Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-10
FOR AMNESTY
A Dramatic Point to the Claim
of the DONNA.
Special Cablegram to The Star.

Special Cablegram to The Star.
ST. PETERSBURG, June 9.-The full
confirmation of the execution of Father
Gapon by representatives of the people
gives a certain dramatic point to the de-
mand of the douma for amnesty for polit
ical prisoners. Some at least of the hun
dreds of people ut present lying in the dun
geons Of st. Peter and st. Paul and other
Russian prisons doubtless owe their incar-
ceration to Gapon's treachery, and 1T is not
unreasonable to assume that among these
may be a few whom the Russian police
have netted for Grimes which are no
crimes in any well-regulated state. One of
the Polish members of the douma, Father
Trasun, mentioned that he had seen 100
hapless peasants In prison and heard from
them recital of the brutalfties Of which
they were the victims for no other crime
than refusing to pay toll TO the police.
That is a phase of the bureaucratic sys-
tenn on which Father Gapon threw cons:d-
cradle light in his remarkable autobiogra-
ply. For the sake of human nature, one
hopes that the singular book. with its
strange condolences, was written before the
fall of its author. 1t is impossible to be-
lieve that Gapon was a traitor from the
first. He was very clever man, but it
would require more evidence than is ever
likely to be forthcoming to convince one
that the immense influence which he ac-
CURED over the working classes of st. Pc
tersburg and Moscow had its root from the
beginning in treachery, or that he was a
police spy when he marched at the head of
the demonstration of January %, 1865. That
he ultimately fell prey to the temptations
which the police departments are able to
present with lavish hands is beyond doubt;
but one would rather regard him as in a
sense the victim of base system than as
a despicable creature who had wormed
himself into the confidence of the people
With the deliberate purpose, from the fiji st,
of accomplishing their undong.
One of his most intimate acquaintance is
authority for the statement that Gapon
was never a revolutionary; he never be-
longed to any of the revolutionary societies;
he was never trusted by the revolutionary
leaders; he never, indeed, had sufficient in
telligence to understand the revolutionary
propaganda.
His work among the poorer classes in st.
Petersburg was also opposed by the So
ciaiists, and his teaching amounted to lit
tie more than the incubation of the belief
that trust In God and the car was the
only method for the betterment of the Rus
sian conditions.
1t was this belief that led him to proceed
to the Winter Palace on the Inflated Janu-
airy %, a date which will live in history as
Viadimir's day, and there seems no doubt
that the massacre that took place in the
st. Petersburg streets destroyed Gapon's
faith and left him. as 1t were. mere fiotsam
and jetsam floating rudderless through the
world.
1t should be noted that In his first ap-
pearance among the workers in st. Peters
burg Gapon was accused of being in the
pay of the police, and that his organization
was regarded being a sort of counter
move to the revolutionary society. But
there seems little doubt that at this point
of his life he was as honest as he was en-
thusiastic and ignorant.
After the Sanguinary Repressions.
After the sanguinary repressons In the
Russian capital, Gapon fed to Paris. where
the money he received from the writing OF
his life made him rich beyond his widest
dreams of avarice. and this sudden wealth
finished the work of Decentralization that
his loss of faith had begun.
The money came quickly, and was spent
quickly; much of II was gambled away, |
and the rest went In all kinds of vulgar |
dissipation. until few months ago the ex-
leader Of the st. Petersburg mob found |
himself pennless.
Russian police, suggesting that he might !,
be useful to them as a spy. and although |
they must have known that his knowledge |
was exceedingly limited, he had some pos |
siblities of usefulness, and last October a |
bargain was struck In Paris and Gapon |
was furnished considerable amount of |
money and permission to return to St. Pc |
tersburg.
This arrangement appears to have been |
perfectly well known to the revolutionaries, |
from whom few government secrets are |
Really IliuQtu, anu IdpOl Was gwen d con- |
temptuous warning and practically disre- |
garded.
He was sufficiently clever, however, to |
bluff the authorities. and got from them |
$4,000 as fund for organizing a counter |
revolution, which sum. needless to say, |
went into his own pocket
Trouble Was Experienced.
There was some trouble about this. al |
though such a leakage Is not unfamiliar /
among Russian officials, and 1t was appar- |
emily suggested somewhat forcibly to Ga |
non that 1t was time he really did some /
thing for his money.
Being quite unable to obtain knowledge |
Of any secret OF Importance himself. he /
approached = prominent member Of the |
terrorist party whom he had known during |
the riots OF year ago. and suggested TO |
him that he should betray his friends and |
that they should divide the blood money |
between them.
IA ths selection q possibIe brother spy |
Gapon showed Z fatal lack OF Judgment. |
Tho man was IN eaiginoeE q some consi1r