The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1905-12-22
CIVIL WAR
IN RUSSIA.
=
Government Throws Down Gaunt.
let and the ProIitariat Ac.
cepts Battle.
Army and Navy Claimed by In
.surgents. Romanoff Throne
In Jeopardy.
IS THF c7AR'c AST FIGHT
Is THE CZAR'S LAST FIGHT
Great Stretches Of Country Laid
Waste and Blood Flows Amid
Ali the Horrors Of War.

waste ana OIOOO flows AmIQ
Ali the Horrors Of War.
st. Petersburg, Dec. 20-The work
mans council, under the very noses
of the police, has succeeded in print
ing a hundred thousand copies Of it's
paper, announcing that the govern
ment has declared a Civil war on
the proletariat and saying that the
challenge must be accepted. In its
appeal to the people the council de-
clares this is the governments last
fight, that the throne Of the Rom
anoffs is tottering and that another
blow will cause it to fall. The coun-
Gil adds:
"While the government at St.
Petersburg is falling, it's own reg
iments are rising against it and at
Riga a republic has already been
proclaimed. A few regiments may
still be faithful, but the army as
whole is on our side. The govern
ment wants to fight. It shall have
it. The people are for us. If we
are defeated it will not be our last
battle. We can fight on. The gov
ernmeut is risking everything, it's
army and it's finances.
"Witte cannot play his hypocriti-
cal game any longer. The govern
fment- -has enly made oneessiops to
save itself from ruin.7 Now, seeing
it's fall is inevitable, it is making
a last despairing effort to recover its
power. We would have preferred
delaying the decisive conflict until
better prepared, but reaction makes
retreat impossible. A revolution
ary conflict cannot be avoided. "
The paper also contains a direct
appeal to the army, which is signed
''The Pan Russian union of the
army and the navy" This appeal
invei CHS against the tyranny Of the
government, which, it says, en-
ploys the army not against for
eign foe, but to shoot down its
people. 1t summons the soldiers
and sailors to remember their
parents, their wives and their
children, to take share in the
emanciation of the nation, to or
ganize secretly, to take oath not to
shoot down the people and to
join in the general strike when it
shall have been proclaimed.
In spite of the fury of the
revolutionists, however, consider
able confidence is expressed in
government circles that the ex-
treme elements in the present
temper of the workmen will not
da re to call 9 general strike, and
that if they do the chances are that
it will be a failure.
The southern part of Livonia and
tho greater part of Courland are
completely in possession of the in
surgents. The military are still
much too feeble o cope win the Sit |
uation.
The region between Riga and
Wenden is a wilderness. The build
ings on all the estates have been
burned and plundered. |
The heavens to the south Or Dor
pat tonight reflect the glare OF fires.
A NUMBER of German and their fam
lilies are held prisoners by the in
The troops at Riga have joined in
the revolt and that town is being
shelled and is burning. Between
st. Petersburg and Wirballen the
can be seen from several
places.
Details have been received of a |
regular battle between the members
of a company of dragons who we're
escorting a wagon train containing
twenty German families and an
armed band OF 4,OO0Letts near Roe