I took one of these scribbled pages, in the hand
writing of Konovalov, which read, "The Provisional Government
appeals to all classes to support the Provisional Government-"
All this time, it must be remembered, although the Winter Palace was
surrounded, the Government was in constant communication with the
Front and with provincial Russia. The Bolsheviki had captured the
Ministry of War early in the morning, but they did not know of the
military telegraph office in the attic, nor of the private telephone
line connecting it with the Winter Palace. In that attic a young
officer sat all day, pouring out over the country a flood of appeals
and proclamations; and when he heard that the Palace had fallen, put
on his hat and walked calmly out of the building....
Interested as we were, for a considerable time we didn't notice a
change in the attitude of the soldiers and Red Guards around us. As
we strolled from room to room a small group followed us, until by
the time we reached the great picture-gallery where we had spent the
afternoon with the _yunkers,_ about a hundred men surged in after
us. One giant of a soldier stood in our path, his face dark with
sullen suspicion.
[Graphic page-104 Doodling by Konavalov, title follows]
Facsimile of the beginning of a proclamation, written in pencil by
A.I. Konovalov, Minister of Commerce and Industry in he Provisional
Government, and then scratched out as the hopelessness of the
situation became more and more evident.
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