The National tribune., 1892-09-22

1 suit Is tnat tGeTe Is DTiueTy oVeTyWueie.
Not long ago some Americans wanted Il
build elevators in Russia but they found il
| would cost them over 100000 in brides before
1 they could go to work, and they gave up the
| project They thought, very rightly, that If !,
| cost them 100000 before they began. that II
| could not but cost them many more hundred
thousand dollars before they got through.
The most interesting section of the Russian
Government to foreigns is the police. Inns
| has become famous the world over. 1t has
1 been the machinery of the great expressions Of
the past, aud it is the means above which most
of the wrongs of to-day are perpetrated. The
Russian police is of many kinds. Each village
| has its policemen which it elects itself. There
| are policemen of districts and policemen oil
| towns and above all these are the gen. d armes,
| or the vast police organization of the Gar
! These last you find everywhere. At every
| railroad station, no matter if it be only at a
| country cross roads, you will find one of these
| burly officers in uniform with sword at his
side, pistols at his belt, spurs on his boots, and
| a feather in his cap marching up and down the
| platform all day long. He watches everything
and arrests anyone who does anything contrary
to the interests of the Government. de IS
supposed to be spy as well as policeman, and
he reports to st. Petersburg anything that is at
all out of the way in the doings OF the Rus
SLAMS or foreigners of his section.
Russia is said to have the best spy system in
| the world, and the head of it is the Chief of
Police at st. Petersburg had letters to this
man from the head of our Secret Service at
Washington, and was able to have converse
ton with him about the great organization
which he controls. He told me he was willing
that should write up the police, but that he
could not give me its secret organization. /
learned however, much about it from other
sources, and believe that the police system
here in ST. Petersburg is far better than that OF
any OF our American cities. 1t has perfect
organization, and there is a detective depart
ment department for the investigation OF
political offenders, a sanitary commission and
the regular policemen of the city of Petersburg
such as you have i'm New York. The prisons
are under the police and the fires are also
managed by the Police Department..
/ believe that mans life is safer in ST.
Petersburg than it is in New York. Both day
and night there is policeman within call on
every block, and the police force of this city
consists of 1000 men. There are az police sta
TONS and st. Petersburg is divided up into
Police Districts.
The policemen of district know all about
the inhabitants whom they guard, and there
is an alphabetical list kept of them which
gives their history, character, age, and all
about them. Every man in the district has
record. and such persons as are suspected OF
crime have their records written on 3 paper
of different color from the rest, and those
suspected OF Nihilsm or of being dissatisfied
with the Government have other papers, so
that you can tell by look at the papers just
the character of the class TO which the man
represented by it belongs.
OF these political offenders there are g great
number who are constantly watched by the
police; and there is another class Of people
which have still another colored paper. These
are those whose characters are known to be bad,
and who are to be arrested the moment they
are found. There are several thousand of such
men represented By the papers in the Police
Department. and copy of the list ofthese is on
file in each of the police stations of Russia, and
they are filed in every police station in
Europe. The doom of these men is sealed,
and if the Russian police get their hands upon
them they will be at once sent to Siberia. They
are made up of men and women, and come
from all classes Of society.
am surprised at the good order I find in
St Petersburg The people drive here like the
wind, but you never see any collisions on the
Nevsky Prospect, and the street is never
crowded. The police will not permit heavy
business wagons to 60 upon the more fire.
auented streets, and in turning corner a man
has to come away out in the center OF the
street, anu ue UdT6 uOt turn III Oh d SUOEtGUplts
There Is policeman at every crossing, who
stands in the center Of the street, and the
horses going in one direction must take one
side of the street, and returning must 90 on the
other
The police have control of the sanitary
arrangements of the city, and there is no better
watered or better swept city in the world than
this. Every man has to keep the street watered
and swept in front of his door, and there are
Gvo1 rauulpfinnc nc tn tho TINA az rphiph fhic
watering must be done, and if the street is dirty
he lie fined. The sanitary condition of the
houses is taken care of in the same way, and
connected with every house there is servant
called dvornik, who is known to the police,
and who is sort Of subordinate policeman.
He has to keep the police posted as to just who
are in the house; has to SEQ that the passports
of its members are taken to the police, and tba.
the house is kept in accordance with the laws
of the city. In case the house contains many
families, these unite together in the paying of
a dvornik, and one of these dvorniks often
has lot OF subordinates under him.
The Russians well know that they have to
obey the police. II a man is told that his shop
is dirty, or his house needs repairing, he cleans
the one or FIXES the other. If he does not ne is
liable to find himself arrested, and he may get
an order from the police that his business estab-
lishmept is to be closed for month.
The police officers have no trouble here in
suppressing riot, and W. T. Stead tells how
strike was put down not long ago by Gen.
Gresser, who not long ago was Chief of Police.
The strikers were Russians employed in one of
the English foundries of this city. The work.
men had no particular complaint against the
management, save that they we're told that
they could get higher wages if they struck, aud
they did so, and smashed the windows of the
mill. They threw up a barricade and intended
to fight. Gen. Gresser ordered one of his SUBJ
ordinates to take troop of policemen, 60 in
among the rioters, and arrest tue ringleaders.
too strong for the police. The next day Gen.
dresser took 1000 Cossacks. and he went to the
quarters Of the strikers and asked them what
they wanted. There were about 5000 of them,
aud they howled and hooted at him, and did
not attempt to give him any satisfaction. He
first urged them to return to work, and said no
would do all he could to bring about an AMIGA
bic settlement of their disputes. "But," he
said. you must disperse whether you 20 back
to work or not. / cannot have an organized
riot in the city,"
As he said this the mob burst out in roar
of defiance, and one of them threw brickbat
at Gen. dresser. He stepped back and ordered
the Cossacks to charge. These Cossacks were
armed with heavy whips. They rode in among
the mob, using their cowhides right and left,
and in three minutes there was not man loft
in tho place, save those ridden over by the
horses or knocked down by the whips. No
one was killed. and the strike was over in q