RUSSIAN AFFAIR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81847, 14 September 1906, Page 2

RUSSIAN AFFAIR.

THE RECENT MASSACRES. PLANNED BY THE AUTHORITIES. POLICE BLACKMAILERS. St. Petersburg, September 12. Refugees from Seidlice declare the disorders are the result of a deliberately planned programme of massacres beginning in different parts when a red light was displayed in the city tower.

A soldier told Poles who were flee, ing not to fear, as they had only been ordered to kill the Jews. Ihe artillery opened an indiscriminate bombardment on Jewish houses, preventing the Jews from escaping to-the forests.

The panic is spreading to other towns, where it is tfeared the organisation known as the "Blanck Hundreds," under threats of fire and massacre, will try to compel the surrender of all revolutionaries.

The Vice-Governor of Seidlice was taken ill on Wednesday, and Colonel ij.chanovsky, Commander of the City Military Police, was appointed to replace him.

A rumour was current on Friday that a massacre was impending, but the policemen did not succeed in blackmailing shopkeepers on promises of protection. The shopkeepers refusal to give money led to the massacre.

Many wounded in the streets were despatched with revolvers, and even volleys were fired into the .Jewish hospital, containing wounded . Forty-two alleged revolutionaries will be court-martialled." A lieutenant and young lady walking in Warsaw were shot- dead. The assassins escaped. ... A bomb was thrown at a party of eight watchmen and police at Warsaw. Two were killed and six wounded. Thirty armed anarchists appeared at a wedding at a private house in Odessa and demanded money. Twentv were arrested. A girl named Konoplaniakoff was son° U m " 16 I ' uesse '^ ur ß' pri"

ORDgR RESTORED AT SIEDLICE. CHIEF OF POLICE ASSASSIN) ATED. - , Received 13th, 9,48 p.m. St. Petersburg, September 13. Order has been restored at Siedhce. Thousands left the city. Colonel Jakovleff, chief of the 1 Warsaw prison, was shot dead while \ riding in a cab. The assassin escaped.

Reuter's correspondent, writing from St. Petersburg, under date i/th jU.y, says mat a 'etter, written by Mdlle. Marie Spiridonovna, theyoung lady who murdered a Russian Governor and was sentenced to imprisonment for ,life 3 while on her journey to exile in Siberia, is published by the Russian papers. It contains the following passage:—" We are ever going onward,, onward; it seems as though this terrible journey would never end. Should these lines by a miracle fall into your hands, tell S. that those at home must, not mourn over-much. I am not alone; I have f«r fdUow;-;travellcrs other unhappy, beings who will share my lot. We are suffering together, the same heavy weight is on all our hearts. We gaze for long hours through the .barred windows, but hardly ever speak. W'e have confided our sorrow to each other, we have mingled our tears; now we are almost silent. , , . The white posts marking the versts pass quickly before our eyes. The train of the condemned is bearing us to Siberia, even further from onr country. As we near Siberia the air is becoming colder, and the ice is gathering around my heart. I wonder whether, on reaching my prison, I shall be given a barrow and forced to fill it with earth. I shall never be able to! I shall fall to the ground at the first attempt [Mdlle. Spiridonovna is supposed to be a consumptive], and that will probably excite the fury of my gaolers. ... A comrade told me that one of my judges said that it was not worth while hanging toe; it would not be long before I died once the gaol had closed around me! This is probably what will happen, and so I will bid you farewell, mj>| friend. I bequeath to you all that remains of me—my love for our unhappy country. Follow the same path ; do not fear to suffer, for suffering in life. Thaf is wljaf Hes on my soul. On my body are onily thfs grey garb and little white veil of the condemned, and for these it will not be difficult to find heirs."