Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-02-13
MURDERED WITHOUT CAUSE.
Russian ExilsS RuthleSSly Shot Down
by the Government Troops.
Men and Women Find No Mercy at the
Hands of the CoSsacks.
Letters 20 Geo. KEENAN,, the Lecturer,
Expose the Foul Crime.

/ pondence lately received 10y him, relating
TO the massacre of Russian administrative
exiles at Yakutsk on April 8, last, the oc-
currence of which has been hitherto strenu.
| ouSly denied 10y the Russian government.
One Of these letters, written by a survivor
! OF the affair, is siNty-one pages IN length.
and sets forth with great exacmess of de-
/ tail every particular of the massacre and
the events leading up to and Immediately
preceding and succeeding K;
Mr., KEENAN, s correspondents agree that
/ the former government OF the province OF
Iakutsk, Gen. Svetletsld, had done all in
! his power to see that the exiles in his
charge We're forwarded as comfortably as
possible TO this mhospitable region but
being promoted to the government Of the
/ province Of lrbutsk his successor, Gen.
/ OstaSkin, who assumed the Office Temporal.
rlly IN March last, gave great dissatsfac-
! ton TO the eNiles by the announcement of
certain cruel and arbitrary rules.
4 Under the Russian penal code it is a
criminal ofense for political eNiles TO
unite in a petition for a redress of griev.
ances. Each exile, therefore prepared
separate petition an presented it at the
office Of the provincial administration,
! They were directed TO assemble IN the
house of one of the eXiles, and when there
were told that the government regarded
1 their individual petitions as merely an eva
sion of the law and their action equivalent
to open rebellion
AT 10 o'clock the next day. writes one
of the actual participants in the dreadful
affair I'VE met again in NotiNns house
to the number of thirty-three. At half
! past ten the police oyerseer, Olesot,
/ brought verbal order that
all exlles present were to come to the
police station We thought chat there
must Toe a misunderstanding, as we were
waiting 10y the orders of the chief of police.
Oesof turned on his heel, saying Them
! ! understand you won come We said
no such thing, but they wanted to know
from the chief of police what he expected
them TO do.
A company Of Cossacks, numbering over
4 100 men, under command Of an officer
named karamzin, then appeared, battered
down the gates of the court yard and fifteen
or twenty Of them entered the house while
the Others surrounded it, The offices who
entered with the soldiers were Chief of
Police Souchakef, Captain Nashef the
| local commander of the whole COssacli
force in the town, and Olesof the police
oyerseer karamzin. in command Of the
company. also entered and told as that he
! had the governors orders 10 take MS TO the
police station. We tried 10 explain our
side of the case, and said we had not as
,embled there for any other purpose than
10 receive the governor IS reply; but that
we would 60 TO the police station, only
asking mat karanzin Withdraw his troops.
q al "a
rmnzin: "What is the use of your talking
with them Do what you were ordered
to. karamzin then cried Out to the Cos
sacks. Take them.
1--WE were assembled in a room about
\ twenty feet square. and had gathered in
one corner, from which position the Cos
sacks eudeaYored 10 Dust us by striking US
with their dubbed rifles and prickIng MS
with their bayonets Cartridges had
been served to the soldiers the night he
fore, and they fired point blank into the
miscellaneous crowd of men and women.
Five OF the exiles had revolyers which
| they had brought rs means of protection
on their journey, and not for the purpose
Of resisting the authorizes, Nicoai Hotof
drew his revolver, sprang upon the diyan,
and shouted stop! stop!
"The firing then became general on
| both sides After one or two yoleys the
| soldiers withdrew from the house, and TIA"
whole Cossack force outside then poured
in their FIRE through the doors and win
dows Schur, one of our number, rushed
into the court yard crying I'VE sur
render, but was shot dead short dis
lance from the steps Podbesk, who
heard the firing, and ran TO the house to
see what the matter was. was shot dead by
the courtyard gate. He was not impli-
/ Gated in the affair in any way, and was
within two months Of the termination Of
| his exile Joseph Estrovitch, already
wounded rushed into the court yard, fell,
and was repeatedly bayoneted as he lay
on the ground.
"As a result Of this ARRAY, six Of rs,
/ including one woman, were killed out
right. This womans stomach was all
torn open by a bayonet, and all the rest Of
us were more or less injured.
AT the first lull in the firing upon the
1 house Zotof ran out into the court yard.
/ II does not appear for what purpose.
There be saw Gov Ostasekin, who had ar
rived and whom he doubtless believed TO
be responsible for the killing Of his
| friends. lie drew his revolver and fired
two shots at him But for this there
might have oeen no more shooting To-
tot. however, wounded the governor. and
the soldiers recommended firing into the
house After two or more volleys this
firing was stopped by Capt. Vazhef.
/ The government casualties were one
1 soldier killed and the governor and a sol
der slightly wounded The eZiles killed
were Sergius Pix. Sophie Gureyith, PAM
/ PotbeIski, Peter Mukhanof Gregory
/ Shura and Jacob Notkin. Twelve others
/ were severely wounded.
4 Three l..0nths later the survivors We're
/ tried by court martial on the charge Of
armed resistance Three Of the prisoners
were hanged. Kohau Bonstein, who had
! been severely wounded, and was unable to
stand was taken 70 the scaffold on cot
4 from the hospital, the moose put around
/ his neck. and the cot taken from under
! him. he was choked 10 death Fourteen
Others we're sent 30 the mines for different
terms ranging from ten TO fifteen
years
II consider that this information receiv-
/ ed from Russia. said Mr.. KEENAN, IN con-
clusion. $50 minute and circumstantial in
every detail. aud knowing the reliability