Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1905-07-20

tOOh VII Nhti hat1 W ~ aha
their lunch with Us.
Dad could not understand the
change In the attitude OF the people
towards us until told him that they
took him for a distinguished Amer
lean statesman, and that as long as
we were In Russia he must try to
look like George Washington and act
like Theodore Roosevelt. so every lit
tie while dad would stand up In the
aisle Of the car and pose like George
Washington and when anybody gave
him q sandwich or n cigarette he
should show mis- teeth and say. Dee
lighted" and all the way to st. Peters
burg dad carried out his part OF the
programme and we were not robbed
once on the trip. but dad tried to
smoke one of the cigarettes tnat was
given him by O Cossack. and he died
in my arms. pretty near.
They make cigarettes out OF baled
hay that has been used for beddings
and covered with paper that has been
used to poison flies. never smelled
anything so bad since they furnigated
our house by the board Of health after
the hired girl had smallpox.
Well. we got to st. Petersburg In
an awful time, and went to a hotel,
suspected by the police, and marked
as undesirable guests by the Cossacks,
and winked at by the walking dele
gates and strikers who thought we
were non union men looking for their
Jobs.
The next day the religious cere-
mony Of blessing the Neva" took
place, where all the population gets
out on the bank of the river, with
overshces on. and fur coats, and looks
down en- the river, covered with ice
four feet thick, and the river Is
blessed In our country the people
would damn q river that had ice four
feet thick. but in Russia they bless
anything that win stand it. We got
a good place on the bank Of the river,
with about a million people who had
sheepskin coats on. and who steamed
like a sheep ranch. and were enjoy
ing the performance, looking occa-
sionally at the Winter palace. where
the car was peeking out of window,
wondering from which direction
bomb would come to blow him up,
when a battery of artillery across the
river started TO fire salute, and then
the devil was to pay 1t seems that
the gentlemen who handled the guns,
and who were supposed to fire blank
cartridges into the air. put in loaded
cartridges, filled with grape shot, and
took aim at the Winter palace, and
cut loose az Mr.. Car.
Well you would have been par
alyzed to see the change that came
over that crowd, blessing the river
one minute and damning the car and
the grand dukes the next. The shot
went into the Winter palace and tore
the furniture and ripped up the cell
ing of the room the car was N, and
in a moment all was chaos, as though
every Russian knew the car was to
be assassinated at that particular no
ment, and all rushed toward the
Winter palace as though they expect
ed pieces of the Little Father would
be thrown out the window for them
to play football with. For a people
who are supposed to be lawful and
Iaw-abiding. and who love their rulers,
It seemed strange to see them all so
tickled when they thought he was
blown higher than kite by his own
soldiers
Dad and I started with the crowd
for the Winter palace, and then we
had a taste Of monarchial govern
ment. The crowd was rushing over
us and dad got mad and pulled of
his coat and said he could whip any
COMPOUNDED foreigner that rubbed
against him with sheepskin coat on,
and he was just on the point Of
shifting a fellow with whiskers that
looked like scrambled bristles of q
black hog when q regiment of Cos
sacks came down on the crowd riding
horses like a wild west show, and with
whips in their hands, with a dozen
lashes to each whip. and they began
to lash the crowd and ride over them,
while the people covered their faces
with their arms, and run away, afraid
of the whips, which cut and wound
and kill, as each lash has little lead
bullets fastened to them and a stroke
~ tho whip is like being shot with
buck shot or kicked with a frozen
boot
Well. sir. dad was going to show
the Cossacks that he was pretty near
an American citizen and didn't pro-
pose to be whipped like a school boy
by a teacher that looked like q val
entine, so he tried to look like George
Washington defying the British. but
It didn't work. for Cossack rode
right up to him and dashed him over
the back land about Is buck shot In