Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, September 14, 1917, Page 7

FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 14, 1917 THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER SEVEN Anarchists In Attacked the Protecui Lives of lle I".drtol"l Wlfe Tells How Par ty Was Saved. - R§. GREGORY MABON of New ¥ork, who recently reached Ja- N Dan from Russia, was an eye- witness of the two attempts to wreck = the &pecial train carrying the Root commission. Mrs. Mason’s account, written for the Tokyo Advertiser, of which her husband, Gregory Mason, is managing editor, is probably the only one which has appeared in any pub- lication, says the New York Evening Post. Angered by the efforts of the Root mission to get Russia to fight, German agents and Russian anarchists burned the bridge across the river at Viatka (named Tcheptsa, I think) ahead of the train carrying Mr. Root and his party. - Only because their act was badly timed did the train carryjng the American mission escape being dashed into the river. A vigilant trainman discovered the fire in the bridge in time to warn the engineer of the Root train. Baf- fled in this attempt, the anarchists and g German spies then set fire to several i trains and rolled them down toward the train carrying the Root party, which was forced to back five miles away from the town to find a position of safety. I was surprised to find on i arriving in Japan that all news of this terrible attempt to murder the official American party had been kept from the press. The Root special train left Petrograd Monday evening, July 9. The regular Siberian express, on which I traveled. left Petrograd the evening of the fol- lowing day. On Wednesday from trains coming toward Petrograd we heard rumors that an attempt had been made to destroy the Root train, but we gave these reports scant cred- o, ence, as Russia now is full of all \fi\sorts of horrible rumors. But, awak- ening in my compartment Thursday morning at Viatka. I heard the well known voices of Commissioner Charles Edward Russell and Major Stanley ‘Washburn under my window. They ‘were talking to some one on our train. “Yes, the bridge is down,” Washburn was saying. “They tried to burn it un der us, but they didn’t time it right, 8till, they’'ve already forced us to stay twenty-four hours in this dirty place.” I dressed as quickly as possible and hurried out to see Basil Miles exercis- Jdng his two Russian wolfhounds, which created such a sensation when he housed them in the czar's Winter pal- ace. General Scott and Colonel Mott were walking up and down the track looking for defective rails, entirely oblivious of the mob of Russian sol- diers, who, only a few feet away, were applauding a denunciation of Ameri- cans by an anarchist perched on a pile of ties. Russian Treachery Involved? Colonel Chubukoff, the new military gattache to the United States, was rush- P2 ing about trying to verify the report that the plot to burn ‘the bridge had been formed by a Russian officer in the pay of Germany. All the Russians in sight were wildly excited, shouting at each other to kill the anarchists or to kill the “bourgeois,” as the case hap. pened to be. It looked as if there would be a fight between the Russian passengers on our train, among whom were several officers, and the soldiers of the garrison of Viatka, re-enforced by Socialistic workmen, In the meantime two or three train- loads of soldiers, coming from the riv. er, passed us. They had been ferried across in boats from other trains on the far side. The coolest man for miles around ap- parently was Senator Root, who was fast asleep in his car, with some of his staff on guard. The senator had had 13 his excitement the day before and was & thoroughly tired out. The purple silk curtains in his car were all drawn. ‘The whole train of eight cars was most \ luxurious, having been in former days the private train of Nicholas II. Charles Edward Russell, who is a So- % elalist, and James Duncan, who is con- { i mected with the American Federation i of Labor, had both gone to Russia as members of the commission in the hope of assisting their Russian “comrades.” But both were thoroughly disgusted now, although they had probably reach- ed that state of feeling some days be- Sore they had left Petrograd. They had b fong since found how perfectly useless it is to try to talk reason to the liberty mad Russian anarchists, and they ahrugged their shoulders and bit their Hps in chagrin as their interpreter ex- plained to them the nature of the re- marks of the anarchist on the pile of 4=~ & _ties. His favorite phrase was to the ’ effect that the war ig a war for Eng- 74 lish, Japanese. French and American capitalists and that the Russians should fight. not the GGermans, but cap- {talists all over the world. “The Town of Fire.” Several Russian officers from our train became so indignant at the third or fourth repetition of this remark that they shouldered into the anarchistic A audience. crying “Shame! Shame!” The soldiers turhed on them angrily, and it looked as if the officers were in for a bad leating when there was a diversion. “Fire! Fire!” holsheviki (aparchists) WD on ftire!™ some one cried. ‘The have set the _—_— ______.__—-_.____—__—._...——__ Russia Twice Root Mission Freed fw:: l’fluonm Fi i ikl vanl ovm::;. l.nlu‘ of Anarchistic Qutbreaks and i Sought to Prevent Repetition. Sure enough, 8 cloud of black smoke was pouring out of a gigantic freight storehouse which was situated in the middle of the train yard, with tracks on each side of it. ‘Waiters and tralnmen from our train and from the Root train carried buck- ets of water from these trains and from the station in an attempt to put out the blaze, ’.l‘h_gu rts were P ;?_g- ically futile. re soon spren to three passenger tmlns that were on the tracks near the warehouse and to a number of scattered freight cars. Ostensibly trying to remove these cars from danger, but really in the at- tempt to carry the fire to the Root train, a number of soldiers and work- men pushed several of these blazing cars down the tracks just to windward of the Root train, so that the high breeze drove the flames directly against the cars carrying the American mis- slon, only the prompt action of the en- gineer of Senator Root’s train saving it from catastrophe. He backed the train away from the blazing cars and did not stop until he was five miles out in the country. The explanation which was given us by the railroad officials at the station and by the militia of Viatka was that | the fire had been started by the same miscreants who had burned the bridge. It seems that parallel to the wooden bridge which was destroyed was a stone bridge just being completed. When the anarchists learned that work on this had been so speeded up that it would provide an avenue of escape for the Americans within a few hours they de- cided on a last desperate measure and set fire to the storehouse. If they had been efficient they would have made a good job in the first place by destroy- ing both bridges. Soldiers Force Root to Wait. At length, a few hours after this sec- ond fire, this stone bridge was ready for use. The conductor of Senator Root’s train ordered his engineer to proceed, and our train was about to follow when there was a protest trom' the soldiers of several troop trains which had pulled into Viatka during the long cessation of traffic. These sol- diers, who were riding in freight cars, were on their way to their homes in Siberia, having had enough of war. They said that-it was an-outrage- to suggest that trains carrying American capitalists and Russian “bourgeois” should precede them, the real lords of ; Russia, so the American mission was forced to submit to another consider- able delay while the Russian army pro- ceeded on to the rear. Of course the noise and excitement which had ensued when the warehouse fire was discovered had awakened Sen- ator Root, and throughout the trying moments when the blazing cars were being sent down the tracks against his train he was on the platform, calm as could be and his face a perfect study. Perhaps the most interesting of the im- pressions of anarchical Russia which he will have to report to President Wil- son were gained during those exciting moments when the Russians be had come to aid were trying to burn him alive. The other members of the American party, who had been calm enough until the second attempt to endanger their lives, were now visibly boiling with rage and excitement, ‘When the Root train finally got un- .der way it pulled out ahead of the Si- berlnn express, and we never overtook it, but we heard it was two days be- hind time at Vladivostok. Although our train made up some time—a re- markable event itself in Russia—it was twenty-four hours late at Harbin, where I left it in order to come to Ja- pan via Korea. “Orders” Pretext For Violence. But if the experiences of the Ameri- can party after leaving Viatka were anything like the experiences we had on the Siberian express between that town and Manchuria they were hectic indeed. It seems that the provisional govern- ment learned of the atrocities at Viat- ka and with remarkable celerity for Russians undertook to prevent a repe- tition of these events. The day after we left Viatka we came to another large bridge and found it extraordinari- ly well guarded. A hundred or more soldiers boarded the car before we reached the bridge and proceeded to enforce certain “precautions.” But these precautions were directed against us passengers rather than against such anarchists as those at Viatka, who might have endangered the bridge from outside. It was early in the morning. and several passengers were still sleeping. The soldiers insisted on entering every compartment, searching it thoroughly and shutting all windows. In the compartment next to mine two Russian ladies were asleep with their door locked. Instead of politely asking to have this opened, the soldiers fell upon it at once with the butts of their rifles and would have broken it open had not the car porter remonstrated. “What are you trying to do?’ he asked. “Carry ‘out our orders,” said they. “Certainly, you must do that,” said@ . and children who were rescued had -and is planning to go on with her edu- he, “but can you not use some mod- eration aud decency in doing so?” The scldiers turned Wwith ferocious looks and seized the mah. “We are now putting into effect or- der No. 3!" they cried. *“You are under arrest!” They carried the poor fellow off the train, and there another long delay while our conductor telegraphed to an official to'get the man released. At most of the towns we were greet- ed with sullen looks apd audible insin- uations against the “bourgeoisie” rrom the inhabitants, but that was not all. The feeling seemed to grow as we pyo- ceeded, and calls of “Down with the bourgeois! Wreck the express of the eapitalists!” began be heard. Fi- nally one afternoon, slowing down at a little town, several rocks sailed through oyr wingows, an event which decided us to forego the pleasure of stopping at that vigoroqs village. This happened twice again at other towns, but fortunately none of us was struck by the stones. An officer told us we were lucky, since most of the trains through that district lately had been shot at, agion i “German Prisoners Freed. One of the most significant things ‘1 saw on the trip was the spectacle of German prisoners walking about the platforms of Russian stations and fraternizing with the natives, At one town one of these prisoners took his turn at haranguing the usual crowd of discontented. The burden of this man's plea was that he was not being given enough to eat. “I get only a pound of meat a dny from the bourgeois government!” he shrieked. ‘‘Comrades, think of that— only one pound!” “Considering you are at perfect lib- erty,” one of our Russian traveling passengers remarked, “it is doing rath- er well for the government to find you at dinner time at all. But I suppose you make it easy for them to find you at those times.” This crowd was good natured, and they turned the laugh on the German. At Chita, Siberia, where we arrived after dark, two soldiers boarded our train, dashed into a compartment oc- cupied by two ladies, seized two suit cases, threw them out of the window and tried to bolt. The shrieks of the ladies summoned several men, who blocked escape at both platforms, The two robbers then ran into the lava- tory and were trying to squeeze out through the small window when they were seized, They were arrested, but the baggage of the ladies was never discovered. Smuggled Opium In U. S. Train. The last thing I heard of the Root train was that at the customs town of Maunchuria nihety poods of opium were found in the planking under the cars ! occupied by the American party. It had been put there, of course, by smug- glers in Petrograd before the Root mis- sion entered the train. A pood is thir- ty-six English pounds. On the whole, I consider the Trans- siberiapn, trip decidedly dangerous at present. In addition to having our own train pearly destroyed, we saw wreck- age which indicgted that the riotous: element in Russia had been more suc- cessful with two other trains on this line. A few weeks ago it could be said that the trip was uncomfortable, but not dangerous. Thst, however, can be said no longer. It is now unquestion- ably dangerous and growin} more so all the time. This is so because Rus- sia’s apnarchy, which has been fairly mild, is fast becoming more virulent. One of the most remarkable features of this anarchy is the liberty it gives German prisoners and other German agents, who seem to be destined to be- come its very leaders. MAROONED ON ISLE. gt as we were | BECIDA Capt. J. W. Day and wife of Or- tonville, Minn., who have been visit- ing their daughters, Mrs. M. Lawson and Mrs. Will Preston, returned home Monday. . Rev. and Mrs. C. Eastman of Moose held services at the school house in Dist. No. 42 Sunday. Chet Lawson spent Sunday at home, autoed to Anderson Siding in the evening, where he is cooking for the Bemidji Boxwood Co. Mrs. M. Lawson entertained at dinner Sunday. The guests were Capt. J. W. Day and Mrs. Day, C. Lawson, Mrs. Will Preston and chil- dren and Adam Nikle of Bemidji. E. A. Tolles has purchased another cow and more young stock lately. ‘We are very much pleased to hear Mrs. F. Sankey has recovered and is able to be out again, Miss Bekken spent the week-end in Bemidji. - Everybody is busy haying. Urban and Rural Communities. One of the most noteworthy charac- terigtics of the social and industrial life of the nation is the growth of urban at the expense of rural commu- nities, according to a report of the cen- sus bureau. The extent to which this has occurred since the first census of the United States was taken in 1790 is brought out in a striking manner by comparing the population of New York —then the only city of over 30,000—in that year with the aggregate popula- tion of the 213 cities which are esti- mated to bave had more than 30,000 inhabitants each in the fiscal year 1016. New York in the earlier year, not long after the close of the Revolu- tion, reported a population of 83,131, or only four-fifths of 1 per cent of the to- tal for the country; whereas in the fiscal year 1916 the 213 cities ccvered by the bureau's report were estimated to have a combined population of more than 32,000,000, or nearly 32 per cent of the totsl for the country. During this period of about a century and a quarter the population in cities of over 30,000 increased nearly a thousandfold, whereas that of the entire country in- creased only about twenty-five fold. The population of New York city alone in the later year was 165 times as great as in the earlier. He (a former suitor)—So you are mar- ried after all. You told me once that you never intended to belong to any man. She—Well, that remark still holds good. He—But your husband? She— Oh, he belongs to me. Get Ready for Cold Weather You will need - Tarred Felt String Felt Water Proof Building Papes Deadening Felt Red Rosin Paper Prepared Roofing Wall Board Plaster Board Storm Windows and Doors And other materials to make your build- 1Ings warm We have a large stock of all you need St. Hilaire Retail Lumber Go. Telephones 100 == (i1 R RRCRRRCRAO R RRRERRRRRORRRRD of our goods. Commander Reports Rescue of Mexi- can Women and Children. The navy department made public the report of the American warship commander who rescued from Clipper- ton island, in the Pacific, some time ago, three women and eight children who were the last remnants of a party of Mexicans who went to the island with Captain Ramon de Arnaud of the Mexican army to develop its guano de- posits. For military reasons the names of the American vessel and its command- er were not made public. The com- mander’s report shows that the women barely escaped starvation, while Cap- tain de Arnaud lost his life at sea in the small boat in which he started out for help and that other members of the party died of starvation and scurvy. It was not until after the number of women and children left alive on the island had been reduced to the limits of the small supply of cocoanuts that the ravages of scurvy ceased. For more than two years these survivors were forced to subsist on the flesh and ezgs of gannets and gulls and occa: sionally fish. The officers and crew of the warship saised a fund of $200 for the relief of the refugees, who have been landed at a Mexican port. CRIPPLE WINS EDUCATION. Struggle For Learning of Girl Unable ! to Go to School. ; Pluck and determination are making | an education possible for Margaret Col- lins of the Plum Creek district of Kan- sas under conditions that would have discouraged most children. More than a year ago Margaret fell on the ice and has not been able to at- tend school since the accident. | The teacher in this district, Fred | Brayer, boarded at her home. Marga- ' ret studied during the days and recited at night. She passed ail of the exam-{ inations, received a county diploma cation. HEALTH PRECAUTION The common sense way is to keep the health right. keep good health is to EAT PURE FOOD. Impure or inferior foods are a menace to health, and should never be allowed on your table. Our Groceries Will Stand the Test We can’t advertise CHEAP groceries now. the thing you DON'T WANT. But we CAN furnish you THE BEST in al] staple and fancy groceries. And our prices are very reasonable when you know the EXCELLENCE Butter, Eggs, Cream, Milk, Meats And the way to The cheap article is just BEMIDJI " MINN. G. SCHROEDER Announcement FORD Authorized Sales and Service Delivered to you right at your home, and we can make prompt deliveries. mation. TRUCK now on the market. Telephone us at our expense, or write for full infor- Ask for full informa- tion pertaining to the FORD TRUCK. C. W.JEWETT,CO.Inc. Authorized FORD Representatives Telephone 474 418-420 Beltrami Ave., Bemidji, Minn.