The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-08-13
PETROGRAD AS IT is
JAY kEEGAN WRITES HIS MOTH
ER WHAT HE SAW IN THE
RUSSIAN CAPITAL.

Mrs James Garry. OF this city. has
received the following letter. printed
in the Lawton. Okla. Constitution Of
recent date. The letter was written
by Jay Keegan to his mother, Mrs.
Samuel Keegan, OF Lawton. who is a
sister Of Mrs. Garry, and has visited
in Madison a number OF times. The
writer is private secretary TO Gen.
Scott and was with Elihu Root and
the American commission to Rus
STA. recently returned. and his OBJ
servations are OF interest. Follow
ing is the letter:
Petrograd-It's rather hard to
give ones impression in a letter.
Also. since we have been here we
have kept pretty long office hours
and We haven't had much chance to
get out and see the city. We have
been getting around some though.
and P%etrograd Is really a very won
derful city. 1t is what these people
over here call a new city. only being
a couple Of hundred years old. 9th
er towns in Russia. like Moscow. are
seven or eight hundred years old and
one the < of Petrograd they con
slider a mere upstart. This town was
built by Peter the Great to be the
capital Of Russia and while the build
ings are all very wonderful they are
not typically Russian and the city
isn't a typical Russian city. From
an engineering standpoint. though.
the city is a wonder. 1t was all a
marsh when they decided TO make
this the capital city and the whole
city is built on piles. At that time
they didn't have the schemes for
filling in marshes that they have
now, SO they simply cut down big
trees, cut the branches off and criss-
crossed them on top of one another
until they had it filled up. Whether
il is true or not, they say that it cost
the lives of 10000 men a year for 10
years In building the city. OF course
in those days the czars of Russia
didn't have much regard for the lives
of their subjects. so that didn't wor-
ny them at all. The city is sinking
all the time. but not enough TO be
dangerous.
We are living at the hotel, but Mr.
Root and the members of the com
mission are living at the former
Cars winter palace and we have oul
office there. 1t isn't much OF a look.
ing building on the outside. but il
the most elaborate thing you car
think of inside. 1t has 1000 rooms
and from one corner of the building
10 the other is about a half mile. The
furniture and tapestries and all tina
are gorgeous. and, of course. ths
kind that couldn't be bought unless
one had the wealth Of a whole ma
tion paying for il. The chandelier
in some of the bali rooms and throne
rooms are solid gold and your ODE
dent servant eats his lunch I'VE ca
lunch at the palace with solid golC
!, knives and forks. OF course. tn
blades of the knives are steel. bu
the handles and the forks and spoon
are gold. The walls are covered
with wonderful paintings that woul'
make most Of the public art gallerie
| in the States look like a collection o
l t|intypes. 1t was right in front o
q this palace that the Cossacks sho
down 500 citizens in the revolutio.
of 1905. Since then the Car wa
pretty much scared TO live in tn
S winter palace and he very seldor
came in to P%etrograd except whe
/ he had to for some state occasion
n He lived in what he called a cottag
q tit has about 500 roomsj a few mile
/ out of the city and it is there tina
they now have him as a prisoner
They don't bother him any though
and being a prisoner simply mean
that they won't let him leave. III
has everything he wants and goe
8 along about the same as before eN
cept. of course, he has nothing to q
with the government and has n
power.
& The revolutions here seem to hay
pulled off in a very quiet, but effe,
= tive. manner, and there are very fe'
signs of any violence. One or tw
n buildings were burned. and some {
the palace show bullet marks wher
the revolutionists were shooting I
the police who were on the roof wit
machine guns. shooting down at ii
e people. A few of the Cossacks wei
y willing TO shoot up and charge @
the crowds, but most Of the soldier
refused to shoot the people whe
their officers ordered them to. The
n then told the ear he would have
abdicate and he did it and the rev,
It luton was over.
a While one doesn't see the gre;
II number of wounded soldiers hel
<. that there are in France. and viii
Petrograd is quite a way from II
IL front. still the effects of three year
q war is mighty plain. The shortas
y of foodstuffs. etc, is serious now an
k will probably be worse when wint'
d comes on. Everything is short al
~ what there is is tremendously hig
le It's utterly impossible to buy viii
! bread in Petrograd, and the blaC
bread is hard TO get. The COVER
$. ment allows so much a day for eat
ly member of the family, and they ha'
le bread tickets which they have
/ present when they get it. And tn
doesn't mean they get ii free eithe
they have TO have the bread tickle