The Washington herald., 1919-05-18

To vladivostok. to stay with rel
atives"
The comissary then demanded my
baggage for a search. He found a
letter from the Moscow consul to his
Nladivostok colleague. explained
that the consul had supported me in
Moscow and now asked the English
representative at Vladivostok to help
me out also. The cOmmissary-told me
whisperingly that he was only full
filling orders. but did not sympathize
any longer with Lenine's regime. He
had left four soldiers outside of the
room in order to facilitate matters
for me. His eyes fell on a photograph
of mine in the trunk which showed
me in full uniform and was the last
copy in my possession. He asked for
it and my autograph. and to win his
favor | gave it to him without delay.
He then advised me to conceal the
letter from the consul. and / sent 1t
through Nadia to Ivanov. one of my
fellow travellers outside. One of these
was a member OF a provincial Soviet.
an eX-Bolshevik. He and other SOL
diers aided me while aboard the
train evade the Red Guards who
searched it daily, at various stations.
for officers going to join Gen. Seme-
nov More than once l was covered
under their overcoats in an emer-
gency. When the searchers asked:
Who's there?"
"a sick comrade," would be the an
swer. and the Red Guards passed on.
The commissary had orders to take
me to town and hold me. Conveyed
by the four guards, Nadia and 1 were
taken to the police station. 1 was
locked Up while the commissary went
to call a meeting of the local Soviet.
Nadia remained outside of the cell.
and l suddenly heard her cry for
help. Rushing to the door. l saw
through the key-hole that the Red
Guards were annoying her. l banged
at the door. shouting to the rascals
to leave her alone. appealing to their
sense of shame, but they jeered and
kept pestering her. My helpIessness
behind the locked door infuriated me.
don't like to think of what tn" raj
fans would have done to Mad II
not my friend Ivanov come
two other soldiers to plead
They found Nadia crying al &c
banging at the door in a Whit Iage.
told them of the behavior of the
four Red Guards toward my sister
and a sharp quarrel ensued. Pres
emily the chairman of the local So
Wet and a majority of its members
arrived. My case was taken up. 1t
appeared that orders had been re-
ceived from Moscow or Irkutsk to de-
tain me. As the search had netted
nothing discriminating against me. my
claim that 1 was going to Vladivo-
stok could not be refuted.
Ivanov and the two soldiers put up
n valiant defense. arguing that / was
n sick woman. that they had come
to know me during our companion
ship on the train as a real friend of
the people, and that it would be a
disgrace to arrest me and send me
back with no evidence against me.
II not for these three defenders, 1
would in all probability have been
despatched under convoy to Muscow
or Tutalsk. With their aid, l was
able to make such a favorabeI inn
preston on the Khabarovsk Soviey
that l was permitted to proceed to
Vladivostok. where 1 arrived early in
April, 1918. with five rubles and sew
enty kopecks in my purse.
The Soviet in Vladivostok kept a
very close watch over all arrivals and
departures. As soon as Nadia and 7
reached lodging house, our docu-
ments were demanded to be sent to
the Soviet for inspection. Nadia had
a regular passport. while I made use
of the paper from the Moscow SOL
diers' Section. 1t is usual for such
documents to be returned to their
owners with the stamp of the local
Soviet on their backs. But ours were
somehow slow in arriving-not a good
omen.
1 went to the English consul. and
was received in his Office by an ell
derly Russian colonel, who served
there in the capacity of secretariaI
interpreter. He recognized me at
once. as telesram/Trom Moscow an
nouncing my coming had preceded
me. The consul was very kind and
cordial when 1 was shown into his
study but declared that his position
was such that he could not take II
upon himself to obtain passport for
me from the Soviet. as he was sus-
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