... All these stories were swallowed
whole by the crowd in the Duma. And worse still, the mothers and
fathers of the students and of the women read these frightful
details, _often accompanied by lists of names,_ and toward nightfall
the Duma began to be besieged by frantic citizens....
A typical case is that of Prince Tumanov, whose body, it was
announced in many newspapers, had been found floating in the Moika
Canal. A few hours later this was denied by the Prince's family, who
added that the Prince was under arrest so the press identified the
dead man as General Demissov. The General having also come to life,
we investigated, and could find no trace of any body found whatever....
As we left the Duma building two boy scouts were distributing
hand-bills (See App. V, Sect. 2) to the enormous crowd which blocked
the Nevsky in front of the door-a crowd composed almost entirely of
business men, shop-keepers, _tchinouniki,_ clerks. One read!
FROM THE MUNICIPAL DUMA
The Municipal Duma in its meeting of October 26th, in view of the
events of the day decrees: To announce the inviolability of private
dwellings. Through the House Committees it calls upon the population
of the town of Petrograd to meet with decisive repulse all attempts
to enter by force private apartments, not stopping at the use of
arms, in the interests of the self-defence of citizens.
Up on the corner of the Liteiny, five or six Red Guards and a couple
of sailors had surrounded a news-dealer and were demanding that he
hand over his copies of the Menshevik _Rabot-chaya Gazeta_ (Workers'
Gazette).
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