Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1906, (In two parts), Part II
Ambassador Meyer to the Acting Secretary of State.
St. Petersburg, July 13, 1906.
Sir: I beg leave to inclose herewith the official communication on the disorders at Bielostock and a copy of a lettera received from Mr. Stolypin, minister of the interior.
I have, etc.,
official communication on the disorders at bielostock.
On the 1st of June last there occurred some very regrettable disorders at Bielostock, involving the death of 82 persons, of whom 7 were Christians and 75 Jews; besides, 78 persons (18 Christians and 60 Jews) received more or less serious wounds, and 169 dwellings and shops belonging to the Jewish inhabitants of the city were demolished, causing damages estimated at 200,000 rubles.
Deeming it his bounden duty to have a rigorous investigation made into the causes of this deplorable event as soon as possible, the minister of the interior at once intrusted this mission to Mr. Frisch, a member of his council fulfilling the office of marshal of the court of His Majesty the Emperor.
The information gathered by this envoy, as well as that obtained from other sources through the efforts of the Government, enables the following account of the events which took place on June 1 to be prepared, the underlying causes being at the same time set forth.
The city of Bielostock, which contains about 100,000 inhabitants, has become within recent years the chief center of the revolutionary movement in the western section of the Empire. In the midst of the local population, of whom 75 per cent are Jews, numerous revolutionary organizations have been formed, some of which are radically anarchistic. These organizations, without any regard whatever for the interests of the peaceful and the working population, pursue their purpose with dogged persistence and with weapon in hand by [Page 1298] the means of attempts against the lives of the police and of the garrison troops stationed there for the sake of maintaing public order and opposing the development of revolutionary activity. The members of this organization have even adopted a distinctive dress in the shape of a uniform, which serves to determine their identity, and they have established their central headquarters in the Sourayskaia, one of the streets of the city, where they do not allow either the police or the troops to penetrate.
The criminal machinations of these revolutionary societies became more extensive in 1905 and were signalized by whole series of murders and attempts against the lives of the police officers and the garrison soldiers, beginning with the murder of Chief of Police Metlenko, which was followed by the murder of the chief of police of the Eltschine district; the attempt made June 8 against the life of Chief of Police Pelenkine, who was wounded; that of July 21, made by means of a bomb against Assistant Chief of Police Goubsky and Commissioner Joulkevitch, both of whom were wounded; that of August 24 against Police Commissioner Samson; the murders, committed on different dates, of Policemen Mosguere, Moniechko, and Barantsevitch, and the attempts against Police Corporals Savitsky and Costitsky, who were wounded, as were also 8 policemen.
Last September, after Bielostock was declared to be in a state of siege, the activity of the terrorists was relaxed, but it manifested itself with renewed vigor March 1 of this year, when the siege was raised. Without mentioning the numerous shots fired at the patrols and the military rounds, a new series of murders and attempts against the lives of the officials began at this time. On March 4 Commissioner Rasky was wounded and his assistant, Koultchinsky, killed; on March 18 the noncommissioned officer of the gendarmery, Rybansky, and the baggage master, Syralevitch, were killed; on April 29 an attempt was made against the life of Policeman Davydoff; on different dates during the month of May Policemen Zenevitch and Alexietaschouk were wounded; Policeman Cheymann was wounded; three soldiers of the Vladimir Regiment were wounded; the Cossack Lopatine was killed; on May 28 Chief of Police Berkat-scheff was killed by shots fired from the crowd in Sourayskaia street, and finally, on May 29, the soldier, Arsentseff, was killed. Within this same period six attacks with bombs were made by the terrorists against the buildings of local manufacturers as well as against a banking office at Bielostock.
Within a space of three months, from March 1 to June 1 of this year, the crimes of a terrorist character committed against officials and private individuals of the city gave rise to 45 judicial investigations. In almost all the cases the authors of these crimes failed to be discovered, for the eyewitnesses, fearing the vengence of the terrorists, refused to testify.
This series of attempts against life, as well as other acts of violence committed against peaceful inhabitants, including Jews, had produced a state of panic among the people of Bielostok, and when Chief of Police Derkatscheff, who enjoyed the public esteem of all the orderly people of Bielostok, whether Christians or Jews, was murdered on May 29, this crime brought the feeling of panic, as well as the general irritation against the promoters of these disturbances, to the culminating point. Rumors were spread about the city that the terrorists had decided to massacre all the officials, and at the same time the report was circulated that preparations were being made for the “pogrom “(destruction) of the Jewish population, among whom, according to the general opinion, all the criminal attempts had originated. While these rumors were taking form and maddening the inhabitants, confusion set in among the ranks of the police, the members of which became more and more inefficient. The best police officers had been killed, wounded, or crippled, and the others, fearing for their lives, had hastened to resign. To supply their places, and especially that of policemen, it became necessary, owing to the lack of volunteers, to appoint persons who in most cases had not been trained at all for this em-ployment, so that they had continually to be changed. Since June, 1905, seven persons had been successively appointed in Bielostok to the office of chief of police, and three police officers to whom this position had been offered refused to accept it. During this same period five persons had successively held the office of assistant chief of police. It has been the same with the police commissioners and their assistants, who had continually to be replaced. In the absence of anyone desirous of holding these positions, it was necessary to recruit persons from different parts of the Grodno government, and to intrust those offices to them provisionally. The circumstances above described combined [Page 1299] together to create a state of apathy and a lack of initiative among the police, who even hesitated to show themselves in certain quarters of the city. Thus, in Sourayskaia street, where the revolutionary organizations were more particularly concentrated, it had been necessary to withdraw all the police officers from duty, because those sent there inevitably became the victims of murderous assaults.
The overexcitement of the population of the city on the one hand, and the disorganization of the police on the other, had created a state of affairs favorable to the outbreak of disorders with an irresistible force at the slightest provocation. This provocation was furnished June 1, when a fresh assault, audaciously committed by the enemies of public order, brought about an outburst of general indignation on the part of all the Christians of Bielostok.
On this day it was customary to celebrate religious ceremonies, which are followed by two processions through the city, one being orthodox, in commemoration of the return of the United Greeks to the Russian Church, and the other being Catholic, on the occasion of Corpus Christi Day. These solemnities bring together not only all the inhabitants of the city, but also attract a great number from the surrounding country. In expectation of this influx of people, and in view of the excitement prevailing among the inhabitants, extraordinary measures had been taken to preserve order. A reinforcement of the police had been arranged and an agreement reached between the chief of police and the military authorities whereby the city was divided into two sections, in which the guards of soldiers had been doubled and placed under the respective orders of specially appointed chiefs, under the general command of the head of the infantry division.
In spite of all these precautionary measures there were two or three places in the city where explosive devices were thrown at the crowds following both the orthodox and the Catholic processions. It was the same with regard to the faithful who began to disperse at the end of the ceremony. The processions were fired on besides with revolvers. Those who suffered from the explosion of these devices are still at this time under treatment at the city hospital; they are Stanislao Miliousky, janitor of the city school, and three women (two of whom were married to policemen), viz, Anna Demidiouk, Alexandra Minekowsky, and Marie Commissariouk. As far as Miliousky and Minekowsky are concerned, the fact of their having been wounded by the bursting of an explosive device was establishd by the testimony of the victims and confirmed by the juridico-medical certificates given by the physicians Jdanoff, Granowsky, and Rosenthal, assisted by Doctor Epstein, of the Israelite Hospital. These revolting crimes and sacrileges brought to the spot a detachment of troops, who opened fire on the houses from which it was supposed that the revolver shots had been fired at the procession. Almost at the same time the “pogrom” (destruction) of the Jews by the Christian population broke out with the force of an irresistible element, without distinction of innocent or guilty. In certain places the Jews armed themselves to repel the attack, which increased still more the fury of the already overexcited crowd.
To follow out the course of events on June 1 in all their details when the disorders ceased in certain parts of the city only to begin anew elsewhere, and to gather the truth from the declarations of the victims and discriminate it from the falsehoods, either intentional or unconscious, is manifestly the mission of the judicial authorities who already have the matter in hand and are prosecuting it with all possible energy. While any positive conclusion before the completion of the judicial investigation would be premature, the Government believes that it may affirm one fact as being well established, viz, that the crimes against life and property were for the most part the work of small bands of evil doers from among the population of the city and the surrounding country who, acting separately, attacked the houses and stores of the Jews and chose for this purpose the part of the city where no troops were stationed. In the great majority of cases the disturbances were quelled by detachments of troops who arrived in good time. Toward 6 p.m. the pillagers had been driven away everywhere, and at the principal entrances to the city military patrols barred the road against the inhabitants of the surrounding region who started toward the city at the first news of the “pogrom.” The disorders, which had ceased in the evening, were renewed next morning. Attempts were made to sack a few more shops, while at the railroad station, where there was but a small guard owing to the troops being detailed to the center of the city, the Jews were suddenly attacked by a numerous crowd. Toward the middle of this day the revolutionary organizations proceeded to make a series of attacks [Page 1300] against the troops, which did not end until the night of June 4. The patrols were fired upon, as well as the police guardhouses and the buildings of the staff of the Sixteenth Infantry Division and the Fourth Cavalry Division, and even the government banking establishment was not spared. Three soldiers were wounded in these affrays. The troops, in replying to these attacks, fired on the houses from which the shots proceeded, and, as was to be expected, the victims included not only those guilty of armed aggression, but also peaceful inhabitants who were in the houses.
The Government has already taken measures in accordance with the data secured in the administrative investigation in order to render the activity of the local authorities more conformable to the exigencies of good order and normal conditions. As to the principal participants in the bloody disturbances, as well as their accomplices and the instigators of the crime, the courts will without any doubt exercise their full rights in discovering, trying, and punishing them. The Government will, on its part, make it a duty to lend all the assistance possible to the courts in order that not one of the guilty parties may escape justice and the punishment which he deserves.
The Government indignantly denies the rumors spread abroad that the anti-Jewish riots at Bielostok took place with the knowledge and connivance of the local administration and of the troops of the place. The Government deems it its duty to express the firm conviction that the true cause of the lamentable events at Bielostok must primarily be sought in the machinations of the revolutionary parties. It was the revolutionists who, by an uninterrupted series of murderous attacks on the authorities and private individuals, wrought up a peaceful population to extreme fury and threw disorder into the ranks of the local police by rendering impossible the task which devolved upon it of preventing and promptly quelling any incipient disturbance.
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