Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-06-16
SECRET PRESS IN
AUTOGRATIC RUSSIA
Daring Work of Men and
Women Who Strive for
Freedom of Speech.
JEW STARTED THE FIRST
II Was in 1877 That the First Free
Printing Office Worthy of the
Name Was Started in the
Heart of Spydom.

dynamite, perhaps, a cram
destine press in Russia is most danger
BUS.
1t is now eight II twenty years
since a Jewish conspirator, Aaron Zun-
delevic BY name, a native of wilma in
Lithuania, came forward and assured
the organization to which he belonged
that IL they would find the means he
would find the press, and would, more
over, set it up in St. Petersburg. A
sum OF money was provided, n from
abroad Aaron struggled into st. Pet
ers all the necessary plant. Then he
set TO work to learn the compositor's
art Gust as, in the first days Of the
Propaganda, young mobiles taught
themselves a trade In order to go down
among the people") and in 1877 the
first free" printing office worthy of
the name was established in the heart
and center of spydom.
During four years Zundelevic ran his
press under the nose. as ii were, OF
the Third Section, and was only then
detected by a mere miSchance From
that date, however, the Russian secret
press has never been In a condition
Of absolute allegiance. AS often as it's
work has been interrupted in one place
1t has been instantly resumed in n
other. Father Gapon indicates the
spirit In which it is pursued: I'VE shall
continue he said the other day at
Geneva, ito launch manifestos, and
work s~teadfastly, but secretly, toward
u ideal-the overthrow of suppress
sion and the bureaucracy and the es-
adjustment of popular government.
We will, we must, win in the end"
This clandestine press is clandestine
IN everything. 1t is the most secretly
conducted press in the world. There is
10 editorial office, with an editor in a
snug inner chamber. receiving the
visits OF his contributors, discussing the
articles for the next issue. A mystery
and inviolate secrecy govern the whole
working Of the affair. The editor him
self may, or may not, know the
persons who are responsible for the me-
ehanical production of the paper; he
seldom, il ever, visits the place at
which it is produced. A confidential
messenger comes to a given spot on ~
given day to receive manuscript from
the editors hand; he comes again tn
deliver the proofs, and the rendezvous
is never twice the same. The con-
tributors are known probably to none
except the editor. In a word, precau-
lions, the most minute and extraordi-
nary, must be observed If the secret
press Is successfully to battle the ever
lasting efforts of the police to UNI
mask ii.
At once Only Once.
Stepniak tells us that during the time
he was one of the editors of Land and
Liberty he was taken once. and once
only, to the printing Office. An import
ant piece of news had to be inserted in
the number that was about to be is
sued, n he made his way TO the Of
flee lin n of the central streets of the
city" The chief of police lac declared
that his office could not possibly be in
ST. Petersburg, because otherwise he
would infallibly have discovered it,"
%Stepniak found the people OF the Of
flee, and the women who helped them
and managed for them, living in almost
absolute d.rance.
The workers of the secret press are,
in tacT, prisoners, and, in addition to
their all but total loss of liberty, they
endure the anxieties of people who are
carrying on an Illegal business in the
midst of a ceaseless vigilant police>
Leo Tikhomirov, the author of Con-
spirateurs of Policiers," has drawn a
vivid picture Of the hidden life of one
of these strange backgrounds. 1t is
the office of the paper with which Step
MAX himself was associated. ''Narod-
naia VOLTA. Land and Liberty"
In five rooms including a little kitch-
en-, four conspirators We're installed.
two men and two ome Maria Kri-
lon. who passed as mistress OF the
house, a of about As, had de-
voted her life to the cause" she had
been transported to Siberia and es-
capped. The other woman of the party
was under 20. fair and delicate; name
unknown. OF the two men, one was
Basil Buch, of Boukn, the son of a
general and the nephew of a senator"
The second was a figure as enigmatic
as the younger woman; he was known
only as "Ptiza," "L'Osieau" and The
Bird'-a nickname which he owed to
his voice. The men were entered as
Nine. Kriloff's dodgers. the delicate in
connue was the nominal maid of the
household.
Outwitted the Police.
These four brought out the Narod-
naia VOLTA, which the head of the po-
lice declared could not be produced in
st. Petersburg. The plant of the paper
consisted principally of a few cases of
type, a small AND large cylinder, a jar
or two of printers ink, and a few
brushes and sponges. IL was a modest
outfit, but remember how dark it must
be kept. The dvornik had to be hood
winked from day to day.
Maria Kriloff went upon the bold
plan of sending for him at any and
through all the five rooms under the
pretense of hunting for a troublesome
rat. They learned in this a how to
dispose OF the plant ut from five TO ten
| minutes notice. At night, behind a
double curtain OF canvas, sealed across
the window, the type was set. In the
~strangling monotony of this existence,
the workers tasted only one excitement,
but that was a daily and an hourly one
the likelihood OF discovery and arrest.
So ever-present was this danger that
1t passed into a joke, and the ladies
used 10 speculate at their meager ven
ing meal whether they would be hanged
or transported to Siberia.
The expected happened at last at the
Office of the Narodnaia VOLTA. One
night the police came down on Ii. What
they had reckoned on as an easy
seizure transformed itself into a four
hours siege and battle. Maria Kriloff
drew on the gendarmes with her re-
| volver. and to a challenge OF this sort
the response Ia always prompt and
merci.ess In st. Petersburg. The ONCE
was riddled with bullets, but for Tour
hours the conspirators kept their stand.
The survivor was The Bird" who blew
hts brains out when the game was up.
He has transmitted no name to pos
ter:ty; he Ia among the Russian terror
; lists who have elected to be nothing but
q memory But while there arc such