FROM RUSSIA.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12566, 1 August 1905, Page 2

FROM RUSSIA.

RECENT ARRIVAL IN WELLINGTON. UNDER THE RED FLAG. THE COSSACK'S LOADED WHIP. Closo on six feet of good-looking Rus,ian—bold Slavonic features, brown, inelligent eyes, dark complexion, and a ■.oil-knit, weil-garbed figure—that may ).-j taken as a hasty summing up of M. "aebermann, who hails from the Baltic 3oasfc of Russia, and whom the unset- j led state of affairs in his own land, >aralysing trade, has sent oversea to a lew country. ~M. Liebermann hails jrincipally from Riga, but ha was in he capital for three days in May, insluding the eventful sth May, when the )lood of St. Petersburg citizens was ipilled copiously on the Nevsky Pros>ect. He was not personally in the shambles, but. coming on the spot af■er the wave of panic and Cossack fury iad passed over it, saw the fresh blood i-he re it had been shed by men, wonen and children subjects of the Tsar. Theso details were supplied through ho medium of an interpreter, Mr Kuti.ei", who has been for years resident in Wellington, M. Liebermann is thinking if becoming a resident of Wellington. la does not put great faith in the caberl information we get, considering it 'mostly false." THE TRAP. The demonstration that led up to the ighting was organised by the throwing >t: pieces of paper in the street, notifyng tho people to assemble at 10 a.m. rit an open space alongside a church m ho Nevsky Prospect, built by Alexandr 111. Tha Tsar's Palace, surrounded iy tho Ministerial edifices, is in the icinity. "Tho notices," said M. Lie>ermann, "stated that when they came ogether to that place, they should ask or freedom; and if they did not get it, hey would throw bombs—dynamite, freedom meant that they wanted work, hey wanted their places given back, ,nd they wanted more wages. When ie saw the people coming together, the ilinister for Finance, M. Finessan, ;avo notice that all the gates of peoile's places should be opened. (It was xplained 'here that residences are sered with considerable court yards, havng gates leading on to the streets, rhich gates the owners had closed, fearng possible trouble.) He gave orders hat the porters should leave the gates ►pen, and stand by them outside, key n hand. When the revolutionaries ran )C-foro tho soldiers, they would run hrough these gates. Then the porters, iccording to orders, would lock the ;ates from the outside. After, they vill send the Cossacks to them." This lice little trap, explained with churmny simplicity, worked excellently, as vill be shown. THE RED FLAG FLIES. By 11 a.m. the concourse was growng Mauy people were there to look m. thinking there would be no danger, < hough the Minister had previously ismed a notioo warning such not to at;end. There might, indeed, have been i.s many inspectors as there were revoutionaries. The latter consisted chiefy of students and workmen, not shopceepers. The workers had struck, and :ho students joined forces with them, md supplied the brains of the movement. Ten thousand people gathered, md gendarmes, police, Cossacks, and soldiers came top. Traffic was stopped. Die police and military ordered the ;rov/d to disperse. The people did not 3cmp_ly. M. Finessan had commanded ao violence on the part of the military. | :'All at once, the red flag rises among ■■bo revolutionaries, and they cry:— 'Down with the Tsar/ 'Down with Everything.' The soldiers hustle the crowd to force them off. They do not move, and keep the flag flying. Then tbose revolutionaries who had come armed start to fire—not to do damage"; they fire high. When the Minister hears the firing, be gives notice to the Cossacks to use their .whips. Then tho public run into the yar'cl^ the gates aro closed, and they are trapped. The red flag'Tias"' disappeared. are caught m the crush, and,they, too, tun. into the traps, and the^i Cossacks and their whips go in. And still the revolutionaries keep on shouting: 'Down with x\m Tsar,' 'Down with Everything.' " THE LOADED WHIP. Tho military, M. Liebermann states, did not fire. The Cossack whip, weigh-' ci at the extremity with about half-a-pound of lead, is sufficiently formidable t-j crack skulls and break mobs. Starting at noon, they had finished their work by 2.30 p.m. About eighty spec-

tators were taken to the hospital, and | twenty-three were killed on the spot. How many, though wounded, managed to run home, will never be known. They took care to keep their broken bones as much as possible a secret, fearing arrest. Neither has any record been take'\ of tho number of revolutionaries killed, wounded or arrested. "In the crush, a few children got killed. There were a number of women among tho killed and wounded. Three policemen were killed, and two officers of police wero wounded. This was by the firo of tho revolutionaries afterwards; lin the first place they did not fire to ' harm. Some of tho windows in tho church were broken; sho-pn wero damaged. Ifc is not finished. The revolutionaries will fight on until they win.". ! M. Liebermann mentioned that a son of I tho hotelkeeper with whom he was staying was a detective. "How do the police and detectives regard their duties?" "They aro sorry, but they aro compelled." WHO ARE THE LEADERS! Tho reporter anxious to hear who wacj tho revolutionary leader. A revolution without some supreme head, some Garibaldi, seems an anomaly; but "M. Liebermann could not, or would not, shed any light. Trepoff he knows, but not tho Dictator's adversary. The revolutionaries, ho said, have excellent organisation and plenty ot funds; as to their heads—that is not a thing to \>j discussed. Apparently they have no intention of encouraging Tarquinian tactics any more than can be helped. They have their own printing press, and as fast as one is seized another is brought into action. As to tho war, M. Liebermann says Russia can beat Japan. Sh.9 will fight till she wins. The gold in the banks has not been touched, and the treasury attached to each regiment is intact. Treachery on the part of Polish officers haj caused most of the mishaps to the Russian Army, and the Poles are being weeded out. M. Liebermann states that Kuropatkin had a Polish General who, being entrusted with a plan, said he had lost it, but was found at the same time to have a large sum of Japanese gold on his person". The General was hanged on the spot.—"Post."