Ambassador Meyer to the Secretary of State.
St. Petersburg, January 5, 1906.
Sir: I beg leave to confirm cable reading as follows:a
In my cable of December 25b I stated that although fighting had been stubborn and gatling guns had been used, I believed that the estimates so far given out as to loss of life were much exaggerated. It appears now that I was correct in my surmise, for in a semiofficial statement given by one of the papers, from statistics taken at all the hospitals and accident bureaus, the deaths were given as about 750 and the wounded as a little over a thousand.
I am glad to state that as yet I have heard of no injuries occurring to American citizens in Moscow; in fact in all these disturbances that have taken place in the various cities the revolutionists and strikers have refrained in all instances from attacking foreign consulates, and I believe this also applies to the property of foreign individuals.
I have just received a letter dated the 1st of January from Thomas C. Purdy, vice-president of the New York Air-Brake Company, at Lubertzy, thanking me for my prompt action as to a guard for their factory. He states that the town has been taken possession of by the military authorities and that order has been restored and he is under the impression that the works are now safe, but will not undertake to resume operations until the workmen have recovered from their present delirium.
[Page 1279]Conditions in St Petersburg remain unchanged. The city is quiet, without any disturbances except in some of the outskirts.
I have, etc.,
- Telegram of January 1, supra.↩
- Printed in Foreign Relations 1905, p. 784.↩