Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-27

ABOUT A RUSSIAN COLONY.

So s,e,y Of a siberian rx,le- feedins ttis
children Like P,ss Out Of . rreush-Dis-
sspssens AmorR she Festivals.
A San Francisco letter says: Over
scross the bay about sixteen miles, IS
the crow flies, from this city is the pic
turesque little town Of Baywards. 1t
WAS once the centre Of immense wheat
growing ranches and popular stop
ping-place for drovers and others who
came in from the back-country.
Now it is becoming favorite re-
sort for tourists, who use it as q
base for expeditions to the various
canyons in the vicinity and TO Mount
Disbolo, which seems to be only about
a mile away. but which is really four
teen miles distant. Although 1t only
has coo inhabitants, it boasts oil A.
least a half dozen good hotels, one OF
them being famous among epicures ana
sporting. men for the excellence OF Its
chef The people Of Haywards live
sleepy sort Of life. Those who are en-
ergetic make an easy living by raising
garden truck and fruit for the city
market. which is almost at their
doors. but some idea Of their slowness
of movement may be inferred from the
fac, thst though it has been demon
strated that grapes will grow we'll on
the heavy red soil about the town, there
is not single large vineyard yet plant
ed. OF other fruits, however, there
is no lack, and almost within the town
limits is the famous Llewellan fruit
ranch, from which the owner has cleared
a. fortune. and which he recently divided
up into ten-acre plats and sold at auc-
ton.
THE UKRAINA COLONY.
The same apathy which has marked
the people in regard to planting grapes
is shown in their lack Of interest in
their neighbors. Over back of Hay
wards, about two miles, in one Of the
spurs of the coast range, which cut
this region up iato so many picturesque
canyons and mountain walled valleys,
is a settlement of Russians, whose
ways are so peculiar that they
have given rise to much gossip
and fable. The place is known
as Russian Canyon. Following the
road one comes suddenly upon
q defile in the hills. On both sides the
rugged hill-slopes are covered with a
tangled growth Of manzaniti, laurel,
buckeye, and chemisal, so intertwined
that one needs an axe to clear even a
narrow trail through the chapparal.
Here dwell, in little cabins, the rem
nants of the Ukrains colony of Russian
refugees, who came here years ago,
bought up several hundred acres Of
land, and established community to
give shelter to any fugitive who might
escape from Siberian dungeons or from
equally terrible captivity in st. Peters
burg bastiles. Their lack Of knowledge
of English and their peculiar ways led to
many wild fctions in regard to their
mode of life and their purposes. 1t is
even declared to-day by people who
live in sight of the smoke from these
refugees chimneys that they are band
Of Nihilist plotters who are engaged in
schemes to remove the Gar, and that
their chief occupation is the manufac-
ture of the deadly dynamite.
SOME DYNAMITE ROMANCEs.
Dynamite seems to have singular
effect on the imagination Of most peo-
pie. Why these Russians should Sc
lect secluded canyon in California,
thousands of miles away from their
base of operations, for the manufacture
of an explosive which can be made
safely in a garnet Of st. Petersburg
that overlooks the Emperor's winter
palace, is something which these imagi-
native people do not stop to consider.
The dynamite-maker needs only few
chemicals and table or bench to
work on to produce enough of the ex-
plosivc 20 blow the Car and all his
nyrmidons into space. But to return
to the colony. The members till the
soil in spasmodic way, and preserve a
a reticence about their plans and &C
tons which is as rare as it is admirable.
A priest Of the Greek Church lives
with them, and it is asserted that some
Of the members have considerable
wealth. The place has afforded shelter
to many refugees until they could learn
the language Of the country and devise
means of earning a livelihood.
AN ESCAPE FROM SIBERIA.
Connected with one Of these fugitives
from the Cars dungeons is romantic
story which scarcely seems probable in
these closing years Of the century and
within the sound of church-bells on
Sunday. In 1865 Ivan Rogovitch es-
capped from Siberia, where he had been
sent for twenty years term for par
ticipation in a Revolutionist meeting
which was surprised by the st. Peters,
burg police. He was student, and 8
man Of more than ordinary vigor Of
mind and body. He was placed in
one of the gangs Of conyicts, and
made the terrible march in chains from
the great city on the Neva across the
Ural mountains, through Siberia and to
the far east, on the Ochotsk sea.
There, in one Of the mines, he was set
to work at labor which he saw would
surely end in the ruin Of his health and
strength. He planned many schemes
of escape. and finally succeeded in
slowing himself away in flshing-boat,
which brought him over to one Of the
Alaskan ports. From there he came
by steamer to this city and Joined the
Ukraina colony-in the latter part Of
the year.
BROKEN DOWN IN HIS PRIME.
His superb physique was broken by
the fearful hardships Of the journey
across Siberia and by the exposure in the
small iishing-boat in the northern seas.
He suffered from paralysis Of the limbs,
and from an ambitious, energetic man
he gradually sank into a condition
little above that Of the profession
al tramp. Soon after his arrival
here he had married q strapping
young negro wench from Jamaica,
and the two settled down in n small