Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-09
SHOOTING AT BAKU
MANY INCENDIARY FIRES RE-
PORTED.
Four British Subjects Believed to Have
Been Killed-Cause Of the
Trouble.
A cable from Tinis last night says:


The governor OF Baku has telegraphed to
Gen. Shirinkin that there has been a par
tial pacifcation Of the hostile factions.
out isolated shooting continues. There
were many incendiary fires last night, but
1t is believed there was no loss of life.
A regiment Of reinforcements has ar
rived from Tiflis. Further reinforcements
from Vladikavkas and other places in the
northern Caucasus are anxiously awaited.
local militia is being formed under reg
ular officers. The governor of Astrakhan
has sent quantity Of bread to Baku.
Additional reinforcements of infantry
and cavalry have been dispatched to Shu-
sha.
formation has reached here that all the
British subjects at Baku except four have
escaped by sea. The four who did not get
away are at Balakhany. a suburb, which
is practically surrounded by Tartars. They
the unable to get food or water.
The British ambassador has sent a sec
ond note to Foreign Minister Lamsdorff
concerning the safety of British subjects
and has also telegraphed again to the vice
roy of the Caucasus. Count Lamsdorff in
formed the ambassador this afternoon that
every possible step had been taken to pro-
tect the British.
The latest private news from the eau
casus Is to the effect that the steamer on
which the British at Baku escaped is
the four who were left at Balakhany have
persisted in the flames or been shot.
kilograms from the Caucasus are vague
and confused 1t is impossible to tell
from them whether the rising is spreading
or whether the troops are gradually get
ting the upper hand.
Guarded by Troops.
The foreign consulates. the banks and
the government buildings are guarded by
troops.
Balakhany has been completely burned.
The Tartars plundered everything that was
valuable. despite the artillery, which
moved them down in masses. A private
account Of an attack on the hospital at
Balakhany, where 1000 Armenian work
men had collected, says that the COM
mander Of the artillery summoned the
people to surrender.
The only reply was a shower of stones.
Some shots were fired, killing a gunner.
The officer then ordered three guns to
open fire. The first shot went WIDE but
the second crashed into the hospital. kill
ing numbers and wrecking the building.
The mob attacked the artillery, captured
the guns and threw burning oil on the
soldiers. who fled. The government bank
and the churches were then set on fire.
Manuel Nobel. the manufacturer, the
largest individual employer here. inter-
viewed by the Birjewya Viedomosti today,
declared categoricaly that the principal and
original cause Of the catastrophe in the
Baku district was popular discomfort at the
slow progress of the reform program. This
state of affairs, he said, was utilized by
revolutionists to make numbers of recruits
from the organizations of the working class.
The national antipathy between the Tar
tars and the Armenians only a sec
ondary cause. Mr.. Nobel further said:
Tartars Started Trouble.
Now anarchy reigns throughout the re-
gion. The Tarars, whom the authorities
formerly considered a conservative force
and likely to act with the governing pow
ers to counterbalance any coalition between
the Russian Armenians and the revolu-
tionaries. have falsiied this calculation.
1t was the Tartars who first set the Oil
wells on fire. The Armenlans arrived af-
terward."
The Russian banks at Baku in a circular
addressed to the government declare that
the armistice at Baku announced yester-
day will not avail. 1t adds:
The men without work, mum bering $500,
from the burned factories have Joined the
disorders and have begun pillagng"
The circular further declares that the
property of the banks and the lives of their
employees are in danger of destruction I'M
less the military protection is Immediately
strengthened.
The reassuring kilograms from Baku and
Shusha are offset by private messages re-
counting wholesale massacres of Arment-
ans. In one suburb of Baku 400 Armenians
were hemmed in in a courtyard. They sent
a frantic appeal to the governor but he
sent them no help. and all were killed by
Tartar troops.
grams received by mercantile firms in the
city say that the massacres and fires at
Baku continue. British subjects there, who
number about a hundred, have taken refuge
on board yacht. Thousands of persons
have fallen victims to the artillery fire of
the troops