Impressive silence falls on bloody Russian revolution

Saturday, 23 January 2010 05:00

Clippings from the newspapers of January 23, 1906.

London (England) Times. “An impressive silence reigned” over Russia’s capital, St. Petersburg, on the first anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when troops had fired on 80,000 demonstrators seeking to deliver a petition to Tsar Nicholas II, killing 1,000. Demonstrators across Russia had sought political, religious and press freedom, but Bloody Sunday “converted what was only deep-rooted discontent into revolution,” while the government “continues to rule by bloodshed,” says the Times. On the anniversary, the demonstrations were peaceful, while “The troopers, muffled to the eyes, presented a weird spectacle amid the driving snow of a bitter cold day.” The revolution toppled the Tsarist regime in 1917, succeeded by the Communists and another 70 years of even more undemocratic rule.

London Advertiser. A ban on Sunday liquor selling poses a particular problem for a prosperous Trenton saloonkeeper with five daughters. The sisters “have five young men call on them Sunday evenings.” Their comings and goings reportedly “lead the police to suspect that they are bar patrons.” The sisters want their sweethearts “‘tagged’ so that they will not be in danger of being arrested on their Sunday visits.”

Montreal Star. Rumours of lawn mowing in January are denied. “It was mild enough for the first days of summer, and scores of people discarded winter trappings and walked the streets without overcoats.” The temperature reached 55 Fahrenheit (14 Celsius). In Winnipeg, however, the temperature reached -34 F., “and eastward the cold wave makes its way.”

Winnipeg Free Press.The prairie cold snap caught farmer William Garrod, in a snowstorm while driving his wagon on Saturday evening less than two miles out of Saskatoon. The wagon was tipped, and Garrod laying freezing in the snow for more than two hours until Dr. D.H. Stewart, returning to the city from a house call, heard a cry that sounded like a coyote. Garrod was rescued but it is expected that the fingers of his right hand will have to be amputated. At midnight, the Mounted Police secured Garrod’s team.

Edmonton Bulletin. Calgary’s population is said to be “16,000 at least.” The city has 2,094 houses, more in a nearby suburb, and a number of “hotel blocks.” (Census figures later fix Calgary’s population in 1906 at 11,967; five years later the population had almost quadrupled to 43,704, and by 1921 it was 63,305).