A NATIONAL CRISIS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7720, 24 January 1905, Page 3

A NATIONAL CRISIS.

TIE pOBTRMIOHS H ST. PETERSBURG AN AWFUL SUNDAY'S WORK. FIVE JHOIJSAIiD MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN SHOT DOW! IN COLD BLOOD.

LABOUR TROUBLES CLOAK POLITICS. Russia's Revolt Against Bureaucracy. St. PETKKSBI' : R«, Jan. 22. • # The priest (Jarpon, with eleven union representatives, forwarded a letter to Prince Mirski, exhorting the . Czar to to the square in front I of the Winter Palace on Sunday with a courageous heart, guaranteeing j the inviolability of his person, otherwise the moral bond hitherto existing between the Czar and the people may foe broken Cavalry are concentrating at St. Petersburg and forming an extended cordon to prevent the demonstrators approaching the Palace. [ Fifty men are acting as a bcxiyguard to prevent (tarpon's arrest. Four hundred of (tarpon's picked men have sworn to guard the Czar \ in case he consents to confer wi'.h ** the strike leaders. There wore persistent rumours that the soldiery had resolved to refuse to fire in the event of disorder. Later the, cavalry and strikers had numerous bloody encounters. The square was invaded, and hall carti ridge was used, the cavalry expelling the dense mob. Many women and chiklrm were killed, and (tarpon was wounded and arrested. Five sleighs removed the injured from the Troitski bridge. * The people have erected barricades and entanglements in the streets, and are arming. The Czar is at the Selo Palace. One : hundred strikers were killed or wounded. The infantry threw down their rifles, fraternising with workers approaching from Vasili , but the Ihlans and Cossacks, charging with their swords, wounded 11-any of the crowd. ' A severe encounter took place with the PutilofT strikers in the. cent re of the city; Eighty were killed and wounded by ball cartridges, and there were 150 casualties in the Palace Square. The crowd retreated along the Nevsky Prospect, one of the principal streets, and the troops volleyed thrice, killing thirty and wounding many. ' > The populace are infuriated, and ore Vowing vengvauce. \ ~ EXPENSIVE INSURANCE. On the Czar's Life. • LONDON', Jan. 23. Thirly guineas per cent. h a s been paid Lloyds lo insure the Czar's life for a year. ACTIYITT IN POLAND. Bomb Explosions. St. PETERSM'HG, Jan. 22. There have lieen several bomb explosions in Lodz. llussian Poland. ¥ "A GLORIOUS DAY'S DOINGS." Sunday is the Capital. *' (Received Jan. 2H, 8.47 p.m.) ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 23. It was a beautiful day, and small groups of all classes vent towards the palace. Few anticipated anything beyond the application of the knout or a few scruffles ending in the dispersal of the unarmed crowds; yet events following one ' another r in bewildering rapidity plunged the city within two hours iuto a state of open revolution. Mounted troops guaiding the apto the square hefd the gradually assembled thousands in check and prevented them from obtaining access. The real trouble began at the bridges, the military using Knoi4te, the flats of their sabres, and blank cartridges, while straggling to keep back the thousands of unarmed strikers. The Putiloff men on their knees implored |>crmission to proceed, arging that they had no hostile intent, but were resolved that blank cartridges should not deter them from fulfilling their duty as citizens. The soldiers were thereupon ordered to load with ball, and fired with excited Tury on,, the'iiibb. The 'dead and dying were removed with ambulances l , sledges, and other vehicles previously heM in readiness,'. The aiow and pavements were coI ivered with blood, the sight htvglitcning Ihe people's indignation. \ Ten thousand PutiloU strikers then *i gathered at the union headquarters, revolutionary pamphlets were thrown fcam windows, and the leaders made inceinliary spetches protesting agninst the armed force so c'nar'aHcr- * istic of the Czar's attitude toward* his, people. Amiid cheers and .shouting " Down with the Monarchy !" thousands of workers and vassals of Ostrov marched to the .Nicholas bridge and towards the square. They successfully appealed to an iw'aiitry regiment, uut the Ilj'ans u nd Cossacks used ihelr swoids. A military band played during the con- \ flict. A workman named Vibrag on his side admitted that the men were in twos and threes, and not in crowds, where Ihis was regarded as dangerous. At the bridges Cossadts used heavy whips. The Imperial band, factories, and chief points of the Capital were guarded from Saturday night by a detachment of infantry or cavalry, each a hundred Und fifty strong. There are no Signs of artilleryj A DEADLY HAIL OF BULLETS. > Streets Become Shambles. (Received Jan. 23, 9.4 p.m.) ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 23. Cavalry posted at the Narva gates, •leading to the PutilofT presented everybody from entering the city when the procession headed by Fathers (Jarpon and Sergius approached hearing a -cross and an ikon in the shape of a portrait of the Czar. The military, quickly coming into the conflict, fired a volley, killing and wounding many. A huil of bullets sped through the air, killed Father'Sergius, and shattered the portrait. A third pri#st (not Father Garpon) was arrested. _ The district around here had the r ~ appearance of a shambles. The workmen, anticipating an attack, threw themselves flat, the soldiers firing on them as they lay on the ground. Pylicj and soldiers on the Neva .bridge used their bayonets to repel the strikers; but tl.e latter still advancing, a bugle sounded, und two volleys were fired, causing a numf>er of fatalities. Implications and curses were hurled at the officers by an orderly crowd of workmen on the pavements, ami among thfiii were many women and children. THE RUSSIAN'S RIGHT. A Cruel Minister's Work. LONDON, Jan. 23. I'he Daily Muil says the right of laying grievances before u Sovereign has been possessor from time immemorial by every Russian. The '. C- workcrs ' Of the LV.ar had WV*? deal with the Grand Duke Mail'- . cl "" ir ' Whose cruelty and violence are -s> notorious. §s'~'"in? K! ? Zor wh,lu at thc Tsarkoe not venture" to face his

• DEFENCELESS WOMEN AND CHILDREN Go to Swell the Pile of Victims. , I (Received Jan. 23, 11.51-1 p.m.) I ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 23. A crowd of stu'kers was ridden down in the Scb'lussilburg Road. | Rio tern, while trying to force the Troiski, the chief bridge, were chargod by the troops, who used their sabres. Subsequently a rush of ten thousand stij'kcrs took place there, and was received with three volleys, the soMiers afterwards charging and momentarily _dispersii?g<Ahe mob. Elsewhere huge gatherings took I place, and the men resolved to flock to the Palace or perish. Strikers 1 at the Alexander Gardens fruitlessly tried to force a gate and enter the Square, which crowds from oth- j n directions had entered). Two volleys were then fired into the crowd, and subsequently other volleys, killing and wounding among others twenty-live children who had been slitting on. the ice in the .gardens. After tho Square was cleat'EsU the troops on the Nevsky side of the streets continued to pour voi'eys in upon thc fugitives. The victims included many women and ' children. A moderate estimate puts the total at two thousand out of five thou- < sand 'altogether, killed or wounded. The mob on the Nevsky engaged the troops, teaning up and hurling stones, 1 which, injured several officers, whose swords and epaulettes were wrested from thfiii. The Grand Duke Ale- : xjs' windows were smashed, and a ' mob fct the Moscow gate seized an ' oil store. STRIKERS SEIZING ARMS. Streets Barricaded and Fighting in Train LONDON, Jan. '23. A Reuter message states that mere, ( women, audi children fell at each volley in the Square, but they were quickly removed in ambulances and carts. Students and every class of society frere mingling on -the Xevsky , in the evening, exasperated at the soldiers' ruthless attacks on the unarmed crowds. The soldiers have ; V,.ivouucked in thy Square and camp kitchens arc installed. 'Hie workmen's forces are now separated in the Yusili district. The strikers erected two barricades, which soldiers destroyed, losing thirty killed. \' a 9ili is now plunged ;n darkness, and shops are Ik'ing pillaged. \ dynamite factory was seized, and workmen are arming and resuming the struggle to-day. The strikers started towards the Taiskoe Selo it-he (.V.ar's private residence). % but met four companies of infantry and two squadrons of cavalry and a batten-. A bloody conflict followed, in, which many were* shot while crossing the Neva. ' MARCHING ON ST. PETERSBURG. Forty Thousand Armed Strikers 1 Approaching. (Received Jan. 21, 0.7 a.m.) ST. PETKKsm KG, Jan. 2:j. Despite repeated volleys the crowds at Vat>ili were not dispersed. A mob was trying to barricade the Xevsky when some b!ue>ackets relieved some infantry patrols. Trains from Warsaw arc working w,ith difficulty. , It was reported at midnight that , forty thousand armed strikers from Kolpino were marching on St. Petersburg. ENRAGING THE PUBLIC. Garpon's Letter to the Czar. St. PETERSBURG, Jan. 23. Cossacks in tho vicinity of the Palace charged sightseers and strik J r ers indiscriminately. The owliookers, at sight of this awful tragedy and thq women's grief, raised frantic shouts, cheering wildly in the name of ■" Liberty," and uncovering as the cortego of dying passed. Thirty vehicles bore wounded at one stage. AT. Jluravieff, one of the Committee of Ministers, was on Saturday night sent for and conferred privately with Father Garpon. The latter afterwards informied the strikers that he despaired of the Government granting any lxxlress ; but the Czar was good, and they must ail go to the palace with their wives and children. lie did not believe that the soldier's would attack their own countrymen. . The priest wrote to the Czar at the eleventh hour as follows '■' l fear your Ministers li a ve not told you the truth. The whole of the people, trusting you, ale assembling in the Square to inform you of their needs. If, vacillating, you do not appear, our trust in you wiljl be shattered awl you will be the cause of innocent blood flowing between you and vour people. 1 and my brave working men comrades guarantee the inviolability of vour person.' '