Weekly journal-miner., 1918-02-13

revolution. He was placed Tn com mand O. all military and civil officials.
 Colonel Polkovnikoff was removed as ommauder-inchief. General Bagra- tuni was appointed in his place.
 In the course of the sitting reports
 were constantly being received con-
 corning happenings in the city. It
 was known at the beginning of the
 session that the official news agency,
 the State bank and the telegraph and
 telephone stations had been occupied
 by the Bolsheviki. Soon the news
 came that the Marie Palace had been seized, that the council of the repub-
 lie, in session there, had been forced
 10 terminate its activity and that the instruction was gradually spreading The immediate surroundings Of the Winter Palace were held by the mili- | tary cadets and troops supporting the
 provisional government, but main 1 headquarters of the Bolshevik war
 revolutionary committee were being established in the Millionnaia street,
 immediately adjoining the Palace; ministers were being arrested almost al the gates of the Palace, and from . the windows of the building could be
 seen the movements of the revolu-
 tionary troops advancing into contact
 with the guards of the palace.
 The anxiety inside the Palace was ! in the meantime steadily growing,
 rumors of preparations for the arrest of the members of the government
 were becoming more definite and at 5 D. m. news was received through the
 ncwspapcrmen in the Palace that tho
 Lithuanian regiment had been in
 structed to effect the arrests.
 I Communications in and out of the : Palace had meanwhile been entirely ! interrupted by the insurgent patrols,
 It was now suddenly discovered that
 there were no provisions in the Palace
 not even piece of bread, and no l candles or other emergency lights m
 case the electricity were cut off. While
 vain attempts were being made by
 telephone to get supplies the com
 mandant of the Palace entered the ] session to report that the volunteer guard of 250 men had been without anything except tea for 36 hours and
 would leave unless food were immed- lately supplied.
 At siN that evening hostilities were
 opened ,thc guards outside the Salty koff gate being seized and disarmed, but the members of the garrison were finally able to close the gates. Rein 1 forccments for the Bolsheviki were 1 constantly arriving, all streets in the vicinity were closed to traffic and by seven o'clock even the square in front 1 of the Palace had been occupied. Soon afterward an ultimatum, demanding l immediate surrender on penalty of
 the bombardmcnt of the Palace, was
 received from the Bolshevik authori-
 tics. who already had occupied gem
 eral military headquarters. Though TO assistance was in sight, the minis tors decided to return an absolutely negative reply.
 Fire was opened by the Bolsheviki at s o'clock, at first from rifles and machine guns. The government gave
 orders not to reply but not to let any one into the Palace. About nine o'clock an attempt was made to blow ir the main gates with artillery, but without success, the cadets and the Womcns Battalion repelling the at tack. From ten o'clock on heavy ar tillery was in play against the Palace, the Cruiser Aurora participating Tn the bombardment from the river a short distance below the Palace and
 shells also coming from the fortress across the river. The ministers were forced to transfer the session to an interior room in the Palace.
 At l:50 a. m. small force of the enemy succeeded in entering the so- called Gallery of 1872 and disarming the 70 n.en who at that time composed the interior guard of the Palace. The cadets were able to disarm these en- trants hut other assailants continued to pour into the building, the guards being without orders to fire; the gar rison melted away until only Is men were left and soon the BolsheviI forces and the mob were in full pos session of the Palace.
 The ministers were found in the ln- terior hall where they were still en- deavoring to continue their meeting ir spite of the tumult indicating that the Palace had been captured, and were ordered to put on their coats