The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-05-21
A NIHILIST NEWSPAPER.
The Dinlinutivc Sheet That a Staff of
One Student Writes, Prints, and Dis

4 OAAC SIAUCAC WEAtcSs EThkAtSs ana OIS-
tributes.
ISt. Petersburg Cor. Manchester Guardian
/ l have just seen one of the greatest
typographical curiosities in the world-a
Russian revolutionary paper 1t meas
ures about three inches by ten, and is
printed on one side of single sheet. It
bears the imposing title of the Wa or
the People. This little sheet took such
possession of me that [ could not rest
until [ learned more about it. I made
inquiries III the proper quarter, and OBJ
tanned most interesting revelation of
the whole inwardness of one of those
Russian revolutionary papers which so
perplex the police. The office of Rus
sian revolutionary journal is usually
little back room in a very big house.
The room must be SO insignificant that
1t IS, as it were, lost In the house, and a
policeman would hardly think of looking
into it in a general search. It bears on
the door an humble business announce
ment to the effect that artifcial-hower
making, or some such harmless handi-
craft, lis carried on inside. The room is
scantily furnished, and the staff of the
journal is just one small unwholesome-
looking ex-student, who has been turned
out OF college for INSTRUMENTATION. and is
now living by his wits, on pawning and
on small allowance from a revolution
airy center. The staff has long, I'M
combed, greasy hair. and face which is
rarely washed with anything but its
own tears. 1t wears long cloak or
wraprascal lined with what was once fur
! but it is now merely bald surface of
hide, and the only glimpse or hint you
get of neither garments is in frayed ends
Of trousers peeping out from below.
Within this wraprascal is the all in all of
the revolutionary journalists soul and
spirit and it's material life. When the
cloak moves, the staff and the type, the
pen and paper, the ideas, the principles,
and the policy-all go with it. 1t is
triumph of the art Of packing. It is
still rather inaccurate to say that the
staff is pure individuality. It is dual
one. A woman shares the wretched
room, and the labors Of the wretched
enterprise. She, too, has been student,
and she is still young. She studied
medicine, perhaps, at Zurich or at Paris,
served as "queen's messenger" between
the home centers and the leaders abroad
until the police made Russia too hot to
hold her in her own name To the other
half of the staff she is devoted heart
and soul, and through him to his hobby
the universal revolution. She is a vol
untary outcast from a respectable family,
and she would as cheerfully lay down
her life as any 21etrOteuse of Paris for
her creed.
The journal is not daily journal, but
what may be called an intermittent one.
It comes out when it can. The first
business is to collect material. For this
purpose the reporting staff, after scan
ty meal on the cold remains of last
nights supper, wraps itself in it's cloak
and sallies out to watch public events.
It is irresistibly attracted by sort of
magnetic instinct to places where there
may be somebody to shoot at. It goes
to the great square in front of the Win
ter Palace, Or to the environs of the
public Offices. It has a pistol in its
pocket as well as a pen. There is no
knowing what may turn up, and the
staff has generally a standing order to
put a Gar or a Minister out of the way
With this double duty in view it is al
ways sure of some result. If it cannot
get near enough to kill it can still man.
age to obtain information of goings-out
and comings-in which may be useful at
some future moment of action. It
mingles with the crowd of oilers. It
works its way gradually to the front, as
near as the police and soldiers will allow,
and, when the Gar or Minister drives
by, with swift trotting horses and Cos
sacks before and behind, it darts such a
look of hate at him as would do the
work more effectually than knife
Or pistol, if looks could kill. When
the reporter has brought in his ac-
count of how things are looking in
the city it becomes the editors turn.
The leader is generally composed under
the trees in a snow-covered public gar
den. It is written on sheets of paper
torn from a tiny pocket-book, and as
each sheet is finished it is rolled up in
ball, ready to be swallowed at d mo-
ment's notice. believe there is no in
stance known in which the most vigilant
detective has ever caught leader writer
IN fagrG'ate deljctu. At the first sign
of policeman approaching the scene of
literary labor down go the pills. The
next stage is the setting up in type.
The staff gathers up the pills into his
hands, and proceeds to the little back
room. The little back room is locked
and bolted, and chest of drawers is
pushed against the door. The dual
member lays loaded revolver within
easy reach, and the printing department
is in full activity. The type is taken
from under the mattress, and the leader
is slowly and painfully composed, with
many start at the sound of footstep,
which threatens to turn it all into an
immediate Cpl" How the paper goes
to press is not quite definitely known.
My informant on this point was wanting
in technical knowledge, but am led to
conclude that sheet of paper is spread
on the "form," and that the staff sits
on the sheet of paper to obtain
each immersion When the whole