ARREST OF RUSSIAN CONSPIRATORS.

Kumara Times, Issue 1115, 27 April 1880, Page 3

ARREST OF RUSSIAN CONSPIRATORS.

A correspondent of the “ Standard ” has telegraphed from St. Petersburg the following account of a struggle with Nihilists in that city: “A police officer in the Liteina district, holding the rank of pomoshtnik, having heard that three men and two women were living in a certain house under suspicions circumstances, determined to effect a surprise, On Friday morning, at two o’clock, accompanied by an okolotochnik, or sub-officer, end several policemen, he proceeded to the house in question. Having posted some of the men on the back staircase, he went up to the apartment alone, and knocked at the door. “ Kho tain 1" (who is there) was the answer, “ A telegram," said the officer. The door was opened, and the police being recognised, several shots were fired. The officer closed the door instantly and held it with all his might, whilst a messenger was despatched to Gendarmerie Barracks for help. Meanwhile, those inside recognised their danger, and made a desperate attempt to escape. They fired several shots, both through the door and from a small window overlooking the staircase. The officer was struck in the hand by a bullet, which passed through the door; but the cloud of smoke and the darkness obscured the police, and probably saved their lives. Upon help arriving the pomoshtnik took the offensive, and daslied into the corridor, revolver in hand, followed by the gendarmes. As the room was full of smoke he groped round the walls, and succeeded in opening the window. The draught cleared the atmosphere, and in the centre of the room were seen two men and two girls, who finding escape hopeless, and their ammunition being expended, surrendered at discretion. Immediately afterwards a single shot was heard in the adjoining room, and, upon entering it, a third man was found dead on the floor, having blown out his brains. General Gomko, the Governor, and M. Guroff, the Prefect of the town, arrived shortly, when a search was instituted, which led to the discovery of two presses, a quantity of “ brochures," proclamations, falsified documents, and a complete issue of the revolutionary journal “ Navodaja Volya ' (the “ Will of the People"); also poisons and explosives. The officer of the police received at once the Order of Sf. Vladimir and a step in promotion. The Order of St. Valdimiria, after the Cross of St. George, the most coveted decoration in Russia, carrying with it, as it does, many privileges, amongst them the rank of noble in the higher grade of the hereditary nobility, and the education of the bearer’s children at the expense of the State.