The Washington herald., 1919-05-18
'roletariat Satisfied that
She Alone in Russia
Could Be Trusted, For
mer Death Battalion
Leader Journeys Despite
Lenine and Red Guards.

from Russia and those that remain
do not listen to the voice Of the
masses. but to the representatives Of
Lenine and Trotzky. At Moscow
saw an official OF the Soviet escort
an Englishman to a train was
hungry. There were hundreds Of SOL
diers like me at the station Our
hearts were aching. We wanted to
give him a message, but he did not
even turn to U.S. Instead. he pressed
heartily the hand of the Soviet OH
cial"
What If We should appeal to the
allies, to America. England and
France to furnish us bread. arms and
money for the reconstruction Of the
front?' l resumed.
How can we trust them?" I was
interrupted again. They will come
here and work together with Lenine
and his band of bloodsuckers."
Why not get together and a elect
a Constituent Assembly, and let your
own leaders cooperate with the al
Hes?f | suggested.
But whom could we choose?"
That we would decide later. There
are plenty of good men still left in
Russia" 1 answered. But what IL l.
for instance. should want to do some
thing, would you trust me?"
Yes. yes. We know you! You
are of the people," hundreds OF
thrOats cried.
Well. let me tell you then. I am
cOing to America and England. II
should get through and come back
with an allied force, would you come
To aid me in saving Russia?'
Yes, We will. Yes. yes! the
crowd roared.
With this the meeting ended. The
train was made up and we hurried
toward it, singing on the way
felt happy and hopeful Several thou
sand soldiers were not to be disre-
garded They were almost unani-
nous in their new view of the coun-
tvs condition. With my observa-
tions in Moscow and on the way to
Petrograd this meeting added en-
thusiasm to my hopes for Russias
salvation 1t was obviously country
wide phenomenon. this awakening OF
the soldicry.
Nv mother had received Petrukhin
letter and for six weeks had mourn
ed me as dead. She was overwhelm-
cd with JOY upon my return. but be-
came a little uneasy as she perceived
n long line of girls. many of them al
most barefoot. file behind me into
and asked what it meant, confiding
that she had only fifty rubles left -oi
the money I had given her before L
begged her TO be patient and assured
her that / would arrange matters
promptly. ! Immediately went to the
owner of the cabin and several other
leading peasants of the community,
cot them together. explained to them
the situation. informed them that
had only one thousand rubles to spend
toward the support of the girls. and
asked if they would undertake to
feed aud house them on credit till
NY return from America.
Il swear that l will pay every ko-
reck due to you. l will get enough
money to pay not only the debts but
to insure for them sustenance and
shelter TO the end of their lives. Now
] want you to keep a record of all
your expenses Will you trust me-?
Yes" replied the peasants. we
know that you have done great
deal for Russia, and we have conf
deuCe i'll you
This was the arrangement under
which the thirty invalids of my Bat
TALON of Death were left by me in
the village of Tutalsk in March. 1918.
The eco rIIbles / gave to my mother
with instructions to buy shoes for the
neediest of the girls OF the 800 ru-
lies given to me by the consul. / left
SO to my mother. / decided to take
NV Youngest sister. Nadia. along with
me to America Accompanied to the
station by my parents. the thirty
E!rls nd half the community. l start
"a oil gtward. for Irkutsk and Vladi-
= got-gE, dressed once more as a wo-
ulIl-
Al he station at Irkutsk I noticed
= -oi.nE girl with two tiny children
IN ser arms Somehow her face look
sd familiar to me. but l could not
place her. She was evidently in trou-
he. poor and ragged. For a while she
stared at me. Then she ran up and
cried out breathlessly:
Nj MA"
she was the younger daughter of
tho woman Kitova who accompanied
her husband. who had killed the dog
catcher. into exile when l went there
with Tasha. Then she was not more
tnan eleven or twelve years old. Now
she vas the mother Of two children
FOR three days. she told me, her
mother and herself lived on the floor
sf the station. They had only seventy
kopecks left in their possession With
this money the mother had gone to
the town to find a lodging. More
than three months they had been
travelling from Yakutsk. where this
girl had been married to political.
All the money in my purse was 300
rubles. I gave forty and then an
other twenty to the poor girl.
While / was cuddling one of the
two babies, commissary approached
me.
Are you Botchkareva?'' he asked.
Yes I answered
He wanted to detain me. but sew
eraI soldiers who had Travelled on the
same train with me hurried to my
defense. There was a hot argument.
] drew out my pass from the Soviet
and claimed the freedom to go wher-
ever 1 pleased. / was finally left
alone.
waited for the return of the old
Kitova to the last minute desiring TO
see her and especially to learn about
Yasha and other friends In North ST.
IBERIA. Her daughter could only tell
me that Yasha had married, after the
native fashion. a Yakut woman and
was still in Amiga when she last
heard
We resumed the journey eastward.
At Khabarovsk. 100 versts from Vlad-
ivostok. We changed trains and had
to accommodate ourselves for the
night ut the station in the women's
!, rest room. When I was about to turn
Tin. the door opened and a voice be-
hind me called out sharply.
commander Botchkareya