The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-05-12
vERESCHAGIH STORIES.
An Instance Of the Russian
Artists Daring.
ROMANCE OF his FRIENDSHIP

How The Painter ana Admiral
Makaron, who HAD Been Estrang-
ed, We're ReconciIed Just before
the PetropayIovsk Disaster-lsis
Fathers Wish FOR His SON FINALLY
FuIaIlea.
The late yassili yereschagin. the Rus
sian artist who went down with the
IN faied battIeship PetropaYIoysk, did
not believe that tie fear 81 torpedoes
was tie beginning Of wisdom, says the
Paris correspondent Of the Courier
des Etats Unis he was never afraid
Of them; on the contrary. he was well
acquainted with them. for he was
skillful torpedoist. III the Russo
Turkish war he was very near to los
ms his lie by bis temerity. He was
often out in small boat after dark
on the Danube when the smallest rip
pie might have caught the watchful
eyes Of the Turkish sentineIs. one
night he obtained permission to join
the crew of the Slutka. ordered to
torpedo Turkish ship. The dawn re-
yealed their position 10 the enemy. A
hailstorm Of bullets fell around them
from the shore Here is the account
which the artist himself gave Of tile
incident
Admiral SkrgdiaI gave orders TO
have everything ready lie took his
position near the forward torpedo and
put me in charge Of the boating tor
pedo aft We all put On cork jackets
ia case the Shuika should be blown
up or in case we should fan into the
water, which would be the most be-
nign consequence Of the explosion.
We ate morsel Of chicken and drank
a little sherry. Then my friend Skryd-
loff stretched himself out to take
nap. and, by heaven, his nerves al
lowed him to sleep! I could not sleep.
! scanned the water on the Rustchuk
side. Here she eomesr said sailor
IN low voice. And it was true. Be
tween the shore and the great trees OF
the little island which hid the narrow
passage Of the Danube tie smoke Of
the vessel appeared. moving rapidly
toward us.
When she came III sight she seemed
70 be Of colossal dimensions compared
to the shutka. Skrydloff steered di-
rectly Cor her, and we advanced with
the rapidly Of a locomotive Oh, what
confusion and excitement appeared to
be on board the enemy's ship ana on
shore too. II was plain to an that our
little nutshell was about to destroy the
big ship Bullets and shells rained all
around us The confusion Of the ene-
my suddenly vanished and In spite Of
the danger / could not help observing
the Turks On board They seemed AIS
steady as If they had suddenly been
turned into stone The Shutka reached
the ship anu touched her with BIER tor
pedo tube Al chat moment there was
profound silence on board both vessels.
Quietly we awaited tie explosion
Has she caughtY asked the gunner
who was cionched beside me- Not
yet i replied Try againl Let her gog
shouted skrydlo9. did so. stillthere
was no explosion The fusillade bad
cut the conducting vire"
In that encounter Kereschagin was
wounded III The leg, but not seriously
III the recent catastrophe III which lie
lost his life be ala not even have
chance to take part in fight
He was fond 81 danger on the
crests Of tile Balkans, while under fire
lie used 70 sketch the surrounding
rocks It Is said thar be was BIZ
manitarian who went through cam
paigns merely as an artist That IS
not correct. lie was an ardent patriot
and a fighter But hy bis death Rus
STA loses the greatest artist she ever
had
1t is not generally known that in
volved in the incident Of yassili Yeres-
chaeins death there Is little romance
Of friendship that Admiral Stepan @
AIakaron and he, who had been cadets
together In their boyhood, We're lately
estranged and that only just prior 90
bis boarding tile battleship Petropay-
loysk at Port Arthur they had been
reconcled. says Henry y Macedonia In
the New York Herald Nor IS 1t gen
orally known that only in the days Of
this last April was the wish OF the
III lfar raaa1fljno thfs Gifted son fui-
filled
III the arbitrary exercise Of paternal
that prevails II Russian fam
lilies the father 81 Vassili. without
much reference to discovered capacity,
this son for the church, that
one for the army, another for Tie for
ests and Yassiii for the sea- yassili
had no love for sailors life and soon
discovered If But that was long ago.
Although long postponed the nominal
ton Of BIS father was finally fulfilled