Los Angeles herald., 1891-05-30
LETTER BAG.

The Cruel Expulsion of jews From
Moscow.
EDITORS HERALD ALLOW me to trans
late for your readers the following ex-
tracts from letter / have just received
from friend residing at Moscow:
when the order for the expulsion of
the Jewish working people was given, a
terror befell them, las the order concerned
mostly such persons who were born in
Moscow or had resided there for many
years and were sent now to towns and
villages entirely strange to them, be-
cause the passport designated them as
being the birthplace of their fathers and
grandfathers. Those who do not pos
sess the means to pay their travelling
expenses, are to be transported by gov
ernment by etapes, i. e. stations or
halting places. This transportation by
etapes is done in the following manner:
AS soon as a sufficient number of Grim
inals are gathered in the prisons, they
are conducted fettered to the railway
stations, there to be put into prison
vans, closed by iron rails and gratings;
stoppage at the next town, where the
wretches are confined in prisons covered
with filth and dirt, until the criminals of
the district have been collected together.
In this manner the transport is contin-
ued, so that for instance journey from
Moscow to Brest, which ought to take
40 hours, may require as many days.
The governor-general of Moscow, Kos
tanda, is an old soldier, who executes
the cruel order fer the expulsion of the
Jews with military exactitude, while
the head officials are all said to hate the
Jews and to have recommended the
measure. For a few weeks, strong de-
tachments of police and military patrol
the streets at night, here and there a
house is surrounded where Jews are
living: young and old are awakened
from their sleep, taken from their beds,
and all corners are searched to see if
anybody is concealed. The passports
are examined; those who have permis-
sion to reside at Moscow, must sign
paper binding them to leave town with
in three days; those who have no such
permission, are carried away immed-
lately to prison, where they must
languish until the next transport is
ready. Many cases have occurred, es-
pecially in the Saradie quarter, which
has been surrounded already three times,
when some members of family have
been dragged away, because they were
not designated on the passport, and
boys 10 to 13 years of age and girls have
been torn violently from their parents
arms. 1t is impossible to describe those
heart-rendering scenes. Many Jews,
for fear of these mighty irruptions, have
passed the nights in places of bad re-
pute.
Before the northern gates is the peas
~
thousands of Jewish families have
with their Christian neighbors. A great
colony; about 400 families having been
dragged to prison. With the butt end
OF their guns the soldiers drove the un-
fortunates out of their quiet homes,
where everything was prepared for the
Easter holidays. A hangman's respite
of three days was granted to the re-
mainder. They sold their chattels for
song to obtain the fare toward some un-
known locality, where perchance the
head of the family had been born. Hun
dreds of families flee towards the neigh
boring woods, where many may still
wander about. The prison walls echo
the meanings of the miserable victims.
Everywhere, regardless of creed, the
pity for these unfortunates is moved
money and provisions are sent to them.
A number of prominent merchants in-
tended to send petition to the czar, to
rescind the hard measures, but Nazo-
now (mayor of Moscow and other
officials, have prevented its success
The losses of the eXpulsed working peo-
pie are so much the greater because
MANY Russian debtors keep back their
payments--for reasons easily to be ac-
counted for.
RICHARD Weller, Phi. D.