Russians Chose Jailing in '17 War-Religion IssueGlendale News, February 8, 1962 |
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| Of the 170 families of
Russians who colonized
west of Glendale in the early century, only a few
remain—the Tolmachoffs, Treguboffs, Conovaloffs,
Popoffs, Gozdiffs,
Konnoffs, Kulikoffs, Papins, Prohoroffs, Teckenoffs,
Uraines, Veronins, and Volkoffs. What happened to disperse most of the colony which had begun so auspiciously on a summer day in 1911? It appears from the columns of the News that two events occurring within a three-year period led to the departure of hundreds of the group around 1920. FIRST BLOW to the Russians was the imprisonment in August 1917 of 35 [actually 34] of their young men who had refused to register for the selective draft law. Leaders of the Prygun Molokan sect to which the colonists belong told Governor Campbell at hearing June 7, 1917, as in the News, that their religion forbade their "subscribing their names to anything that pertained to war any manner whatsoever, even refusing to claim exemption, as the registration provides." The penalty for failing to register was impressed on the Pryguny Molokans, but they could not be swayed. Even a meeting with Assistant U.S. Attorney J.H. Langston in Glendale "in a last effort to induce them to register" failed, and Langston was instructed by Washington to "cause their arrest and punishment according to law." |
THE NEWS recorded that
on June 15 those who had refused to register for the
draft were give a hearing before U.S. Attorney Flynn and
their bonds set at $100. Bonds were arranged by members
of the colony and the young men released pending their
trial.
They were sentenced in August to a year in the Yavapai county jail at Prescott. "In passing sentence," the News related, "Judge', Sawtelle intimated that if the men showed themselves well behaved for a period of two months he would then consider the question of paroling them. Even if the law allowing the drafting of aliens of friendly powers should pass, the Pryguny Molokans would not be called, for the draft law expressly exempts people of an established religious faith who are avowedly opposed to war by religious principle." These young men apparently spent almost a year in jail because the Pryguny Molokans could not be convinced that their signatures on exemption requests would not result in their being drafted into service at a later date. AFTER THE SENTENCING, the News related: "Many heartbreaking scenes were enacted at the Santa Fe station in Phoenix while the men were making preparations for their departure . . . Even to the last the prisoners persisted in singing their native songs much as if they were sacrificing themselves to their religious convictions." Hundreds of Russian settlers accompanied the young men to the station. A crowd of 28 of the Pryguny Molokan were placed in the county jail on a charge of inciting a riot after they had caused a disturbance near the courthouse, the News said. |
On the return of the
prisoners to Glendale 10 months later the News said: "As
the evening advanced, families, friends and relatives of
the imprisoned men flocked into town . . . By train time
it was estimated that every Russian in the valley was at
the station.
"REALIZING the general feeling of the townspeople toward the Pryguny Molokans and fearing that a demonstration on the part of the Russians might cause a riot … local authorities warned the crowd that no demonstration would be tolerated." When the train arrived the Prygun presbyter [a lay, unpaid, self-trained minister] Molokan priest spoke to the men as they alighted. Greetings were subdued, and the whole group quietly turned to their wagons and cars and in a few minutes were on their way to the four adjacent Russian settlements, where a a celebration was held "It is stated," said the News, "that all of the men have registered under the selective service draft since being released from prison. THE INCIDENT closed, the Russians kept to themselves and the News pleaded for tolerance in an editorial "Deliver Us from Hate." In 1920 when times were hard, the cost of living high, and prices paid to vegetable farmers low, the exodus from Glendale began. Falling apart of the beet sugar industry in Glendale added to their woes, for many had been employed in the beet fields. Most of the group went to California to live in the city, and some become truck gardeners. The families that remained here grew, and today their children and grandchildren raise vegetables, cotton, grain and cattle on the same ground west of town. |
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