New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-03-12
FLEEING RUSSIANS HERE.
San There Is Large Exodus TO
.IrOid CONSERVATION.

Much superior 20 tn average immigrant were
the 2oj5 stccrage passengers that arrived on
the Graf Walderste and were landed yesterday
ON Ellis Island. Eighteen hundred Of them
wsr" Russian refugees fleeing 90 escape con-
s~.ption Three weeks ago an imperial ukase
and c,~--ct the lists Of those liable 20 military
duty. that drafts 81 couscripts might be made
no O. minutes notice. I'm addition to this the
ukase forbade tho issuance OF passports 10 any
able bodied man between the age 81 fourteen
and forty-gyo years. As result there was an
exodus OF those liable 30 consc~iption from every
Russian village. 10 escape military service VII
lagos near the frontier where escape was COM
paratiycly easy were almost deserted.
Taking advantage Of this desire to flee. agents
of several steamship companies arc securing the
country selling passage tickets and smuggling
the purchasers across the frontier Bribery IS
freely resorted TO- and ia most cases Is sue
ccsful, many Of the enlisted men and officers
guarding the frontier being ready to turn their
! backs on group OF refugees II they are paid
TO do H.
The eXpedients adopted by some Of ths ref
Usecs read Ike the tales Of the underground
railroad before the civil War. Alexis Kaplan.
a mouJik from the village OF wilma. told tvp-
ical story. lie said.
When heard that tho Car was e,i-e- ., CON
script us all | made up my mind to flee have
q wife and two children who would surely
starye h were sent 10 he killed by the Japan
~s". knew II ] came here 1 could get work
and bring them later To this country and sun
port them. With five ~ my friends / started
that night We all had a little money. and we
de- ermined to keep together and fight or bribe
our way 10 freedom. We reached the frontier
just before dawn. and unlucklly stumbled on A
military post. When the sentry challenged ne
found him TO bc from our village. Wa filled
him up with vodka. and after paving him II
vubles apiece be turned his back on US and We
made dash for the river which marks the
boundary.
When we climbed out on tine German bank
che sentry discharged his piece and called out
tho guard. but We were safely Off Russian ter
ritory.
Another party over ono hundred strong made
their escape at about the same time under the
leadership 81 Peter Sharofski aud his wife. Olga
Alax1uG-ovna. or the party fifteen vere Chris
lions ana the rest Jews. All were about twenty
i've years old and farm laoorers. Mr.. Sharofski
saiG:
We lid not dare to stay single day after
the ukaeo had been promulgated. Almost as
soon the news was learned an agent for the
steamship line appeared IN the village. 7 think
De had no official connection with tho company.
but wss selling tickets on commission. RE said
ne could get Us across the frontier without pass
ports and deal with the seutrieS for The
agent charged us 100 ruoles $50, for brides
and passage money. lie said that 25 rubles
of this would be paid TO the sentry at the
outpost would have To pass When We
reached the post just before daybreak fifteen Of
the party were found to be Christians and they
were told TO stand one side. The sentry said
that he could not allow any Christian 10 leave
the country no matter how much he paid. Then
the sentry himself gave the word 10 run,
which did. and as soon as We were across
the border he gave the alarm, ana we heard
later that ne had taken the fifteen Christians
10 the guard house. declaring that he had caught
them while escaping. after threatening them
with injury IL they revealed how the rest of
our party got away. Around every outpost are
hundreds of peasants waiting a chance to es-