The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-09-19
DEFENDS WILD COSSACKS
RUSSIAN SOLDIER CLAIMS THEY
ARE KIND.
Says They are Subject to Regular Mill
tary Penal Code-Instances of their
Kindheartedness.

o e. Hagen, a former soldier of the
Russian army writes as follows in the
Chicago Record concerning the much
abused Cossacks
1t is regrettable that the American
newspapers have not a single word of
praise for the Cossack who is shedding
his blood for the rescue of Americans
as well as of the English but without
hesitation are ready to put him on the
same level with the Kurd, the Sioux
and the Apache. The purpose of these
lines is to protest vigorously against
false allegations and criminal lies con-
corning the conduct of the Russian
contingent in China. This contingent Is
not made up as a certain Chicago paper
asserts, "of the widest kind of Cos
sacks" simply because Russia has no
wild Cossacks." They are all tame
very tame indeed, being husbandmen,
who in times of peace are filling their
soil and caring for their families just
as every good American does. They
are a sort of militiamen, living peace
fully on their settlements, scattered all
over the empire, and rallying around
their cOlOrs only when called to arms.
They are all the same kind of Cossacks
who during the Russian-TurkiSh war of
1877 won the admiration of the foreign
representatives, not only for their brave
ness but also for their kindheartedness
toward children. 1t is nothing new that
those Cossacks after the occupation of
a place by the Russian army, have
cared for the enemy's children who
were left by their parents; it is an es-
tablished fact that those same Cos
sacks, when returning home from the
war, had with them poor Turkish
children whose parents got lost or killed
and whom the respective regiments af-
terward adopted and got educated at
their expense.
Once with the colors, any section of
the Cossack organization becomes
part of the regular Russian army, and
therefore detached and half-irrespOn-
sible bodies like those of the KuTds in
Turkey" are simply impossible. They
are subject to the same rigorous army
discipline as any other body of the Rus
sian army, and the same military penal
code Furnishes the illdOings of the Cos
sack as well as of the other soldiers A
glance at this code will show us that
any offense against unarmed persons
in the enemy's country is considered a
serious crime, for which not only the
offender but his next commissioned OFF,
Ger is likewise responsible. Bearing this
in mind and the prOVerbial blind obe
dienCe of the Russian soldier to orders
from his officer how then in all the
world could the Russian army commit
the alleged wholesale butcheries of
children and women without finding a
single soul ready to report this to the
commanding Russian officer?
The newspaper referred to main
tains that such a state of affairs might
easily become a serious source of weak
ness in the allied army" and this is
| true. But this same assertion proves
readily that the accusations are inVen-
tions, since the allied forces show no
sign of weakness, but are victorious
wherever they appear, and that the
Russian Apaches, instead of spending
their time numbering children and wo-
men, must be unquestonably with
them in the thick of the fight, too, as
their heavy loss show, which could not
be sustained behind the firing line.