London Times, 11 December 1905, p. 7: NAVAL AND MILITARY DISAFFECTION. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.) ST. PETERSBURG, DEC. 9.
All the sailors quartered in St. Petersburg have been transferred to Kronstadt.
ST. PETERSBURG, DEC. 8.*
The 14th Naval Battalion, which was sent to Kronstadt this morning under escort, had long been in a state bordering on open rebellion, and the men were recently deprived of their arms. The immediate cause of the arrest of the battalion was probably the fear that the men would side with the workmen in the event of street disorders in the capital. They had been petitioning their superiors for some time on the subject of their grievances, like the sailors at Libau, Kronstadt, Odessa, and Sevastopol, and further had been guilty of flagrant breaches of discipline and disrespect towards their officers. Admiral Niedermuller yesterday said to the men: – “You drenched Sevastopol and Kronstadt in blood. Now you want to do the same here.” When the sailors flatly refused to obey the order to leave St. Petersburg, it was immediately decided to have recourse to force. Nothing that Admirals Bortashevitch and Niedermuller said made the least impression on the mutineers. Their spokesman declared they knew perfectly well that the authorities were preparing a prison for them in sending them to a fortress under martial law.
Riotous conduct on the part of troops returning from Manchuria is reported from Syzran. The rioters sacked the railway station and pillaged the neighbouring shops.
Provided by Stephen McLaughlin