The Ely miner., 1914-02-20


harvests year and the grape ripens,
the pleasant land which the Romans
coloEiGed and which their descend
ants, the Roumanians of today, in
habit, though under Russian rule. We
were at Kishineff
| knew that beneath his cynicism
and contempt, Nikolai cherished an
unappeasable love for the land of his
birth. That was the magnet that had
drawn him back Exiled in childhood,
his fathers vast lands confiscated on
account of his adhesion to the abor-
tive insurrection of 1868, he had re-
turned a dozen times to aid the people
of his unhappy country, risking i'm
prisonment and death.
This was during the blacklist year
Of the reign of Nicholas, when the
land groaned beneath his oppression
and his troops, desperately resolved
to crush out the revolt, diverted the
hatred and prejudices of the mobs by
organizing massacres of the Jews at
their rulers command
All through the district the mas
sacres had spread, from the borders of
Germany to the south. Everywhere
fire and the sword had made women
widows and children fatherless; age
nor sex was sacred to the fanatics.
1t was because they were heart and
soul with the movement for freedom
that the czar let loose his hordes upon
these people. And every time new
report of revolted city reached the
despot, covering in his palace upon
the Baltics shores, the order went
forth for another riot of blood.
We had reached Kishineff, the scene
of the first slaughter, in the guise of
American commercial agents. Even
yet the streets bore witness to the
scenes of violence that had occurred.
Windows were still broken, doors
burst in, ominous splashes of blood
showed darkly upon ledges and stairs.
And the cZar's yoke was still heavy
upon the victims of his fury.
And yet again he planned to let
loose his soldiery and his Black Hun
dreds. Whispers of coming massacre
were everywhere. We heard them in
our hotel; they fioated up to our win
dows through the still, summer air;
strangers ceased speaking and looked
at US with startled eyes as we passed
them. Most ominous of ALL bars of
thick steel fastened the shuttered
doors of houses and churches.
Krushevan, the organizer of the last
massacre, wrote in his newspaper:
1.-The time has come to make an end
of these traitors to church and czar.
We wait only the word of our illus
trious ruler. Humbly, with barred
heads and throbbing hearts, we await
it. May it come soon!"
Nikolai flung the sheet away as
though it were something venomous
and uncleaa, rested his chin upon his
Lands and remained silent, motionless
a. statue for a long time. At last
he reused himself and burst into such
a torrent of execration that trembled
for fear his words would reach the
ears of some spy lurking behind the
thin partitions of our bedroom walls.
1T is the desperation of impotence,
Summers" h said to me when he
grew calmer. "The monsters throne
i. tottering. You know that the peo-
pie are armed, that a new spirit of re-
Irisal has taken hold of them, that
they are prepared to resist massacre
more desperately than their fore
fathers resisted Titus and his Romans.
II this determination could be turned
into the right channels, the imperial
throne would fall
Look at the facts, Summers he
continued Five millions of them are
shut into small square of Russian
territory They number at least half,
often threo-fourths of all the popula-
tion of the cities They are organ
ized and their adversaries are not.
Russia is splitting into fragments.
Five million-an army of five hun
dred thousand men, more than the
Arabs were who overran Europe and
threw down the thrones of a dozen
emperors-why should they not suf-
flee TO set Russia free and establish
themselves as nation?'
He lit cigar. puffed at it furiously
and strode up and down the room.
Now is the time," he cried. Let
them rise here in Kishineff and fifty
cities will follow their example. They
need but some leader, some oppor-
tunity."
And, knowing Nikolai, / knew that
already he dreamed of himself as both
that leader and that opportunity. But
I said nothing. and presently he out
lined to me the plan he had formed
The people of Kishineff, he said,
were organized under the leadership
of Rabbi Jacob. man of middle age,
whose intense piety nevertheless had
not prevented him from identifying
himself secretly with the revolution
airy cause. While they dwelt on
friendly terms with their Russian and
Roumanian neighbors, 1t needed but
a few drinks of vodka and few words
from the priests of the Greek churches
to rouse the latter's murderous in
stincts. Suppose, said Nikolai, that
both of these parties could be melted
TO attack the prosecuted quarter, un-
DER the belief that its denizens ware
arming against them. Suppose the At
TACK was timed SO that they would
meet in the dark and each mistake
the other for its hated enemy. They
would fall upon one another and
mutually annihilate each other. Then
the downtrodden would be masters of
the situation: the Russians and Rou-
manians would both be at their mercy!