The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 23, 1905, Page 1

THE WEATHER. i 4538 e Conquerors.” ‘Shaun Rhue.” Country Mouse.” ENTRAL—"The Holy City.” CHUTES—Vaudeville. FISCHER'S—Vaudeville. GRAND—'‘The Silver Slipper.” ORPHEUM—Vaudeville. Forecast made at San Francisco for thirty hours ending midnight, Jl.flm' San Francisco and vicinity—Showers Monday; brisk southerly wind. G. H. WILLSON, Local Forecaster. \ s + MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1905. ' VOLUME 'XCVII—NO. 54. PRICE FIVE CENTS. ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 23, 8 a. m.-—Conservative estimates of the casualties in yesterday’s strike riots place the number at about soo killed or wounded. Some reports put the figures as high as 50004 but these are wild exaggerations. It is expected that the outbreak will be resumed to-day, although upon a smaller scale. 'The night passed quietly, but throughout the city the workingmen were arming. CZAR'S GOVERNMENT FACES REVOLUTION SOLDIERS SHOOT DOWN SCORES OF MEN, WOI\/£EN AND CHILDREN 4 PR G - do.” 23, 4:45 a. m—St. Petersburg worn out by the excitement of a < 5, Jan. is sleeping quietly at this hour, long day. S and Laborers and spectators have long since left the streets the military 3nd police have had little to do for hours be- yond driving off riotous bands of irresponsible young roughs, bent « So n marauding, and dispersing groups of too demonstrative s or Liberals returning from protracted meetings where their minds were fired by incendiary speeches. Since midnight the Russian capital has been as peaceful as it as the preceding night, but in the palace square and in all the the ‘town bivouac sleeping principal streets and open places throughout fires are gleaming and infantrvmen are their 1ing hither and thither. wearied horses are patrolling the squares. near stacked ritles or marc Cavalrymen on No turther firing has been heard and no more reports of collisions have heen received. . A renewal of rioting is not expected until late in the morn- . ing, if at ali to-day, for the strikers are thoroughly wearied by yesterday’s events and will be inclineJ’ to wait until the military precautions have somewhat relaxed. Iti ssible even now to estimate at all closely the casu- alties of the day. The exact number of deaths probably never will be known. . No Looting l)uring the Night. With darkness last night it was feared the mob would begin to loot and pillage and even burn, but beyond the breaking of a _ few windows in the Nevsky Prospect and tke pillaging of fruit shops, little disorder was reported. By midnight the sound of firing had ceased, except on Vas- silliostrov Island, where the troops met a renewed demonstration with several volleys. In the meantime the strike leaders assem- " bled and decided to continue the struggle with arms. No day was fixed for the next demonstration. At a big meeting last night the following message from : Gorky, the novelist, was read : “Beloved associates: We have no Emperor. Innocent blood - lies between him and the people. Now begins the people’s strug- gle for freedom. May it prosper! My blessing upon you ' all. Would that T might be with you to-night, but I have too much to . A workman who was introduced to speak in Father Go- pon’s name made a fiery speech. He appealed to Liberals to . furnish arms. The meeting adopted a letter denouncing the of- _ ficers and regiments that fired on the workmen and another let- ter extolling the Moscow regiment, which refused to fire. : During the evening there were more foot passengers on : the streets than might have been expected, but nothing like the gayety and bustle of an ordinary Sunday evening. Comment on the action of the troops and authorities was very bitter, and sar- * castic remarks were made.that officers were braver against the o 2 Bé o defenseless public than against the Japanese and that “ammuni- tion may be scarce in the Far East, but is too plentiful here.” Revolt of Circassians. VICTORIA, B. C., Jan. 22.—Captain Orlan Cullen, represen- tative of the Imperial Marine Association of Tokio, received a cablegram from Constantinople to-night to the effect that 1500 Circassians had revolted and killed the Russian guard, number- ing 200, at Slavinia, in the Caucasus, and that Russians and Turks in large numbers were crossing the frontier into the Caucasus to spread revolution in Tiflis province. Tifiis City is practically in a state of siege, he says, and communication is had only by dis- patch bearers. Captain Cullen said late to-night that he had received further reports from Constantinople, stating that large numbers of refu- gees, mostly Jews, were rushing iato Turkish territory, and that the Sultan had placed the barracks of the imperial guards at Con- stautinople at the disposal of the refugees. “Sir Nicholas O'Con- nor, British Minister, and American Minister Leishmann had been appointed a committee to look after the wants of the refu- goes. The Armenian Hunchigist Society in Constantinople has issued a proclamation calling upon all Armenians to assist the rev- olutionists, and nuiubers of Aimenians continue to cross the frontier to assist the Kurds, Armenians and Circassians beleag- vering Tifiis. Czar’s Life Is at Stake.' PARIS, Jan. 22.—“The strikes in St. Petersburg and else- " where, significant signs of the times, are controlled by Socialist committees,” said to the New York World correspondent to- day Semenoff, a Russian Hebrew, formerly correspondent for Novoski, and now leading writer for an international political review on European -events. “The Czar must see the handwriting on the wall. If he does not grant a constitution, he will enda.nger the dynasty. Even Liberals and Socialists are demanding a constitution, showing a disposition to accept a Czar if equal rights be accorded. But if they be refused the movement will become revolutionary and republican, especially if the Czar listen to the counsels of the Procurator of the Holy Synod and the Grand Duke Sergius. « “The Czar wil} make a mistake if he thinks of such conces- sions as putting a stop to the flogging of peasants for non-pay- ment of taxes will be accepted in place of a constitution. There is a universal demand for freedom of the press, the right of public meetings, university gatherings, popular control of the finances of the country and equal rights for Jews, Armenians and Poles.” . BLOOD FLOWS IN STREETS OF CAPITAL, — % o WINTER PALACE SQUARE, WHERE RUSSIAN TROOPS FIRED UPON THE MOB OF STRIKERS. MOB FIGHTS BEHIND WEAK - BARRICADES ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 23, 2:30 a. m.—A press correspondent was present when the first barricades were con- structed on Vassiliostrov Island, where fighting occurred late yesterday, re- sulting in the killing of thirty of the defenders of the barricades. The strik- ers, driven from the river front, had gathered in front of the union head- quarters, out of sight of the soldiers. Buzzing Jike a nest of angry hornets, a hundred men brandished handleless saber 'blades secured from some junk- shop, which were the only weapons seen In the hands of the strikers during the day. Others swarmed up poles and cut down the telegraph, telephone and electric light wires, which they strung from lamp post to lamp post across the street to break up charges of cavalry. In the twinkling of an eye a sub- stantial barricade had been construct- ed, bound together with wires and ropes. On these water was poured, which immediately froze. As a last contribuition Christmas trees were add- ed to the pile and the crowd rushed -to repeat the process at the other end of the block. Meanwhile others were bringing on brick and breaking them for missiles. ‘When the troops advaficed the strikers lined the barriers and offe: what re- sistance they could, but while half of the infantry rested their rifles on the barricade and volleyed, the others de- molished the obstruction and marched over the street, which was then en- cumbered with flifty dead or wounded lying on the snow crimsoned with hu- man blood. Frenzied Populace Battles With Imperial Troops. ST. PETERSBURG, Jan. 22.—This has been a day of unspeakable horror in St. Petersburg. The strikers of yesterday, goaded to despera- tion by a day of violence, fury and bloodshed, are in a state of open in- surrection against the Government. A condition almost bordering on civil war exists in the terror-stricken Russian capital. The city is under mar- tial law, with Prince Vasilchikoff as commander of over 50,000 of the Emperor’s crack guards. Troops are bivouacking in the street to-night and at various places on the Nevsky Prospect, the main thoroughfare of the city. On the Island of Vassillostrov and In the outer sections, infuriated men have thrown up barricades, which they are holding. The Empress Dowager has hastily sought safety at Tsarskoe-Selo, where Emperor Nicholas II is living. 3, Minister of the Interior Sviatopolk-Mirsky presented to his Majesty last night the invitation of the workmen to appear at the Winter Palace this afternoon and receive their getmon. but the Emperor’s advisers al- ready had taken a decision to show a firm and resolute front and the Emperor’s t.mwer to 100,000 workmen trying to make their way to the Palace Squhre to-day was a solid-army of troops, which met them with rifle, bayonet and saber. A The priest, Gopon, the leader and idol of the men, in his golden vest- ments, holding aloft the cross and marching at the head of thousands of workmen through the Narva gate, miraculously escaped a volley which laid 'low a half-hundred persons. The figures of the total number killed or wounded here, at the Mos- cow gate, at various bridges and islands and at the Winter Palace, vary. The best estimate is 500, although there are exaggerated figures placing jthe number as high as 5000. Many men were accompanied by their wives and children and in the confusion, which left no time for discrimination, the latter shared the fate of the men. The troops, with the exception of a single regiment, which is reported to have thrown down its arms, remained loyal and obeyed or- ders. t the blood which crimsoned the snow has fired the brains and b the strikers and turned women as well as men into wild 4 the cry of ‘the infuriated populace is for vengeance. The sympathy of the middle classes is with the workmen. PRIEST BREAKS PEOPLE’S FAITH IN CZAR. If Father Gopon, the master mind of the movement, dimed at open revolution, he managed the affair like a genius to break the faith of the people in the “Little Father,” who they were convinced and whom Father ?liwn‘rllnd taught them to believe, would right their wrongs and redress their grievances. Gorky, the Russian novelist, expresses the opinion that to-day's work will break this faith of the peopie in the Emperor. He said this evening: “To-day inaugurated revolution in Russia. The Emperor’s prestige will Continued to Page 2, Columns 2 and 3