RUSSIAN REVOLT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10571, 24 January 1906, Page 4

RUSSIAN REVOLT.

| — , THE INSURRECTION AT MOSCOW. HOW IT WAS QUELLED. (Per s.s. Ventura at Auckland.) MOSCOW, December" _7; The backbone ol the insurrection is broken,, and tlie uprising here is rapidly going to pieces, xlie revolutionists are ante to keep up only a guerilla warfare, but tlie eiuio with wiicihi they can move small detachments lrom place to place renders the task of suppressing tliem slow and tedious. The Bruauiuvya quarter has been cleared of members ol the Drujina, us the lighting organisation of tlie revolutionists js called. 'They liave transferred their operation), to East Tverskaia, consisting principally of sniping from the roots ol nouses, occasionally ', turowing a bomb on tne advancing pat- ■ luis. uitu making off on the appcaiant-e ol artillery. Ait tne troops ol tne iViuscow ; gainsun, including lormer disaffected . i\o»tuil Grenadiers and reinforcements, wuicu are employed ill crusnuig tlie revolutionists, are still insufficient to thorouguly occupy the territory, thus enabling the revolutionists to sup into vacated territory so soon as the troops move on. Many oi the attacks on patrols are seemingly made out of a pure spirit of bravado, sincy they are completely futile lrom a strategic standpoint. 'The remnants of tlie insurrection now lack cohesion or head. The troops began "operations this morning, at the 'Triumphal Arch, bombarding and demolishing an immense barricade near the car stables of the Belgian Company, wliich had been j built beltiud overturned tramcars. 'Thence j slowly pivoting from the Arch, the co- j i munis swept eastward, clearing all the j streets off" Tveiskaia and north of the j Boulevard, which separates the battle- | ground from the centre of the city. : Barricades were not so numerous m tins region as was the casef.during yesterday's figuring, and the troops encountered less opposition. A correspondent of the Assorted Press accompanied one of the columns for an hour, during which time the soldiers of the Drujina nowhere attempted to hold ; the barricades. After firing a tew shots j they invariably scampered off. Some- j times the artillery fired at a barricade, j but usually tho defences were taken j without firing a shot. Tho work of de- j stroying the entanglements and burning - the material from which they were constructed was slow. Occasionally when the troops were fired upon from the roofs the houses were bombarded, but the occupants had ample time to escape. 'The operations of the troops m Bruannaya district disclosed many interesting : traces oi yesterday's fighting, wlucn ui-uught tu e walls of 100 nouses tumbling about the cars of their defenders. .The Prokhorlf cotton mill, the headquarters ol tlie Drujina, and many other nouses . lor a distance of a mile between the Boulevard and tlie Triumphal Arch were m ruins. Every street tributary of Tverskaia' Boulevards was stoutly barricaded, as many as seven being counted within 200 yards of Single street. These evidently formed the first lino of defence, and the network of streets behind were barricaded at intervals. These barricades were left standing; tlie troops having strategically made a circuit to an open plain nortbVwest of the city, which enabled them to take the revolutionists m the rear, compelling the evacuation of the position practically without loss, as the revolutionists were unable to light the artillery with revolvers, and they possessed few rifles. House .aftei- house showed yawning chasms produced by shells. The spirit shops and cheap lodging houses were occupied, but the 6tu- 1 dent revolutionists were the principal sufferers. The barricades, though they could not be defended against artillery, were well constructed of telegraph poles, fences, heavy doors, iron courtyard gates and signs, all interlaced' with wire. ' A lumber yard m the vicinity furnished material for 30 barricades. Red flags were still defiantly, floating over some of the barricades, but throughout the districts the correspondent saw neither Drujinksts nor soldiers. It was like a deserted field over which the tide of battle had SAvept. During the morning tbe revolutionists several tunes attempted to intercept convoys of ammunition sent from the arsenal to' the troops, whose supply of 200 rounds per man was running low. In one case they almost succeeded, after which tlie escorts of the convoys were doubled. The boldest exploit to the credit of the revolutionists was an attack on; the dinner of the Fourth Grenadiers, which was being trundled out m the wheeled campkitchens used m the Russian army. A detachment of the Drujina, aided by some sympathisers m the neighborhood, swooped down on the corporal's ' guardforming the escort. The drivers of the wheeled kitchens and the escort made a valiant defence,. _> the bullets rattled on tho boilers and cauldrons, puncturing the big soup pot. At that juncture a squadron of Dragoons galloped up and drove off the assailants, and the camp kitchens were rescued, but the Grenadiers lost their dinner. .. Last night a company of Drujina soldiers, who are said to be paid 20 cents per day, made a daring incursion into, the heart of the city, occupying Okhotnago Riada (Hunter's Row) under the walls of the Kremlin, and suddenly opening fire on the infantry and artillery camping m the Theatre Square. The guard stationed at the Hotel Metropole. where Governor-General Doubassiff is quartered, replied, and volley, after .volley was exchanged across the : square. ! The regular troops, m the absence of ! their officers were thrown into conftt- ;' sion by the surprise attack, and fired; i wildly until the officers rushed out of the hotol_and led a charge across the square, whereupon the Drujina soldiers hastily decamped. The regulars thereafter were most nervous. ' The correspondents returning later to the Hoted Continental on the opposite side of the square were fired upon. At midnight the guests of this hotel were routed out of bed, the commander of tho troops having sent word that he intended to- open wjth artillery on Hunter's. Row, which liad been reoccupied by the Drujina, and that the hotel' being almost m the line of fire might suffer.