The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1929-09-19
DUKES THREATEN
BIGGER PARADES
Fanatical Doukhobors of the
Northwest Are Getting
Restless.

Spokane, Wash.-Great unrest pre-
walls among the Doukhobors. that
strange Russian religious sect which
has numerous colonies with thousands
of members on their huge grants of
land in British Columbia, Alberta and
Saskatchewan.
This restleSsness Is generally indi-
Gated in two ways. parades and the
burning of sehoohouses. paradoxieal
as 1t may seem. the parades in the
broiling heat of the summer are by
fully clad members. while those dur.
ing the subzero temperatures of
mid-winter are by Dukes md
'Duehesses." as they are commonly
known, entirely nude. The fanatical
paraders carry banners protesting
against capitalism, ETC.
The present unrest is principally
characterized by the burning of pro.
yineial schools, scores having been de-
stroyed in the last few weeks. Two
Of the largest and most important col.
onies are Just over the international
line in British Columbia. directly north
of Spokane, and are known as the
Brilliant and Grand Forks colonies.
| Ineendiarism has reached such a
stage that armed guards have been
placed at nearly all of the schools In
the colonies. For the most part they
are provincial police. but in some dis.
urh al -
than the Doukhobors. the citizens have
taken 1t upon themselves to place
their own armed guards on duty.
Near riots have resulted In some of
the provinces this summer. when pa.
rades have occurred, the Canadian
citizens Directing to the communistic
proclamations .arried.
Attacked Witness.
At Nelson, B. G., big gathering of
members appeared to stage a parade.
The mayor ordered them to dispense
and when they refused he called the
police.
Jesus would not carry a gum" was
the universal reply made by those who
could talk English, when the police
ordered them to disband. When they
still insisted on proceeding with the
parade the mayor called OUT the fire
department and the presence of the
big lines of hose ready for action
halted the demonstration.
A Duke" was arrested for the fires
near Grand Forks and a citizen gave
damaging testimony at the trial
against him. When adjournment was
taken, the witness was attacked by
the members of the sect present and
1t was with difficulty he was rescued
by the police. "Duehesses" who at
tended the hearing created such dis.
turbance that it was necessary to re-
move them from the courtroom.
The D0ukhobors blame these upris-
ings upon the Sons OF Freedom, the
fanatical organization of the sect.
Peter p. Verigin the president of the
Christian Community of Universal
Brotherhood Limited. the official title
of the society, terms them "the Black
Hundred Adventurers.n He AYERS that
they are endeavoring to instigate his
ID ioftation from Canada to Russia,
from where he came two years ago to
assume leadership over the Douk-
hobors, succeeding his father. who was
killed by bomb placed in a railroad
coach in which he was riding near
Grand Forks,
1t Is reported that the yerigin
group is becoming badly infesfad VII" VIII
the Sons of Freedom, and some prom
inent members predict that the fanat.
ical group will soon be In complete
control Already more than half OF
the Russian population has been
signed up, according tc reports.
One explanation Is that Verigin Is
overly severe and that bis punishment
of some Of his followers with brute
force is resulting In measure of re-
taliation under cover.
1t Is declared that the principal rea-
Eea that The society has been opposed
to sending its children to the Cana
dian schools is that the leaders fear
education will deprive them Of their
control over the organization. They
have succeeded In keeping their chill
dren away from the schools to great
extent. Driving along the highways In
the colonies one finds scores of chill.
dren around twelve and fourteen years
old who have been bern in the prov
ince, but who can scarcely understand
a word of English, though they read
and write Russian 6uently.
Divorce Easy.
Members of the organization figure
that a destroyed schoolhouse means a
satisfactory excuse for not sending the
children to school The government,
however, is compelling the society to
reconstruct the burned buildings at its
own expense as rapidly as possible.
This Russian sect first came into
Canada in 1889 and brought with it all
the customs and habits of peasant
Russia. In these thirty years there
has been virtually no assimilation. so
that now these colonies are really
part of ancient Russia set down in the
Western hemisphere