in the month
of May, by the Tzar himself, who stopped in the second Russian capital
on his way to the Crimea. A retired Jewish soldier was courageous enough
to address a petition to the Tzar, imploring him in touching terms to
allow the former Jewish soldiers to remain in Moscow. The request of the
Jewish soldier met with a quick response: he was sent to jail and
subsequently evicted.

The establishment of the new regime in Moscow was followed, in
accordance with the provisions of the recent ukase, by the "gradual"
expulsion of the huge number of master workmen and artisans who had
enjoyed for many years the right of residence in that city and were now
suddenly deprived of this right by a despotic caprice. The local
authorities included among the victims of expulsion even the so-called
"circular Jews," i.e., those who had been allowed to remain in Moscow by
virtue of the ministerial circular of 1880, granting the right of
domicile to the Jews living there before that date. This vast host of
honest and hard-working men--artisans, tradesmen, clerks, teachers--were
ordered to leave Moscow in three installments: those having lived there
for not more than three years and those unmarried or childless were to
depart within three to six months; those having lived there for not more
than six years and having children or apprentices to the number of four
were allowed to postpone their departure for six to nine months; finally
the old Jewish settlers, who had big families and employed a large
number of workingmen, were given a reprieve from nine to twelve months.

It would almost seem as if the maximum and minimum dates within each
term were granted specifically for the purpose of yielding an enormous
income to the police, which, for a substantial consideration, could
postpone the expulsion of the victims for three months and thereby
enable them to wind up their affairs. At the expiration of the final
terms the unfortunate Jews were not allowed to remain in the city even
for one single day; those that stayed behind were ruthlessly evicted. An
eye-witness, in summing up the information at his disposal, the details
of which are even more heart-rending than the general facts, gives the
following description of the Moscow events:

People who have lived in Moscow for twenty, thirty, or even forty
years were forced to sell their property within a short time and
leave the city. Those who were too poor to comply with the orders of