Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1914-06-25

southernmost portion of the vast EN-
pire where the black earth yields two
harvests a year and the grape ripens,
the pleasant land which the Romans
colonized 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 dozen times to aid the people
of his unhappy country, risking i'm
prisonment and death.
This was during the blackest 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
dcspot. covering in his palace upon
the Baltic's 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 czars 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 a coming massacre
were everywhere We heard them in
our hotel; they foated 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:
The time has come to make an end
of these traitors to church and czar.
We wait only the word of our Illus
trous ruler. Humbly, with barred
heads and throbbng hearts, We await
it. May it come soon,'
Nikolai flung the sheet away as
though it were something venomous
and unclean, rested his chin upon his
hands and remained silent, motionless
as a statue for 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" he said to me when he
grew calmer. THE monsters throne
is tottering. You know that the peo-
pie are armed, that new spirit of re-
prisal has taken hold of them. that
they are prepared to resist massacre
more desperately than their fore
fathers resisted Titus and his Ropans
If 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 a small square Of Russian
territory They number at least half
often three-fourths of all the popula.
ton of the cities. They are organ.
lied and their adversaries are not
Russia is splitting into fragments
Five million-an army of five hun
dred thousand men, more than the
Arabs We're who overran Europe AMI
threw down the thrones of a dozen
emperors--why should they not suf
fee to set Russia free and establish
themselves as nation"
He lit a cigar, puffed at 1t 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, I knew that
already he dreamed of himself as both
that leader and that opportunity. But
| 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, a man of middle age,
whose intense piety nevertheless had
not prevented him from Identifying
himself secretly with the revolution
ary cause. While they dwelt on
friendly terms with their Russian ana
Roumanian neighbors, 1t needed but
a few drinks of vodka and few words
from the priests of the Greek churches
to rouse the latters murderous in
stincts. Suppose, said Nlkolai, that
both of these parties could be melted
to attack the prosecuted quarter, un-
der the belief that it's denizens were
arminp apainst than SuDnoae tho at.