes. Tweed awarded contracts to firms at exorbitant rates, and received 15. 20 and sometimes 50 per cent of the amount. Murphy hasn't asked a contractor for a cent, for ho is the contractor himself. The New York Construction & Con tracting Company was organized Just be fore McClellan's election. The principal stockholders of record are John J. Mur phy, brother ot the leader, and Alderman James E. Gaffney, hls'brother-in-Iaw. John J. Murphy was tending bar when the company was formed, and was taken from behind the bar to become a "con tractor." Gaffney also was a saloonkeep er, but, so far as that is concerned, Charles F. Murphy has spent all his life In running resorts of more or less un savory character. Officially, Charles F. Murphy has nothing to do with the com pany, although be is naturally Interested In the welfare of his kinsmen. One Year's Profits, $6,750,000. In the year just closed this firm of barkeeper-contractors has received three con tracts aggregating $27,000,000, upon vulch It Is estimated that the profits will be at least 23 per cent, or $5,750,000. The "Gas Trust presented It with a $15,000,000 contract to do work for the mammoth plant prepared In Astoria and the connecting pipe, lines. The Murphy family has the contract for the Pennsylvania's subway In the city, amounting to $,000,000, and the New Ha ven road gave a contract of a like amount. In all these Instances other firms under bid the Tammany corporation, but Mur phy got the contract Just the same. Here after, this embarrassment will be avoid ed, for the large contractors realize that It the Murphys want the Job, the be3t thing to do is to let them bave it. Why? Why He Has No Competitors. Not a foot of public highway can be opened without a permit from the Bor ough Superintendent, upon the recom mendation of his Superintendent of Pub lic Works. These permits could be refused for reas ons that are too numerous to mention, and even if the aid ot the courts were in voked and the Issuance ot the permits forced, the work would be restricted to three blocks at a tlmq, and the 'work within these limits would have to be en tirely completed before another 600-foot permit need be issued. This would make an endless job of it, and would almost double the cost. Besides this, the contractors could be harried by all of the city and borough officials and the firm could be compelled to pay a lot of corporation Inspectors. By these methods the cost could be made so great as to wreck any firm without the capital of the Nation at its back. It was because of these reasons, pre sented strongly to the directors of the New York & "New Haven Railroad Com pany, that It Is said Murphy got the $5,000,000 job from that company. That the firm, will get all of the Pennsylvania work of tunneling across this borough and under the East River to Long Island is said to be certain. The cost ot this Job will aggregate upward ot $15,000,000. The power of the Murphy firm has be come so famous that work la being thrust upon it. It has inspired tho respect and fear of every corporation designing to make Improvements within the limits of this city, and the peculiar thing about the situation is that the firm stands alone. It has no entangling and costly alliances. It doesn't have to "divvy "up" with any body, and what it gets, it keeps. Big contractors who know what Is going on in the city say that Murphy's profits are fully 25 per cent. They base this estimate on the fact that conservative contractors, in figuring on the cost of a big Job, add 15 per cent for profit, and that the increase by the Murphy firm would raiso this to at least 25 per cent Does Not Descend to Bribery. But the probabilities arc that the net profit is much, greater, as the Murphys are free from Interferences by any public official, and do not have to bribe any body. For it is a moral concern, this Murphy family firm. No money Is given inspectors to get them to wink at what is going on. And any one who dared to interfere would be locked up probably, and lose his job certainly. In a recent Interview Alderman Gaff ney said that the New York Contracting & Construction Company had progressed very slowly to Its present magnificent po sition. Within a very few months after it, was organized It got a 30-year lease of the pier and dumping board privileges at the foot of West Ninety-sixth street at the ridiculously low Tent ot $37S0 a year. It Is said the firm could make a profit from the lease alone ot $1,000,000. and the dumping privileges are worth $220 a day for SCO days a year. It was also said that if this lease had been put up at a public auction It would have brought '$20,000 a year. Tho firm also got from the city a long lease of the pier and dump at West Seventy-ninth street at $1200 a year; It also got numer ous other leases directly and Indirectly. During -the investigation of the giving away of these leases it was said that the city through undervaluations of this property would lose $2,000,000. Working It at Both Ends. In order to show that the Murphy firm does not confine Its Industries to million-dollar contracts, mention may be made of the fact that it uses its trucks for city work, when they are not other wise busy, and that the piers which it has secured from the city It permits the city to use for dumping of ashes at the usual rate. It has received from the city between December 21 and January 20, $5055.79 for permitting the city to use the piers for which it pays only $4S00 a year. Simply stated, the. firm receives irom the city for dumping privileges $130 a day, and so the city very probably re turns within a month all the money that it receives from the company in rentals for a year. But the situation calls to mind the words bt Tweed on a famoiu period' of his life: "What are you going fo do .about Itr Mr. Murphy, although the recognized leader of Tammany Hall, occupies no official position. He does not draw a cent In salary from the city and has a perfect right to form all sorts of companies to do anything he wants, and persons desiring work bave a perfect right to allow him to do that work at a higher figure than somebody else. It Is doubtful whether he has ever even asked anybody to give his firm work, or If he bas made a single threat. That would be unnecessary. And Murphy does not do unnecessary things. The work he has done for private firms Is a matter between them and him. The dock3 voted him by the city, it Is safe to say, were voted without even a request from him. The salaried secre tary of the firm simply asked for it, and, of course, a man has a right to ask for anything be wants. The Dock Commissioner may have something to ex plain in courts, but how can Murphy be bothered? Jerome on His Trail. But Jerome is on his trial, and Jerome has landed some rich men during the time he has been in office. And Jerome is looking for an issue to use in the com ing campaign. Jerome says he doesn't want to be Mayor, he wants another term as District Attorney, but perhaps he will not be able to choose. And If he does succeed George B. Mc Clellan, one thing is sure: The New York Construction & Contracting "Com pany will not be as big a thing as It has been In the past. It Is doubtful whether Murphy cares. Two fat years two years with more "mil lions In It' than Colonel Mulberry Sel lers ever dreamed of, have doubtless sat isfied him. "He won't kick," said one Tammany Hall man the other day. "Charlie don't want to be no Rockefeller.. He's got his, and he's happy," Ten years ago Charles F. Murphy ran a cheap groggery In the poverty-stricken East Side. Today he Is welcomed with acclaims in the ranks of New York's millionaires. A self-made man. If ever there was one I But Jerome Is busily trying to unmake him: Says Stock Was Illegally Reduced. TRENTON, N. j., March 8. Harold a Cooke, of New York, today filed In the Court of Chancery a bill asking that the Illinois Car Sc. Equipment Company, a New Jersey corporation, show cause why the reduction of the capital stock of the company from $2,000,000 to $SOO,000 should not be set aside. This reduction was made December 19, 1904. Mr. Cooke claims that the requisite two-thirds of the stock was not voted In favor .of the proposi tion. , Hoch Moves for Habeas Corpus. CHICAGO, March 8. A motion for a writ of habeas corpus was made before Judge Kersten today by an attorney rep resenting Jobann Hoch, confessed biga mist and alleged murderer. The petition covers a wide range including- the allega tion that Hoch Is Innocent of murder. Arguments on the petition will be heard tomorrow. Convicted of an Old Crime. BRYAN, O.. March 8. George Letcher was tonight convicted of arson alleged to have been committed 20 years ago. "MViMnn fnr a nnw tlal rtr.j a m n A c an7-wf1T "be heard March 13. Letcher-was brolht nere rrom uamornia, wnere ne was en gaged In business. ETREflTA RDUT Russian Army a De moralized Mob. SUPPLIES GIVEN UP Japanese in Pursuit Have Cut Railroad. LOSSES ARE ENORMOUS Rough Estimate Makes. Total Over 100,000 Men.. DETAILS- OF THE .FIGHTING Tremendous, Conflict at Manchum tan, In Which Russians Were) Driven Out Retreat May Be Blocked. General Kuropatkln is giving ground before the armies ot Japan, and yester day he abandoned positions south and southwest of Mukden, burning- such of ' his supplies aa be could not carry with him. The Japanese artillery Is thundering at the very gates of Mukden, which posi tion tba Russians still bold, but which they are admittedly prepared to evac uate, changing their base to Tie Pass, which Is 40 miles north of Mukden. So far aa the retreat bas progressed, it has been orderly. "What the Japanese may have in store for the defeated army on its retirement northward remains to bo disclosed. There are reports that General RennenVampff, the foremost cavalry Genera, of the. Russian army in Manchuria, bas been cut oft on tie east from .the ,mai a. force and Japanese troops In considerable num bers are said to be already In the vicin ity of Tie Pass. Tbe retirement unquestionably cost tho Russians dear in the matter of supplies and heavy guns. Neither commanders nor correspond ents bave yet ventured to estimate the number of killed ' and wounded In tho 11 days' fighting. The Russian casual ties in the fighting- Tuesday on the left flank are said to have been fully 7000. i TOKIO, March 9. Defeated all along the line, with thousands of men killed and wounded, his army turned Into a demor alized mob ot men who no longer obey the orders of their officers, an enormous percentage of his munitions of war and artillery lost to him, having been aban doned to the victorious Japanese or de stroyed to prevent falling Into their hands, General Kuropatkln is at last reports making a frantic effort to save something from the wreck and Is withdrawing all of his reserves northward to a point where he can reasonably hope' to reor ganize his defeated army. In the mean time the Japanese soldiers on the right, left and center are pressing in on the fleeing Russians and will make an at tempt to completely annihilate the soldiers of the Czar. The result . of the fortnight's fighting south of Mukden is the worst disaster to the Russian, arms of the war. Even tbe bold Cossacks, who in other days have repeatedly proved their valor on bloody fields, have been compelled to give way and run before the steady, relentless pressure of the troops of the Mikado, who, scorning death In every form, have con tinued battering away at the Russian en trenchments and piercing them, one by one, until today the entire vast system of earthworks below and to the eastward and westward of Mukden, which were constructed as a haven ot refuge after Liao Yang by the Russian engineers, and which were proclaimed to be absolutely Impregnable, are In the hands of the Jap anese and above them floats the ever victorious Buh-rayed flag of the Mikado. Losses on Both Sides Enormous. Oyama's hands have been well upheld and Nogi's veterans from Port Arthur, fighting side by side with the heroes of Feng "Wang Cheng and Liao Yang and using the same sledge-hammer tactics that won success against the flower of tho Siberian brigades and the Russian army corps that up to now had been supposed to be Invincible, have overwhelmed the Russian army In Manchuria and inflicted a most disastrous defeat. The losses on both sides during the past fortnight have been enormous, although it 13 at present Impossible to estimate them. The Rus sians at first held the advantage of po sition, and their shell Are wa3 well di rected, their shrapnel tearing great gaps In the ranks of the attacking forces. So soon as one man fell, however, another took his place, and they pressed on up the 'slopes to the very muzzles of the Russian pieces, driving the enemy away at tbe very point of the bayonet. From day to day the fighting bas continued, the subordinate commanders following, out tbe carefully arranged plan of campaign that had been decided on Immediately af ter the fall of Liao Yang ana" permitted nothing to interfere with the fulfillment of their orders. An official statement is expected to (Concluded on Tilth Page.)