Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-12-08
COUNT WlTTE STANDS ALONE
Cabinet Ministers and Military Command
srs Afking Permission to Resign,
GENERAL sAKHAEOFF WAS MtRcIltss
Peasants whipped aud Tortured by
Drunken COsaacks-FinRncin
Panic I'm 81. Peters,
bura.

LONDON. Dec. s-The correspondent OF
the Daily Mail in st, Petersburg. in dis
patch sent by way of Eydtkuhnen, East
Prussia, says:
Prominent military commanders every
where are requesting permission to resign
The minister OF war himself Lieutenant
General Rudiger) has asked the emperor to
allow him to retire. The minister of the
interior On. Durnovo) and others have fol-
lowed the example of the minister of war.
Count witte stands alone, but even he Is
losing heart ~
General sakhsron MerciIess.
ST. PETERSBURG. Dec. e.-(wednesday
Morning)-Via Eydthkuhnen, East Prussia,
Dec. THE news Of the assassination Of
Lieutenant General sakharoff. former
minister Of war, who was shot in the gov
errors palace at SaratOff, December s,
had been preceded by the most horrible
stories of the manner in which Sakharon
had been depressing the agrarian disorders.
! He corralled peasants with Cossacks and
| then had them beaten with the soldiers
whips In so doing, Sakharoff pursued the
system adopted by Prince John Obolensky,
| former governor general OF Finland, in
supressing the agrarians in the vicinity of
/ Kharkoff several years ago, when the
prince caused the peasants to be whipped
by relays of Cossscks and compelled them
in turn to beat their comrades. The as
sassln of sakharoff has not been identified.
| The woman who committed the crime de-
clared that she had executed a degree of
the terrorist section of the social revo-
| Iutionists.
The following is a description of SAX
: haroffs arrival at Hovoanschina one OF
the villages of the province of Saratoff
He came with Cossacks and artillery.
The peasants were. surrounded by Cossacks
and sakharon addressed them DEMANDING
| village elder replied, but gave the general
no Information. The elder was immedi-
ately beaten until he lost consciousness.
| Sakharoff then retired to the court house
| leaving the peasants at the mercles of the
Gossacks. most Of whom were drunk Snc
| out their hair and boards and even tearing
pieces Of flesh from their faces. Thirty
three peasants were thus maltreated.
Public confidence In the government
ability to weather the growing storm IL
waning fast. Premier WHITE seems power
less to cope with the new elements o
danger which the revolution is raising OF
every hand. New mutinies among tn,
troops are constantly reported and the law
lessness in the country is increasing.
Whenever the dreaded workmen's organi
cations present united front as they di,
last night the premier ls compelled to strik
his colors.
strikers Life Saved.
1t now appears that the comrades of Sok
oloff, the railroad engineer of Samars
whose condemnation to death threatene
the country .with,a general railroad strike
independently.0r sahized the strike on tn
Trans-Caspian line from Alexandrovsk t
Tashkend. TIE governor general of Kun
shka,, who exercises plenary powers on tn
fAfghan frontier without consulting wit
the st. Petersburg authorities. convened
; court-martial and sentenced Soltoloff
! death. The prensfer. as a result of the az
ton OF the executive committee OF the raj
way employees union in preparing for
[generai stFika until the sentence was r.
I voked eefore december, 5. was compelle
! to get M, Hechieff. the minister of CON
> munication. to employ the railway telC
I graph to forward stay OF execution. whic
fortunately arrived In time. Had the ma
| been shot nothing would have prevente
: a universal stFikei This danger for tn
= moment has again passed, but the weapo
I always hangs over the head OF the go,
r eminent as a threat against any new arb
I trary act.
-a Attack iNatiOn's Credit.
The immediate danger confronting tn
government is a concerted attack on I'll
country's credit. The public fear that tn
: government can be forced TO suspend gol
payments increases daily. This would /
/, the browning achievement of the revolt
/ tionists, who are satisfied that with I'll
, attending financial crash the whole hous
would come tumbling down. The chance
= OF driving the government into bankruptc
: | they profess to believe would be MATERIAL
increased IL the confidence of the foreie
holders Of Russian obligations is unde
mined and the news that the Frenchs IL
yestors hold four-ffths of Russias immeni
7 foreign indebtedness and were unloadin
was received with jubilation by the rev
lutionists. At the same time IL created
veritable panic on the Bourse, imperial
falling to a. S. to 94lt and the governmeI
i, lotteries to rs. Banking and industrial
s went down with a rush, Putiloff going fro
n SO TO S. and iron shares like Kolomo ar
Moscow, which a month ago were quoted
e $50. closing at $50. The savings banks wei
: subjected to a run and at the state bank
long line OF nervous men and women waite
It for hours TO exchange paper money Z,
e gold The bank oficials did not attempt
e dissuade them and exchanged piles of go
e for bills as fast as the latter were pr
i scented.
Il Both the runs on the banks and the d