The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-08-20
Russia Pictured
In Darkest Hour
Underworld Now in Power According to
Former Native Who Is Just Returned From
Long Tour of the Cars Provinces.

kern, Il real estate dealer at $50 Broad
way, returned few days ago from a
long visit to his native Russia, the first
he has been able to make in twenty
three years. and he brings back thrill
ing story of the things he saw there.
A nation in dissolution; a government
too weak to govern but still strong
enough to kill and rob until the deluge
comesi a people too desperate to fear
death, yet too fatalistic to court it, a
land full of murder and robbery and
terTors of every kind; the fear of God
and the fear of the Car supplanted by
fear of new power, the UIigani, organ
lied robbers of the underworld-these
were what Mr.. Mandelkern says he
found in Russia.
Terrible Uligani.
And of all the terrors in Russia he
found the newest. the UIigani, the worst.
When he left the city of Bielostok, in
Russian Poland. as a youth, to seek his
fortune In the United States the very
word Uligani was unknown. Now it
met his ear on the railroad train that
carried him from Germany into Russia
within few minutes after he had
passed the boundary at Alexandrovo, 1t
with friends or strangers in his home
city.
He heard 1t uttered in terror at the
bier of a murdered friend. whose life
had been taken because he would not
give up his money to these robbers from
beneath who have proved themselves
more greedy and more cruel than those
from above. When Sc looked for his
dead fathers gravest6ne, the same word
was whispered into his ear by the grave
digger as a warning. When he wanted
to seek rest and recreation in a public
park. he heard 1t again on the lips of
the gendarme.
0utcasts and Tramps.
The UHgani are the voorhees, and
homeless, the tramps and outcasts, the
men and women without memories or
hopes or ties, of whom Gorky has writ
ten. Taking advantage of the chaotic
state produced by the war and the pas
sive resistance of the people to the old
government. Mr.. Mandelkern says,
they have instituted a reign of terror
throughout the whole provinces. Their
meetings are held in the graveyards at
night. Orgies take the place of debates.
Without religion and without morals.
they think only of satisfying the animal
passions which have so long been sup
pressed by the iron hand of law.
At these graveyard conferences the
victims are picked and committees Of
extortion appointed, Then by tUos and
threes the Ungani make their dreaded
calls. The demand in every case is the
same-rnoney Or your life. No man
who owns property Is safe. No man who
refuses has a chance OF escape unless
he deserts all and fees 10 another land.
Police Are Powerless.
The troops and the police are power
less. Pitched battles have been fought
between them and Uligani, and the men
in uniform have always got the worst
of 1t, the courage of despair conquering
over tho unwilling bravery that is only
prompted by duty and discipline.
Tales of horror have reached the
American people now and them" said
Mr.. Mandelkern yesterday. But here
we don't know ene-thousandth part of
the full truth"
Another thing he found in Russia.
The old fear of speaking aloud forbidden
truths has vanished. a feeling of reck
lessness pervades the nation from the
highest to the lowest A rich manufac-
met on a railway train, and Warsaw
barber a cavalry colonel, and a police
captain. a Moscow cab driver and
St. Petersburg hotel porter-an repeated
the same refrain:
ut is al changed. The game is now
open. Why should We not speak? If
they kill us, can that be worse than
what we are suffering now?''
What an American Found.
1t took Mr. MandeIBern two years to
arrange matters so that he could return
10 Russia without fear of the authorities
He had to have a complete discharge
as a Russian subject before his Ameri-
can passport could be of any value To
him 1t took time and money to set the
cherished document. Once it was in his
hands he hurried to Bielostolt, where his
aged mother was still alive.
That was the only purpose, he says,
with which he started. 1t was not until
he had reached Russia that his eyes be-
came opened TO what was going on
around him, and he became filed with
an irresistible desire to learn as much
as possible about the nation in trans
formation.
Two things helped him to overcome obs
stables that would have been insur-
mountabie to most other men. ney
were his complete familiarity with the
Russian and Polish languages and his
American citizenship. He carried with
him two American flags of silk, which
he was In the habit of displaying con
splcuously in his room. To those who
knew no better he let those flags serve
as tokens of ebullient patriotism. Really
he displayed them because they were
the talismans that set all natives talk
ing.
.'Amerikanisu, they cried. and jheir
eyes glistened From AneFica-frcn
the lucky land. Then you are no spy.
And they talked, II they still hestat-
cd. there ives another sesame In the
hands of Mr. MandelSern, the power of
which opened the last door. Ia all his
travels he found no Russian who could
resist the fragrance Of a genuine Ha-
vana cigar. The most stubborn silence
turned into garrulous talkativeness ut
the sight of a juicy perfecto- And while
they talked MIR Mandelkern listened and
made note,
Everybody Talks Fearless.
II remember when 7 was student
he said. That was In the days when
Il Nh