The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1915-03-25
DARING COSSACKS
Russian Rough Riders an Old and
Famous Body.
ONCE KNIGHTS OF FREEDOM.

In Former Times They Were Known
Entirely as Defenders of the Poor and
the Oppressed-Deadly as Marksmen
and Experts With the Sword.
The popular conception of the Rus
sian Cossack is whiskered atrocity
who rides with the speed of the wind,
comes to do acts of pillage and of ra-
pine and then goes back again into the
bosom of the tall grass from which he
came. By many he is supposed to be-
long to legendary tribe whose history
stretches back into the blackness or
the dark ages from which he has not
yet emerged.
No; the Cossack is in many respects
like the simple Russian peasant In
others he is like the cowboy OF the
western plains. whose home is as much
in the saddle as in his own village.
Far from being oppressors, the Cos
sacks were once known entirely as the
defenders of the poor and the wrong
ed. They belonged to an order OF rus
tic chivalry. the Kazachestvo. the
Knights of Freedom.
The name KAYAK is of Tartar origin
and means Freeman" 1t was applied
to men driven from the more settled
countries and who under the blue SKY
rode without the trammel of tradition,
without the interference of kings, POI
tentates and powers. There was time
when mobiles laid heavy hand upon the
subject and human life was held In
small account
The thirteenth and the fourteenth
centuries saw the Cossacks developed
into communities living In the neigh
borhood of the river Dnieper and rid
ing hither and thither to keep watch
and ward over the domain OF the en-
peror.
The cowboy guards Of the great
southwest In this country, who are
now disappearing from our American
life, are Cossacks in spirit When they
become cavalrymen, Texas Rangers or
rough riders they are American Cos
sacks.
There were some criminals among
the Cossacks. but once they had en-
rolled In the Cossack legions they left
behind them all their past. Some were
exiles for political reasons. others had
been hunted for taking into their own
hands the avenging Of wrongs. And
what avails a name after all? When
the officers of the state came inquiring
into the Cossack encampments for De-
metri this and Ivan that nothing was
known of them at all, for the Cossacks
permitted men to divest themselves OF
| former titles and to begin the free life
with a new nomenclature. To them
the newcomer were big Nose" 'Yel-
low Buttons" or some other nicknamed
comrade.
While other persons paid taxes the
Cossack was subject to no such incon-
i venient levy. His share was paid by
. the power of his sword and his pistols.
he insisted always that he was not to
be assessed. but that he should give
his military service when Russia re-
quired it of him.
When the Cossack communities were
first formed they were inhabited only
by men. The Kazachestvo took vows
!. of celibacy. 1t was an order that lived
like anchorites and fought like demons,
AS the ages have passed there have
been many changes. The Cossacks
have families and their own home life
At first, however, young and daring
J, youths were sent out to ride with the
Cossacks, and there was no system OF
n chivalry more punctilious than was this
: government of the men of the steppes.
d Ofenses that involved violation OF
y their vows or the i'll treatment OF the
! weak and the oppressed were punished
with death. The sentences were quick
lly imposed and speedily executed
Cowboy justice and Cossack rule are
l. the same in principle
e The dress of the Cossack has become
s more or less conventional as the years
a have gone We see him in the long
e coat of brown or of green. with the
h great lambskin cap on his head. with
= strong belts containing cartridges about
his waist. He shows the influence OF
military training. The Cossack OF to
day is q model of elegance compared
with what he used to be- He seized
garments covered with gold lace, coats
!. of silks and sable and smeared them
with mire and tallow to- show his su
preme disregard for fine trappings- I'D
wore coarse garb. but In the care o.
!. his weapons the Cossack has Away!
i been punctilious.
His Workmanship was deadly ant
:. accurate. even when riding at full
speed, as that Of the cowboys OF tn
a western United States. The Cossack
q have been expert swordsmen for cen
turtles. Their proficiency in arms CAM
from their environment The steppe
in which they sought their livelihoo'
were covered with grass often so higl
only the head and shoulders of the rid
ers appeared above the top Of 1T. Gam
was abundant in those thick tangles
!, fruit could be obtained easily: the rfy
ers teemed with fish. The wants o
!, the Cossacks were few and simple
4 They could do with much or little. !
H. 81