Warsaw In Danger of Russ Capture

1920

Red Advance Takes Fortress; Americans Prepare to Flee From Capital.

BERLIN, Germany. — The fortress of Brest-Litovsk, the stronghold 110 miles east of Warsaw on the boundary line of Poland proper, is reported to have been captured by the Russians.

Nothing has been heard from the Polish armistice negotiators since they were swallowed up in the darkness within the Soviet Russian lines on their way to meet the Bolshevist armistice envoys.

The Polish emissaries have been instructed not to concede any point that might endanger Poland's independence. It had been intimated in various quarters that the Bolshevists would insist upon a Soviet government in Poland before granting an armistice.

The delegates likewise are ordered to hold out against disarmament of Poland and are instructed not to concede any frontier lines.

Bolshevist cavalry pursued the 2,000 Polish soldiers, who, with forty officers, crossed the German frontier in East Prussia Saturday, according to advices received here. The Russians threatened to follow the Poles across the national boundary, but refrained when German authorities disarmed the fugitives.

A Cracow dispatch say a Soviet republic has been proclaimed in Kovno and that Lithuanian troops have mutinied, being supported by the Soviet troops there.

A large number of ships are arriving at Danzig daily from French and British ports with munitions which are being rushed to the Polish front, according to word received here.

Bolshevist forces which have been concentrated on the banks of the Narew River, with the apparent object of driving to Warsaw along the Bug River, have delivered a series of strong attacks. The statement adds that the Poles have repulsed the Bolshevists with heavy loss in the sector near Topieloe, the Russians abandoning eleven machine guns and leaving 500 dead.

A desperate struggle is going on west of Bialystok, on the Brest-Litovsk railroad, for possession of the line running thru Topczeja and Dubina and along the rivers Nurets and Zerzyce.

The fighting in the Brody region is reported by the statement as favorable to the Poles.

Many Americans in Warsaw have already shipped their baggage and household goods to Danzig, Posen or Prague in anticipation of an attack by the Russian Bolshevists. Many woman workers with American organizations in Warsaw, as well as the wives of American officials, have left.

It is believed that negotiations between the Polish and Bolshevist armistice commissions may be continued for two or three days, or even longer, and in this event the Soviet advance either from the northeast of the east, if maintained, would bring the Bolshevists dangerously near Warsaw. On the other hand, some military observers contend the Soviet forces will be forced to stop within a day or two by exhaustion and lack of communication or a desire not to invade Poland farther.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Cossacks Are Remorseless Soldiers

1901

The Russian authorities have always been aware of the usefulness of their Cossack soldiery in quelling outbreaks even in European Russia. Forty years ago these wild soldiers of the steppes were sent to quell the insurrection in Poland. The horrible butchery which has ensued in Warsaw and other Polish towns forms one of the blackest pages in the history of Russia. Only 18 months ago the Cossacks were let loose in the streets of St. Petersburg to restore order among the disaffected students of the university. Riding straight into the bands of students the Cossacks lashed right and left with their long cruel reins loaded with lead, and the students were literally driven into submission. — Paris Messenger.

Penny Weddings

1900

The Scotland penny weddings were so called, although the guests contributed shillings and occasionally half crowns, toward the wedding feast.

The penny wedding of Germany is on a different basis. The bride receives her guests with a basin before her, in which everybody deposits a jewel, a silver spoon or piece of money. In some parts of Germany the expense of a marriage is met by each guest paying for what he eats and drinks, and, moreover, at a very high rate, so that the young couple obtain a sum sufficient to start them nicely in life. As many as 300 guests often assemble.

In Poland a girl is not eligible for marriage until she has not only made her own trousseau, but the garments for the friends that will accompany the bridegroom to the altar.

The Polka Dot

1919

Because in 1835 a Bohemian peasant girl danced a new step in a little village near the Polish border a Hungarian dancing master introduced it in Europe under the name of Polka, which is the feminine of Polak or Pole. By 1844, at the time James K. Polk was running for the presidency, the dance had spread to America and the name "Polk" and the word "Polka" formed a coincidence at once appealing to everyone. The manufacturers, merchants and designers immediately presented Polka hats, Polka shoes, Polka gauze and the "newest design in fabrics for gentlewomen."


Pretty Smart Chickens

A recent morning a Missouri farmer placed three crates of chickens and five bushels of potatoes in his trailer, hitched the trailer to his automobile and started for town. He was almost there when he discovered he had no trailer. He found he had parted company with it a quarter of a mile from home, and when he got back to it the crates were empty and the potatoes frozen.

He presumed, of course, the chickens had been stolen, and was greatly surprised when he went to the henhouse early next day after breakfast to find every one of the chickens there. Not one was missing. They had all returned home, but how they got out of the crates probably will always remain a mystery.