Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-04-14

honor and lives of the cars soldiers.
For that he is hated at Petrograd.
The fighting qualities of the Russian
soldier never have been questioned.
They are physically strong, courageous
and able to stand great hardships. The
grand duke reasoned that If these men
could be given good equipment. propet
food and clothing and capable officerS
they could fight with any other. He
Went directly to the heart OF thu
trouble. put experts i'm charge OF the
various branches of the service,
watched every move they made. revised
the entire system and behold him to-
day at the head of one of the greatest
lighting machines i'm history.
1t is not perfect. not to that de-
gree of perfection attained by the Ger
man army; the terrific losses IN
prisoners show that. But 1T is such a
great Improvement over the Russian
armies of former wars that one can
only marvel. The Russian army Is ext
ceptionally we'll clothed. even the GerI
mans have copied the Russian style Of
military boot. 1t is we'll provisoned and
Its lines OF communication we'll guarded.
The Russian artillery is considered
Igood and the soldiers are furnished
With good small arms.
AT his Headquarters in a little VIII
|laEe 100 miles east OF Warsaw Grand
Duke Nicholas is In touch with every
VI So0S VI AI'' III ny
graph wires radiate from this nerve
@|center OF the Russian war machine. II
is estimated that a telegram per
minute is received at This busy beehive
OF an office. the majority of them de-
handing immediate attention. All
through the day and night the clattef
of the telegraph instruments con-
tinues.
He Lives Simply.
Grand Duke Nicholas is a prodigious
worker. Though an aristocrat he Is
withal democratic. He Ives simply.
eating simple food and drinking no
liquor. He is said to be mild
and courtly. but cruel as a despot IL
the occasion requires.
When at home the grand duke lives
at Smolensk. His castle. a magnificent
structure. is furnished simply. His one
passion is flowers and he maintains
several green houses. Every room Of
his palace is decorated with thousands
of these hot house beauties.
Grand Duke NichOlas is an impos-
!, ing figure. He Is six feet and seven
inches tall. straight as a spear and al
> > most as thin as one. His bearing Is
that of the military man. He wears
few decorations. of which he has
plenty. He is fond OF horseback rid
ing and it Is said he make a ridicul-
GUS appearance when nstride one Of
u the wiry little Cossack ponies which
he prefers.
D IL was largely due to the efforts Of
e the grand duke that the sale OF vodka
was stopped In Russia. "A drunken
! soldier cannot fight" he said when
e called to confer with the czar about
a the proposed order to restrict the sale
o of the beverage which long had been
the curse of Russia. cut it out and
0 see what the result will be" he adj
l vised his emperor.
Gear Fears Him.
notwithstanding his immense popu-
lafity throughout Russia, Grand Duke
Nicholas is not popular with the czar.
What a magnificent car he would
y make. say the people. What a mag
nificent czarina She would make" the
people say OF the grand duchess. And
these remarks have been heard by his
majesty. Car Nicholas. who is motor
iOlSly Jealous.
The cars jealous fear was not dimin-
ished by a recent visit to the front. There
is II strong peace party at Petrograd. The
czarina who is greatly influenced by Ras-
putin. the famous monk. who Yields some
mysterious sway over the minds of the gu
perstitious oriental court of The Little
White Father and would sacrifice any
thing for peace. His majesty was appalled,
by the terrible losses. the suffering and
the holocaust along the battle front. He
preached the subject of peace to Nicholas,
"lf you make peace, I shall continue the
war myself, replied the Grand Duke
Nicholas.
Evidently the car believed he would.
His majesty returned to Petroxrad where
ne has since remained. There has been nj
more talk OF peace.
The grand duke is no coward. He fire..
quently visit the battle front and never
hesitates to expose himself to the fire
or the enemy. He Is the idol OF the army
How He Fights.
That he Is reckless of his men liz shoWr
by one instance described In a dispatch
from Warsaw. 1t was during Won Hinden.
burg's second drive al the Polish capt
tai when the battle was raging fercest IL
the region OF Bolimew. 1t was necessary
to plant artillery at a certain point to in
tercept the Germans. A narrow marsh
prevented hauling the cannon to that GOV
eted point and there was no timber o.
other material at hand with which t,
bridge the slough. The Grand Duke Mich
olas ordered a regiment of men to plung,
into the morass and the cannon wer,
drawn over them by other soldiers-but /
saved the day for the Russian army. Th
:. men who composed this human bridg
~ were almost all killed or injured.
~ Later Grand Duke Nicholas was sub
-. jected to severe criticism at Petrograd TO
10 this seeming Indifference to the lives o
his men.
ut was better to lose one regiment tina
~ 10 as would have happened II We had no
- got the cannon he replied. The genera
ri staff had to admit that there was logic ]
w his argument and the incident was CLOSED
Ter
CHI People Ground Down.