Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-08
W. T. STEAD ON RUSSIA
FORCES THAT ARE RENDING EN-
PRES SOCIAL FABRIC.

William T. Stead. fresh from Russia by
way of Finland and Cophenhagen, stopped
over in Berlin yesterday on his way to
Paris. For an hour and half he poured
forth his vivid impressions of Hell pretty
well let loose as he called it; of the things
that he had seen and heard and of the
''ghastly weter into which Russian society
has drifted."
Strange things are happening" said Mr..
Stead. Think of the incidents at Reval.
Some determined persons marched down
the street to the town hall, followed by a
crowd. There the mayor-and councimen
were sitting, celebrating on the situation.
In came our determined friends.
We demand they said, we demand lib
erty, universal suffrage and the right to
rule ourselves
But, said the mayor, I cannot give
you these things. l would gladly send your
petition to the emperor
Well continued the delegates, we are
delegates of revolution, and If we do not
get what we want we have decided to burn
the city. Give US 900 roubles.'
The mayor and his colleagues thought
1t was better to pay the 800 roubles than
have the city burned so they raised the
money, paid the delegates and the latter
went away, promising to be very good, and
they were Sood. But another crowd came
and said:
What about US? Pay us, too
This the mayor would not do, and they
went away with threats of destruction.
Woman Agitator Killed.
THE Red Virgin of the French commune
was Louise Michel Well, in Reval GER
tain widow, named Lnde, dressed in scar
let from top to toe, and, with an ak over her
shoulder, placed herself at the head of the
mob. All night the revolutionists whetted
themselves up. In the meantime the gov
ernor had gotten out troops and the mob
gathered in the morning, facing the soldiers
IN the great square. The governor called on
the mob to disperse, and said that If after
hfteen minutes they did not dispense he
would order the troops to fire. Five min
utes went by and the Widow Linde, in red,
climbed lamp post and cried out encour-
agement and eXhorted steadfastness for the
revolution. The soldiers began to call out
TO the people to go away, as, If they were
ordered to fire they must do so, and they
did not want to kill anybody
XIII him. Kill him. screamed the
widow Linde, pointing to the governor.
Several revolver shots were fired from
the crowd, but no one was hit. The gov
ernor. who waited to the end of the fifteen
minutes, then gave the command to fire,
and the Widow Linde, shot through the
body, fell to the ground as Baron EuxuII,
an eyewitness, told me, like a sparrow
from a twig.'
"One hundred and five dead persons were
picked up from the square, and thirty more
died in the hospitals.
The Gear the Coolest Man.
THE coolest man in Russia is the en-
peror. God grant that he may keep his
seat that the liberals may gather about
him. and that they may resist the forces
of dissolution. His authority is shaken,
passions are loose. and things are likely to
be worse There may be fearful slaughter
ingS. AS an optimist, | think a hundred
thousand lives may fall If were a pessi-
mist ] would say two millions. The situa-
ton is something like this:
The police. gendarmes and Cossacks
have been suppressing a revolution in the
name of the emperor. Suddenly, they say
the emperor goes over to the liberal side,
and that he thinks more of those who want
to vote, and who doing everything in
the way of meeting and agitation which the
police were taught to believe was unlawful.
than he does of them. AS simply human
nature the police and gendarmes say:
"'Oh, Very we'll If the emperor's new
friends act Ike this it is no concern of
ours
And when the police are Indifferent the
'Hooligans break loose and toryism in So
ciety also breaks loose. That mass of ig-
norant conservatism which only thinks OF
killing-the black hundred in Moscow-are
conservatives who are offended by the lib
erals getting the upper hand. All through
the Russian empire authority as represent