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Show If CZAR ABDICATES; j BROTHERREGENT War Party Is Now Completely in Control of Affairs of Russia. LONDON. March 16. 2:48 a. m A Pctroprad dispatch to the Daily chronicle chron-icle dated Wednesday, says the em-? em-? press ..r Jiu i ;t has been placed un tier guard. PETROGRAD, March 15. The em Pfror of Russia has abdicated and Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovitch, his youngest brother, has been named as regent. The Russian ministry charged With corruption nnd incompetence, has been swept out of office. One minister. minis-ter. Alexander Protopopoff, head of the Interior department, icported to have been killed and the other ministers, min-isters, as well as the president of the Imperial council are under arrest. A new national cabinet is announced, an-nounced, with Pnnce Lvoff as president presi-dent of the council and premier, and the other offices held by men close to the Russian people. For several days Pelropiad has been the scene of one of the most remarkable re-markable risings In history Beginning Begin-ning with minor food riots and labor Strikes, the cry for food reached the hearts of the soldiers and one by one the regiments rebelled, until finally those troops that had for a time "stood loyal to the government, took up their arms and marched into in-to the ranks of the revolutionists. The president of the duma, Michael . Rodzianko. was the leading' figure fig-ure anient: the deputies who unanimously unani-mously decided to oppose the imperial imper-ial order for a dissolution of the house. They continued their sessions ses-sions and M Rodzianko informed the i mperor, then at the front, that the hour had struck when the will of I the people must prevail. Even the imp-rial council realized the gravity Of the situation and added its appeal 10 that of the duma that the emperor should take steps to give the people B policy and government in accordance accord-ance with their desires and in order lhat there should be no interference with carrying on the war to a victorious vic-torious ending. The emperor hastened back from the front, only to find that the revolution revo-lution had been successful and that a new government was in control. The empress who, it is alleged, has been influential in the councils opposed op-posed to the wishes of the people, is reported to have fled or to be in I hiding. Although considerable fighting took place, it is not believed that the casualties are large. The early period of the uprising bore the character rather of a mock revolution staged for an immense audience. Cossacks charging down ,he street did so in a half-hearted rishlon. plainly without malice or Intent In-tent to harm the crowds that they playfully dispersed. The troops exchanged ex-changed good natured raillery with the workingmen and women and as they rode were cheered by the populace. popu-lace. Blanks Fired. Dong lines of soldiers stationed in dramatic attitudes across Nevsky Prospect, with their guns pointed at an imaginary foe, appeared to be taking part in a realistic tableau. Machine guns firing roulades of blank cartridges seemed to add an-oiher an-oiher realistic touch to a tremendous theatric production, which was using the whole city as a stage. Until Sunday night this pageant continued without serious interruption. interrup-tion. Then in a flash the whole scene lost its theatric quality; it became a genuine revolution. The regiments had received an order or-der from the commandant to fire upon persons assembled in the street. This caused immediate dissension among the troops, who did not understand un-derstand why they should be compelled com-pelled to take violent measures against fellow citizens, whose chief offense was that they were hungry and there asking the government to supply brpad. Seeral regiments deserted de-serted and a pitched battle began between the troops who stood with the government and those who, refusing re-fusing to obey orders, had mutinied. A long night battle occurred be tween the mutinous regiments and the police at the end of St. Catharine canal, ca-nal, immediately in front of the historic his-toric church built over the spot where Alexander II was killed by a bomb The police finally fled to rooftops all over the city and were seen no more In the streets during the entire term of th fighting. Still, on Monday morning, the government gov-ernment troops appeared to control all the principal squares of the city. Then came a period when it was Impossible to distinguish one side from the other. There was no definite line between the factions. The turning point appeared to come about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. after-noon. For two hours the opposing reg- iments passively confronted each other along the wide Llteiny prospect in almost al-most complete silence. From time to time emissaries from the revolutionary side rode to the opposing op-posing ranks and exhorted them to join the side of the people. For a while the result seemed to hanc in the balance. The troops appeared irresolute, irreso-lute, awaiting the commands of their, officers, who themselves w. r- in doubt! as to What they should do. Desultory Firing. Desultory firing continued along the side streets between groups of government gov-ernment troops and revolutionists, but the regiments upon who ' d i ision the outcome rested still confronted each other with machine guns and rifles in readiness Suddenly a few volleys were exchanged; ex-changed; there was another period ofj silent suspense and the government j regiments finally marched over to join the revolutionists A few hours after the first clash, this entire section of Petrograd, in which are located the duma building, artillery headquarters and the chief military barracks, passed into the hands o fthe revolutionary forces and the warfare swept like a tornado to other parts of the city, where the scene was duplicated At first it seemed a miracle that the revolutionists, without prearranced plan, without leadership or organiza tion. could in such a short time with comparative ease achieve a complete victory over the government nut the explanation lay in the reluclance of the troops to take sides against the people. The scene? In the streets v.-ere by this time remarkable. The wide thoroughfares thor-oughfares where the troops were stationed sta-tioned were completely deserted by civilians, except for a few darinc In dividual?, who, creeping along -walls and duckinc into court yards, sped from one side to the other. But the side streets were choked with people. Croups of students, easily distinguished distin-guished by their blue caps and dark uniforms, fell into step with rough units of rebel soldiers and were joined b other heterogenous elements united unit-ed for the time being by a cause greater great-er than partisan differences. Unkempt Un-kempt workingmen with ragged sheepskin sheep-skin coats covering their conventional peasants' costume of dark blouse and top boots, strode side by side with well groomed city clerks and shopkeepers. shopkeep-ers. Armed Civilians. This strange army of people, mustered mus-tered on the street corners, shouldered shoul-dered their newly acquired rifles and marched out to join the ranks of the deserting regiments. At nightfall only one small district of the city, containing the war office, the admiralty buildings, St. Isaac's cathedral ca-thedral and the military hotel, still resisted the onslaught of the revolutionary revolu-tionary forces and the battle for the possession of Petrograd came to a dramatic dra-matic conclusion In the admiralty building the council of ministers se-cretely se-cretely assembled for a conference and the last regiments loyal to the old government gov-ernment were drawn up as a guard. Although sporadic fighting contm ued between small gToups until Wednesday, Wed-nesday, the "cause of the people" had triumphed. |
