Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-02-12

volumlnOEe correspondence lately re-
ceived by him, relating to the massacre
of Russian administrative exiles at
Yakutsk on April last, the occurrence
of which has been hitherto strenuously
denied by the Russian government.
One of these letters, written by a sur
vivor of the affair, is si3ty-one pages in
length, and sets forth with great exact
ness of detail every particular of the
massacre, and the events leading up to
and Immediately preceding and sue
ceeding it.
Mr.. Remnants correspondents agree
that the former governor of the prov
ince of Yakutsk. Gen. Svetletski, had
done all In his power to see that the
exlles in his charge were forwarded rs
comfortably as possible to this inhospit-
able region, but being promoted to
the government of the province of
Irkutsk, his successor. Gen. Ostaskin,
who assumed the office temporarily in
March last, gave great dissatisfaction
to the eX1leS by the announcement of
certain cruel and arbitrary rules.
Under the Russian penal code it is 8
criminal offense for political exiles to
unite In petition for a redress of griev-
ances. Each exile, therefore, prepared
separate petition and presented it at
the Office of the provincial administra-
ton. They were directed to assemble
in the house of one of the exiles, and
when Their were told that the Gov
ernor regarded their individual petit
tons as merely an evasion of the law
and their action equivalent to open re-
beliion.
cat 10 o'clock the next day." writes
one of the actual participants in the
dreadful affair, 1--WE met again in Not
kin's house to the number of thirty
three. At half-past 10 the police over
seer, Olesof, brought verbal order that
all eXi1es present were to come to the
police station. We thought that there
must be some misund as We
were waiting by the orders of the chief
of police. Oesof turned on his heel,
saying, Then | understand you won't
come We said no such thing, but they
wanted to know from the chief of po-
lice what be expe cted them to do.
ga company of Cossacks, numbering
over 100 men. under command of an
officer named karamzin, then ap-
peared, battered down the gates of the
courtyard, and fifteen or twenty of
them entered the house, while the
others surrounded it. The officers who
entered with the soldiers were Chief of
Police Souchakef, Capt. Vashef, the
local commander of the whole Cossack
force in the town, and Olesof, the police
overseer. karamzin, in command of
the company, also entered and told us
that he had the governors or
d ders to w take toa us us to the police
the case, and said we had not assembled
there for any other purpose than to re-
ceive the governors reply; but that we
would 60 to the police station, only ask
ing that Karamzin withdraw his troops.
The chief of the police then said to Ka-
ramzin: what is the use of your talk
ing with them. Do what you were or
dered to- Karamzin then cried out to
the Cossacks. Take them
eve were Assem- bied in q room about
twenty feet square, and had gathered in
one corner: from which pc ition the Co.'S
sacks endeavored to Dust us by striking
US with their dubbed rifles and pricking
us with their bayonets. Cartridges had
been served out to the soldiers the
night before, and they fired point blank
into the miscellaneous crowd of men
and women.
Five of the exiles had revolvers.
which they had bought as a means Of
protection on their journey, and not for
the purpose of resisting the authorities
Nicolai ZotOf drew his revolver, sprang
upon the divan. and shouted Stop
Stopp
''The firing then became general on
both sides. After one or two vollevs
the soldiers withdrew from the house,
and the whole Cossack force outside
then poured in tt cir fire through the
doors and windows. Schur, one OF our
mr. no mt hc
ing. 1--WE surrender" but was shot dead
a short distance from the steps. Pod
belski, 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 implicated In the affair IN any
way, and was within two months of the
termination of his exile. Joseph Estro-
witch, already wounded, rushed into the
courtyard. tell. and was repeatedly
b"yoneted as he lay on the groRnd.
AS a result Of this ARRAY, six of us,
including one woman, were killed out
right. This woman's stomach WAS all
m open by bayonet, and all the rest
o ~ were more or less inju rod
Sat the first lull in the firing upon the
house Zotof ran out into the courtyard
1t does not appear for what purpose.
There he saw Gov. Ostash kin, who had
arrived, and whom he doubtless be-
lieved to be responsible for the killing
OF his friends. He drew his revolver
and fired two Shots st him. But Tor
this there might have been no more
shooting. Zotof, however, wounded
the governor, and the soldiers recon-
menced firing into the house. After
two or three voIleys this firing was
stopped by Capt. Vazhet."
The government casualties were one
soldier killed and the governor and
soldier slightly wounded. The exiles
killed were Sergius Pix, Sophie Cure
With, PAM Potbelski, Peter Mukhanof.
Gregory Shura. and Jacob Notkin.
Twelve others were severely wounded.
Three months later the survivors
were tried by court-martial on
the charge of armed resistance.
Three Of the prisoners were hanged.
Kohan Boinstein, who had been Sc
verely wounded and was unable to
stand, was taken to the scaffold on cot |
bed from the hospital, the moose put |
around his neck, and the cot taken from |
under him. He was choked to death. |
Fourteen others were sent to the mines |
for different terms, ranging from ten to |
fifteen years.
i L. So