Albuquerque citizen., 1908-04-02
UNDERGROUND
TO RUSSIAN
) REPUBLIC
Ivan NdrOdny. Who Worked a
Lifetime to Free His COun-
try. Tells His Story.

New York. April 2.-When formal
notice of the creation Of the United
States of Russia was made to the
Czar, President Roosevelt and other
heads OF nations a few days ago, the
world sat up and took it's first notice
of remarkable and widespread or
ganiZation whose operations have
been at the root of most of the recent
revolutionary outbreaks in Russia.
And again there came into the lime
light that picturesque figure, General
Ivan Narodny, whose indomitable
courage has kept Russias political
pot at the boiling point for years.
General Narodny is chief executive
commissioner of the new United
States. Despite an enormous price
on his head General Narodny has re-
Gently returned from st Petersburg,
which he reached by the under
ground route Before leaving New
York General Narodny was induced,
on account of the danger of death, to
dictate the inside story of the revolu-
tionary movement and his part in it.
This narrative is here presented for
the first time:
81 was born in the Finnish PROV
ince of Esthonia thirty-seven years
ago. At 19 l had finished the educa-
ton the government schools could
give and hungered to learn more. In
our village l found fourteen other
lads of about my age who were of
the same mind. Very quietly we
banded together for advanced study,
and thus l first came into conflict
with the laws of Russia. For then,
as now, education in my native land
was under the strictest governmental
supervision. No books but those
prescribed were permitted to be read
and every precaution was taken to
avoid teachings that might stir revolt
against the existing order
Studied at Night i'm the Woods.
I'VE found a little hut in a lonely
part of forest where we met night
ly. We secured books secretly from
Germany and commenced at once to
master French and German. Each of
the fifteen chose a topic for his espe-
cial study, and mine was political
philosophy. l was soon able to trace
the history Of my country as it is
known to the outside world ana what
a revelation to our boyish minds it
was. Undreamed of were the shame
Il
told us nothing of the truth.
For two years we studied undls-
turbed in the little hut in the forest
and when we separated It was with a
single purpose Our fifteen had be-
come the nucleus Of a revolutionary
party We pledged ourselves to de-
vote our lives to the cause of free
dom. Each chose the place he would
I'LL in the government OF the nation
when the czar should be overthrown,
and those of us who still live are to-
day still preparing ourselves for those
same offices. | was to be minister of
1orelgn affairs, and if | live to see
that choice fulfilled my comrades
will not find that ! have belittled the
sacred trust. The subject of marriage
also came up, and, feeling that our
mission was too important to DE
shared with even the best of women,
we pledged ourselves never to marry
without the consent of the fifteen,
ana TO choose a wife from among the
young girls of the plain people. so
that she might be educated TO the
revolutionary idea without fear of orr
betrayal. Here is how that pledge
was kept.
ith Marriages at Once.
In time | and several of my com
rades in the fifteen DEVELOPED a live
~ interest in the question of getting
married. one by one we announced
our desire to we'd and told of our
choices according To the vow. Almos.
simultaneously ten of our fifteen an
piled for and received the consent of
the others and it was decided that
the ten ceremonies be held together
Accordingly We met in small outly-
ing town for the last time and we
made II an occasion of much mcrri-
ment in the light of the years that
followed. The intending benedicts
had chosen wisely and well and our|
ten pretty ana innocent young brides
gave a romantic setting to our grim
young lives that they had not seen
before nor since.
For me plans had changed with
my bride | went to Finland. where
! bought little min that might pro-
Niue a competence for my wife in
case / should be taken The mill MAS
successful and paid me well ana il
also played an important part in our
propaganda.
"one Of our great difficulties had
been To- find a place for the mauufac-
tuI" OF high explosives. which we
ahon believed might be needed in the
WORK. IL was also Il problem tn yet
Hhem into Russia After a long
search We picked upon Chile i'm South
America as a suitable location. and,
having arranged with the Chilean
government 10 supply them ammuni-
lion iu return for the privilege Of
lnahuiaeiuung, We sent one uf the
iIi'''n t. south America To start The
factory
Explosives in Millstoncs.
ITO solve the problem of getting
me explosives into Russia / had been
experimenting Ina cemouts for some
time and AT last / hit upon Il combl-
nation that made substance almost
as hard as granite our representa-
i've In chile found plenty of the
right materials I'm his locality ana
thus began the manufacture ana i'm
portatIon into Russia of artificial
ml|lstpuCS filled. as YOU have guessed