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"An Oregon man finds himself the center of diplomatic storm today. Theodore Smith of Astoria is in jail in Riga, Russia for wearing a red necktie, an act which, according to the Russian authorities marks him as a sympathizer with the Latvian revolutionists who are trying to free themselves from Czarist rule and set up an independent state. It is interesting that in the same jail is an Estonian farmer who is held because he dared to read the Declaration of Independence to an assembly of peasants. In spite of strong protests on the floor of Duama, the Russian Parliament, the Czarist police are daily subjecting the prisoners to torture. Smith has been beaten 4 times and complains that the prison food is so vile he cannot eat it."
Oregonian
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