RUSSIAN MUTINY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 231, 27 September 1905, Page 5

RUSSIAN MUTINY.

OUTBREAK BY SOLDIERS BEING TRANSPORTED HOME FROM PORT

ARTHUR.

SEATTLE (Wash.), August 12.

Mutinous Russian soldiers being carried home by the American Bteamer Garonne, owned by th? Boston Steamship Company, overwhelmed their officers and threatened to assume control of the vessel while on the way through the tropics. An appeal to the British Consul at Colombo for arms is all that saved the handful of American officers.

Twenty determined men, fully annsd, stood off the Russian soldiers and accomplished what their officers eouli not do—the restoration of discipline. While the Russian battleship FotemKine was at Odessa the Russian tiocps attempted another revolt, but troops were sent aboard to keep them in check, and the mutineers on the cruiser failed to gain reenforcements the men from Port Arthur were anxious to provide.

A large part of the voyage with the Russian prisoners was made with mar.j of the ringleaders in irons. After aid had been secured from Colombo more ol the men were triced up, but Iht- mutinous spirit was not subdued. Advices sent to the steamer's owners from Tlieodosia say the mon have been landed, hut the vessel is still at that port. She will soon go to Constan inople, and will probably be ordered home.

The American crew was paid off at Shanghai and a Chin:?e crew signed to take home 1200 Russian soldiers and refugees from Port Arthur. The Cln nese crew was, almost worthless, and completely cowed when the Russians showed fight. The first outbreak occurred when the Garonne crossed the equator, and the thermometer showed 115 and 120 degrees in the shade. The 1200 men, packed like sheep in all parts of the ship, revolted against their own and the ship's officers.