Princes and peasants debate Democracy in Russia

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 05:00

Clippings from the newspapers of January 20, 1906.

London (England) Times. Three princes, several reformers, “two peasants and a number of Tartars” were among delegates at a meeting in St. Petersburg of the Constitutional Democratic Congress, held to consider Russia’s new electoral law, which makes it mandatory for eligible voters to participate in elections to the Duma, Russia parliament. But delegates complained that “obstacles placed by the government to free speech and the glaring evidence of its favouring anti-progressive parties and of its otherwise exerting pressure on the elections rendered it difficult to expect fair play.”

Edmonton Bulletin. Alberta’s inspector of public drinking places is expected to investigate the death of a Galician (i.e., a Polish) man. Three Galicians, drinking in a hotel in Camrose and “wrestling in a friendly spirit,” were evicted by the hotelkeeper. “Later one of the Galicians came back into the house [hotel] and sat down on a chair, where he went to sleep. When it came time to lock up, the hotel people tried to awaken him, and were shocked to discover that he had died in his chair.”

Halifax Herald. An explosion that sunk the new Brazilian naval cruiser Barryso has claimed 196 lives and 36 injuries. Among those reported drowned were three rear-admirals, the ship’s captain, two photographers, and a reporter.

Montreal Star. Off the West Coast, all hope is now lost for any survivors among the 28 crew of the “iron” steamship King David, believed sunk in “terrible” gales in December, says the Montreal Star. The ship left Salina, Cruz, Mexico for Victoria, B.C., on September 23, a voyage that normally takes 30 to 60 days.

London Advertiser.A lost cat is now a patient at London’s Grand Trunk Railway station after surviving a nine-day journey with a load of sugar from a Halifax refinery. The famish cat “is a beautiful Manx feline. And thereby hangs a tale—but not on the cat… because a Manx wears a sadly-abbreviated caudal appendage.”