Show ofaf strikes spreading and a great upheaval expected ALARM JN ST petersburg st petersburg oct 26 p m during the afternoon the alarm in st petersburg increase ed the meat markets were raid cd by anxious purchasers and all the oil and candles were sold ont the people feared the city would be plunged in darkness but general acted energetically the troops aoh ooh possession ol 01 the water gas and electric light works and a strong guard was around the treasury jewelers hurriedly their js tocks to placey for beeping and the shopkeepers continued the work ot boarding up their windows this afternoon the afternoon striking workmen began in arching into the outlying districts and inviting their comrades to join them the police and troops did not interfere r but by general orders the spirit shops were closed dur ins the day the pharmacists tor mally struck the police are becoming fright ened many otther offering their resignations reports from the interior gay that the troops arc moving a few trains but with great the strikers are tearing up thi tracks in some places on the bourse prices were very weak imperial as dropping to as st Pate oct 26 p m russia is practically isolated today from the rest of the continent of europe as the international train service on all the lines has virtually ceased the tie up in the interior is more complete than yesterday the only trains running are operated by the railroad battalions the strike contagion is spreading all classes of workmen are organizing sympathetic strikes and industrial life in the country is coming to a standstill the situation cannot long continue either the workmen wall soon be starved into submission or pillage with military interference and bloodshed on a largo cale are bound to lyre at moscow GOO cab men have already fought the strikers whom they charge with taking bread out ol 01 their mouths in many cities especially at moscow the question ot food Is becoming extremely serious collisions between troops and strikers are reported to have occurred at several places at Ekaterin a regular pitched battle between the soldiers and era was fought and the city was left in darkness but as a rule the revolutionary leaders are keeping their men in hand communication by telegraph with many interior cointa is interrupted the whole country Is becoming alarmed and in st Peters burgan incipient panic prevails the boats and tho finnish trains now the only means of egress are crowded with people fleeing abroad the situation here has grown much worse over night the ranks of the workmen from the mills and factories who joined the strikers yesterday were increased by more this morning all the em aloyes of the port in number walked out and other men from the steel works left work in a body the inhabitants ot st petersburg awoke to fand the capital resembling a beleaguered beleaguer ed city the shops in the Vasill district and in all the suburbs are closed windows are boarded and barred and mounted patrols are to be seen everywhere in the streets except in the heart of the city women and children are afraid to venture out workmen are gathering at all trio places frequented in the days of father capon but they are quiet and the cossacks baas bad no provocation to interfere the general appearance ot the town Is menacing tha prices of food have gone up and the supply 0 beet is only for three days but there are ample supplies of wheat and rye for two months the emperor and the court continued oa page ight RUSSIA ON VERGE OF ANARCHY continued from page one at peterhof Pe are supplied by a warship from st petersburg all the families who can afford it have hastened to lay in supplies and stand a siege the suffering falls the heaviest on the poor who live from hand to mouth all the sold out their bread before noon the asat dealers have been ordered by the revolutionists not to deliver meat to the troops under pain of death and con the soldiers are living oa canned food the butchers have notified heir patrons that the meat mar ket will probably be closed tomorrow because of lack of meat alt the st petersburg schools were closed today and the children were sent home with Instruct lona not to return until their parents think it safe to do so the great strike promises to delay and bly interrupt the negotiations for the new russian loan the international bankers who are here do not seem greatly disturbed by the situation although they are constantly in receipt of threatening letters from the revolutionists warning them that it they contract a loan without the consent of the national assembly it will be repudiated nevertheless they are not disposed to close with the government until the situation haa cleared up the fact that the strike may jeopardize the success of the loan Is one of the most potent levers behind the government and makes the foreign bankers the unconscious allies ot the advocates of the tar reaching reforms which are about to le promulgated |