Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-09-20
Freed German Prisoners Frater-
nized With Natives II Pro-
visional Government Learned
of Anarchistic Outbreaks and
Sought to Prevent Repetition.


middle of the train yard, with tracks
on each side Of it.
Walters and trainmen from our train
and from the Root train carried buck
cts Of water from these trains and from
the station in an attempt to put out
the blaze. Their efforts were pathet-
ically futile. The fire soon spread to
three passenger trains that were on
the tracks near the warehouse and to
a number Of scattered freight cars.
Ostensibly trying to remove these
cars from danger, but really in the at
tempt to carry the fire to the Root
train, a number of soldiers and work
men pushed several of these blazing
cars down the tracks just to windward
of the Root train, SO that the high
breeze drove the flames directly against
the cars carrying the American mis-
sion, only the prompt action Of the en-
gineer Of Senator Roots train saving it
from catastrophe. He backed the train
away from the blazing cars and did not
stop until he was five miles out in the
country.
The explanation which was given us
by the railroad officials at the station
and by the militia Of Viatka was that
the fire had been started by the same
miscreants who had burned the bridge.
It seems that parallel to the wooden
bridge which was destroyed was stone
bridge just being completed. When the
anarchists learned that work on this
had been so speeded up that it would
provide an avenue Of escape afor the
Americans within a few hours they de-
cided on a last desperate measure and
set fire to the stOrehOuse. If they had
been efficient they would have made a
good job in the first place by destroy
ing both bridges.
Soldiers Force Root to Wait.
At length, a few hours after this Sec
ond fire, this stone bridge was ready
for use. The conductor of Senator
Roots train ordered his engineer to
proceed, and our train was about to
follow when there was protest from
the soldiers of several troop trains
which had pulled into Viatka during
the long cessation Of traffic. These SOL
diers, who were riding in freight cars,
were on their way to their homes in
, Siberia, having had enough of war.
They said that it was an outrage to
suggest that trains carrying American
capitalists and Russian ''bourgeOiS'
should precede them, the real lords OF
Russia, so the American mission was
forced to submit to another consider
able delay while the Russian army pro-
ceeded on to the rear.
Of course the noise and excitement
which had ensued when the warehouse
fire was discovered had awakened Sen
ator Root, and throughout the trying
moments when the blazing cars were
being sent down the tracks against his
train he was on the platform, calm as
could be and his face a perfect study.
Perhaps the most interesting of the i'm
pressions of anarchical Russia which
he will have to report to President Will
son were gained during those exciting
moments when the Russians he had
come to aid were trying to burn him
alive
The other members of the American
party, who had been calm enough until
the second attempt to endanger their
lives, were now visibly boiling with
rage and excitement.
When the Root train finally got un
der way it pulled out ahead of the 81
Derian express, and we never overlook
it, but we heard it was two days be-
hind time at Vladivostok. Although
our train made up some time-a re-
markable event itself in Russia-it was
tWenty-four hours late at Hardin,
where l left it in order to come to ia
pan via Korea.
"Orders" Pretext For Violence.
But if the experiences Of the Ameri~
can party after leaving Viatka were
anything like the experiences we had
on the Siberian express between that
town and Manchuria they were hectic
indeed.
It seems that the provisional govern
ment learned of the atrocities at Wat
ka and with remarkable celebrity for
Russians undertook to prevent repe-
tition of these events. The day after
we left Viatka we came to another
large bridge and found it extraordinar1-
" we'll guarded. A hundred or more
soldiers boarded the car before we
reached the bridge and proceeded to
enforce certain precautions" But
these precautions were directed against
us passengers rather than against such
anarchists as those at Viatka, VINO
might have endangered the bridge
from outside It was early in the
morning, and several passengers were
still sleeping. The soldiers insisted on
entering every compartment, searching
it thoroughly and shutting all windows
In the compartment next to mine two
Russian ladies were asleep with their
door locked Instead Of politely asking
to have this opened, the soldiers fell
upon it at once with the butts of their