Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-23
DOUKOBORS
SEEK REFUGE IN
LOS SANGELES
PROSECUTED SECT PLANNING
MIGRATION
EXODUS FROM CANADA BEING
ARRANGED
Agent investigates Southern California
as Suitable Place for Estab=
fishing Colony of Ten
Thousand

The Doukhobors of Canada are plan
ming a migration to Southern Califor
mia, have sent an agent here and ar
awaiting his report
Either the persecution to which the.
have been subjected recently, oWint
to their custom of appearing nude II
the Streets or the belief that th'
climate of Los Angeles is better suited
to that mode of undreSS has Influenced
the leaders of the Saskatchewan
colony in Canada to investigate South
ern California as a place of refuge
They have made known their wishes tt
Antoigne Cherbock a Russian scholar
and educator, who is stationed in Los
Angeles under commission from the
University of Russia, to educate his
countrymen in the more simple school
studies. Mr. Cherbock is not a Douk-
hobor himself his work being entirely
among the Molocans, another Russian
sect, widely different from the Douk-
hobors, so that the entire facts regard
ing the migration are not known to
him.
Agent Plans Migration
Last evening he admitted that a
Doukhobor agent had been in Los An
sees recently making a careful in
vestigation of the possibilities of es-
tablshing a colony in Southern Cali
fornia, and that this agent, whose
name is Basil Veretzchagin, had left for
Lower California, going thence to Old
Mexico to continue his search.
letter received yesterday from
Neretzchagin stated that he had re-
turned to Regina, Canada, and that a
meeting would be called early in Janu-
airy for the purpose of hearing his re-
port.
On the decision taken at this meet
ing will largely depend the question
of whether the Doukhobors come to
California or go farther south into
Old Mexico II is estimated that the
colony to be established will number
about 10000 persons.
The Doukhobors first came promi-
nently to the attention of the public
by the stubborn resistance they offered
to compulsory military service in their
native land, Russia. For this they suf-
fcred intensely at the hands of the gov
ernment, being treated as rebels Pun
ishment of the most extreme kind
proved unavailing, however, to shake
their determination. it being the first
article of their faith that life must
not be taken.
Befriended b.: ToIsto"
Their attitude attracted the sympathy
of Tolstoy, the celebrated Russian
writer, himself a pronounced opponent
of war, and he devoted the entire pro-
ceeds from the sale of his novel, |
exodus to Canada.
There the Doukhobors found them |
selves in constant trouble with the
authorities. They are both communis- |
tic and nti-governmental, maintaining |
that the Bible, as they construe it, |
is the only guide of conduct. They |
have pushed their refusal to take life |
still farther by refusing to enslave, as
thew say, the animal kingdom, and de-
clining to use oxen or beasts of any
kind in agricultural operations, the
men and women themselves drawing
The plow For the same reason they re-
fuse to wear the skins of animals.
though these are eminently suited to
the climate in which they have set
tied.
Recently there has been much trouble
with the Canadian government with
to the land the sect has occu-
pied, but it has been charged in GER
tain quarters that real estate specu-
lation by outsiders is not unconnected
with this.
Veretzchagin has been one of the
sect's most noted leaders.