Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-12-15
GREAT ANTl-GOVERNr1ENT DEMON
STRATION At ST. PETERSBURG
Students Raise Blood Red Flaq and
Are Charged Upon By Mounted
Soldiers, Many Being Injured.
''DOwn With AutOCraCy," Their
Qualifications Que StiOned.


down the boulevard from the Moscow
station to the Neva, has the Russian
capital lived through such day of
excitement as yesterday.
The authorities Saturday night got
wind Of the big anti government dem
onstration planned for Sunday by the
Socialist Labor party to demand an
immediate end OF the war and the con-
vocation Of national assembly, and
leading every paper Sunday morning
in black faced type was an explicit
warning to the people at their peril to
desist from congregating in the Nevsky
Prospect, near the Kazan cathedral
At the same time extensive prepare
tions were made to quell any disturb.
ances. The police on the Nevsky Pros
pect were sextupled, and the dvorniks,
OF house porters, were marshalled in
front Of thier respective buildings.
Half dozen squadrons of mounted
gendarmerie were massed in the rear
of the Kazan cathedral and battalions
of reserve police were stationed in sew
eral court yards out of sight. Minister
of the Interior Svlatopolk- Mirsky gave
strict orders, however, thar no Cos
sacks should be used, and Fulton, chief
OF police, issued special orders to avoid
harsh measures unless it should be-
come absolutely necessary.
The newspaper warnings, however,
by giving notice to those not appraised
of the prospect of a demonstration, de-
feated the very object for which they
were designed, attracting seemingly
the whole population of this vast city
Oto the broad thoroughfare, and long
before the hour fixed, despite the plead
ing of the police, who literally lined
the sidewalks, the throngs on the pave
ments were so dense that movement
was almost impossib BILE, while the snow
covered boulevard was black with
tangled mass of sleighs, filled mostly
with the curious.
In the throngs on the sidewalks were
practically the whole student body of
the capital, including many young wo-
men, who have always been prominent
in Russia in liberal revolutionary
movements. and also thousands of
workingmen belonging to the Social
Labor party.
Toward l o'clock the work men and
students seemed to swarm toward the
corner of the Hotel Europe, opposite
the Kazan cathedral. The police, rec
ognizing that the critical moment was
at hand, tried in vain to keep back the
human tide.
Flash Blood Red Flag.
Then, when there was not single
mounted policeman in sight, on the
stroke of /, from the heart of the
like a jet OF flame, suddenly shot up.
1t was the signal Other flags appear
ed in the crowd, waving frantically
overhead, and they we're greeted with
a hoarse roar, "Down with autocra-
cyH' The students surged into the
tsreet, singing the "Marseillaise,"
while innocent spectators, seeking to
extricate themselves, crowded into
doorways and Rugged the Nall.
Mounted gendarmes who were hid
dep in the courtyard of the public
buildings emerged suddenly and
charged the crowd at full gallop, driv.
ing the demonstrators in headlong con-
fusion and screaming with terror upon
sidewalks and into adjacent streets
This led to severe encounters, fifty per-
sons being more or less severely in.
jured. Large numbers were arrested.
The ferment continued all day and
afr into t..e night, In the evening the
students of the Polytec huique and 9TH
or institutions held meetings, at which
fiery speeches were made in favor of
reform and the cOnvocation of ma.
tional assembly.
The greatest distress is expressed by
conservative Liberals over the days
events, all declaring that just when
the fate Of the zemstvo plan was in the
balance such fruitless outbreak will
be sure to prejudice every observer
and put the strongest weapon in the
hands of the bureaucratic reaction.
aries.
That such demonstrations of the So
cial Labor party are not confined to
the capital is shown by letter receiv-
ed here by prominent zemstvoist in
Southern Russia, in which the writer
says:
1.-The optimism with which we left
st. etersburg is beginning to vanish,
The government is not showing a dis
position to meet US half way and enter
frankly OH the path Of reform. On the
contrary, there seems to be hesitation
as to whether it would not be better to
return to the path of reaction. The
government seems unable to compre-
bend the real state of popular feeling,
the Importance Of decisive action and
the disastrous consequences of procras-
tination. The people of this province
are in state of great excitement.
Large meetings have taken place in
many towns and very specific resolu-
tinso have been adopted, but the bad
feature of the situation is the attitude
of the workmen.
'Incited by the underground press
of Paris and Geneva, they are declar-
ing not for political but social free
dom. 1t will therefore be the policy
of the government, if it decides to con-
cede nothing to us, to foster dissentions
hotxraan tha yatp Stvn un1 Social To- n,