The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-02-01

RUSSIAN ST|KERS sHDT
DOWN IN STREETS
Appeal for Audience with Gar is
Met with Bullets.
PRiESTLY LEADER UNFRAMED.
PROSTATE Men Fired Upon by the
Troops That Remained Loyal
to the Czar.
PRIEsTLY LEADER UNFRAMED.
DESPERATE STATE OF AFFAIRS

Sunday was a day of nnspeakable
horror in st. Petersburg. The
strikers of Saturday goaded to des-
peration by a day of violence and
bloodshed are in state of open in.
surrection against the government A
condition almost bordering on civil
war exists in the terror-stricken Rus
sian capitol. The city is under mar
tial law, with Prince Vasilchikoff as
commander of over 10000 OF the EN-
peror's crack guards.
Troops are bivouacked in the streets
at night, and at various places on the
Nevsky Prospect, the main thorough
fare of the city. On the island OF
Vassili Ostrov and in the industrial
sections infuriated men have thrown
up barricades which they are holding.
The empress dowager hastily sought
safety at Tsarskoe Selo, where EN-
peror Nicholas II. has been living.
There was a rumor that he had fled
to Peterhof on the Gulf of Finland.
Minister of the Interor Sviatopolk
Mirsky presented 10 his majesty Sat
urday night the invitation of the
workmen to appear at the winter pal
ace Sunday afternoon and receive
their petition, but the emperors ad-
visers already had taken decision
to show a firm and resolute front, and
the emperor's answer to 100000 work
men trying to make their way to the
palace square today was a solid array
of troops who met them with rifle,
bayonet and sabre.
The priest Gopon, the leader and
idol of the men, in his golden vest
ments, holding aloft the cross and
marching at the head of thousands of
workmen through the Nerva gate,
miraculously escaped a volley which
laid low half a hundred persons. The
figures of the total number killed or
wounded here. at the Moscow gate, at
various bridges and islands and at
the winter palace vary. The best es-
innate is 500, although there are eX-
aggerated figures placing the num-
Der as high as 5000. Many men We're
accompanied by their wives and chill
dren. and in the confusion, which left
no time for discrimination, the latter
shared the fate of the men.
The troops, with the exception of a
single regiment of infantry, which
threw down its arms, remained loyal
and obeyed orders. But the blood
which crimsoned the snow has fired
the brains and passions of the strik-
ers and turned women as well as men
into wild beasts, and the cry of the
infuriated populace is for vengeance.
The sympathy of the middle class
es is with the worllmen.
Military in Control.
The military authorities had a firm
grip on every artery in the city. At
day-break guards regiments, cavalry
and infantry held every bridge across
the frozen Neva, the network of ca
nails which interlaces the city and the
gates leading from the industrial sec.
tion, while in the palace square, at
the storm center, were massed dra
goon regiments, infantry and Cos
sacks of the guards.
Barred from the bridges and gates
men, women and children crossed the
frozen river and canals on the ice by
twos and threes, hurrying to the pal
ace square, where they were sure the
emperor would be present to hear
them. But the street approaches to
the square were cleared by volleys
and Cossack charges. Men and wo-
men, infuriated to frenzy by the loss
of loved ones, cursed the soldiers
while they retreated. Men harangued
the crowds. telling them that the en-
peror had foiled them and that the
time had come to act. Men began |
to build barricades in the Nevsky |
Prospect and at other points. using |
any material that came to hand, and |
even chopping down telegraph poles.
Fighting meantime continued at var |
ious places, soldiers volleying and |
charging the mob. The whole city
was in a state of panic. Women were
running through the streets seeking |
lost members of their families. Sew |
eral barricades We're carried by the /
troops.
Cars Officers Are Mobbed.
Toward s o'clock in the evening the |
crowds, exhausted, began to dispense, /
leaving the military in possession. |
AS they retreated up the Neysky (
Prospect the workmen put out all the .
lights The little chapel at the Nerva
gate was wrecked. On the Kamin-
ostov island all the lights were ex-
tinguished Every officer wearing the
uniform of the emperor who was
found alone was mobbed. A general |
was killed on the Nicholas bridge.
and dozen officers were seized.
stripped of their epaulets and depriv-
ed of their swords.