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Show (Transformation Busy Mart of Commerce to Devil's Playground. BOMBS, RIOT, FIRE, BACKED BY BATTLESHIP IN MUTINY I Terrible Scenes Described by One Who Was in Midst , of Living Hell. Sncctnl to Tho Tribune. LONDON, Aug. 12. The following: extracts ex-tracts nre from the private letters of un Englishman, written to friends at the time of tho troubles with tho Potemkln mutineers at Odessa: "Odessa was transformed. Instead of llvlna: In a peaceful, dubv, commercial i own, we seemed to be on a devil's playground. play-ground. Bombs, riots, fire and the expectation ex-pectation of bombardment from the mutinied mu-tinied crew of the Potemkln combined to make the change. How we hated tho ?.:rcat turreted ship, with her heavy iTuns trained night and day on tho defenseless de-fenseless town. For defenseless we wore during three long days. One. thing n-rono was certain: the Jewish 'bund had armed Its people, and the bombs thrown on Cathedral square told us that tho society was provided with moro powerful power-ful weapons than firearms. "In the afternoon the fire broko out. By 10 o'clock that night every inch of the harbor seemed to be on lire. Tho glare from the burning ships and buildings, build-ings, the thick black smoke columns of the coal wharves, the blood red light on land and sea made a picture I shall never forget. A storm of threats, a rattle rat-tle of pistol shots and a shower of atones greeted the firemen, and some of them fled back to their stations. And at the top of the military 'spuck' or Incline In-cline a party of anarchists were stationed sta-tioned on the roof of the Crimean hotel, waiting their opportunity when the rush of 'the populace should come. FFM Boar of Human Tumult. "About midnight a roar of human tu- FFB mult told' us that the people were com- FFM Ing from the harbor. So fierce and FFB vodka-maddened were they that the of-fleers of-fleers doubted the power to stem the KJI rush of the yelling, smoke-blackened FFI mob. Huge, powerful grain-carriers and FFI dock hands were there, and slim, agile FFM Circassians: Jews mixed with Russian FFM students; unsexed shrieking women FFH wore everywhere. And everywhere was FFMj the scum of our cosmopolitan town. FFfl howling, firing and surging toward the FFB "The soldiers -walked between two FFM fires, the mob in front and the anar- FFM chists in the rear. Stronger and more furious pressed the mob, while we, who FFM watched, blanched, thinking of the riot and destruction that threatened the city. FFS The rioters gained ground, but the sol- dlers never wavered. Volley after vol-FFfl vol-FFfl ley rang out again and again and yet again, and then the arrival of the ma-FFH ma-FFH fhine guns settled the contest For FFS there was no hesitation in using them. The soldiers faces were stern set; tho FH safety of some 500.000 of fellow-crea- FFfl lures and their own lives wore at stake, FFfl and so the guns mowed furrows into FH the ranks of the rioters, decapitating here and amputating there, until tho mob suddenly scattered in headlong JUght. They left more work behind than j our doctors could grapple with. FH What the Sua Hose On. fffl "It was strange on Thursday morn- FH Ing to watch the town striving to re- sume its ordinary course. The icemen, milk women and bakers again began FFM their-rounds. The sunrise was beautiful that morning over the red-tinted clouds FFfl and sea but what the sun Illuminated in the harbor few of us here care to re-FH re-FH member. The Jewish bund and Maxim forky's heroes had had their day, and ftfj I do not think the result could have ftJJ been satisfactory even to them, FFfl Ruined buildings, burnt and sunken ftfl ships, quays that had been crowded FFS with busy workers and were now FFfl turned' into smoking ash heaps wore on every hand, and everywhere, too, lay FFfl the charred fragments of human beings who had been burnt beside the vodka caska. from which they had been too Intoxicated to move when tho flames swept up to them. FFfl "It had been a holocaust Indeed. No wonder the men whose duties took them KVJ to the inland harbor do not care to 1 speak of that morning's work. Twenty- KS five wagons of dead bodies picked up B the Polish spunk;J the military 'spuck' H must hava been more, not to mention BV the Nicholas boulevard, where the rush H wns most desperate of all. KB "That Thursday was an Interminable BB . The entire town seemed on the Bl watch or some surprise, and about S BB o'clock it came in the shape of a lln. BB hell from .the Potomklne. There was a BB general rush to balconies, roofs and any BB Place where a view could bo gained of BB . the ship. People living on or near the BB 'spucks' began to prepare for flight. BB " 'Mania.' said the mistress, entering BB the kitchen of a flat on the Polish street BB 'leave everything at once. Here Is your BB passport.' FH Cook Wasn't Ready. BVfll V,'1 ave not washed myself Barlnn ' BB paid the cook, crossly, but, true to her BB e. even in the hour of danger, 'and if BB we are to fiy. I must put on clean linen BB and a. good dress.' BBW "Half an hour passod. Then another BB rrh Fy thls 1lme t,le entire houso- BB hold (with the exception of the cook) BB were in walking dress. Check books. BB passports and money had been fash- BB ioned Into a cunning llttlo dress lm- BB prover under tho Barina's skirt and BB small hand baskets packed with cog- BB "lac. bread and sausage. Then we BB waited again. The soldiers closed the BB street. They ordered us to close all BB windows on the Polish street. Tho ma3- BB tcr of tho house retired to rest. Then BB wo coaxed the servants to bed. Mania BB the cook, remarking that any rate her Bl corpse would be buried clean. BBB "And, strange to say, most of us BB worn out by the anxiety and watch of BB "he previous nights, contrived to got BB some sleep. FFM "By Sunday the Potomklne was 'gone BB and confidence was restored, it was BBB wonderful Jiow the p6ople adapted BB themselves to the changed circuin- BB stances. The squares had been turned BB into encampments, and the Dvornlka BB nnd workmen and their wives sat about fffl . gossiping. Joking and laughing with the BB soldiers off duty. They gave quite a BB homelike look to the state of ceige. In BBB the evening came the call to prayers, BB and the sound of strong voices of the fHl men chanting the evening hymns added FH I to tho senso of security and order." Bh |
