The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-08-20

The nights were very cold, and we
had no blankets, so slept hardly any
for three nights. There were two
women and little boy in our car.
We made them as comfortable as pos
sible. which was not much, and the
rest of us lay curled up on the floor,
for there was no room to stretch out.
/ was half buried under Russian
boots and was glad took my over
coat.
We were under guard of "a Latvian
soldiers, and they had couple OF
prostitutes along with them and col
lection of booze. One soldier got
drunk, and instead of going to his
car decided to get into ours. He came
climbing in, throwing his gun around
recklessly and fell down in stupor'
One of his comrades came IN and
took away his cartridges, which made
him furious when he discovered 1t.
Shouting loud imprecations he fell
| headlong out of the door. We hoped
we had seen the last OF him, but
eventually he came back and stayed
| with us, snoring loudly through the
night.
Confiscate Goods at Border.
I had no trouble when my baggage
was examined, for l had nothing
worth stealing, but others did not
fare so well. New goods purchased
in Latvia are confiscated at the
border. That is bad enough, but the
law is made pretext by the officials
for stealing goods brought from the
limited States which have not been
registered.
| Upon entry into the country we
| were told that we could register our
property. 1t had nothing to DO with
customs, as the baggage was IN
transit. Consequently many lmmi-
Grants did not understand that the
registration was of much Importance
. I asked what the purpose Of it was
and understood the answer to be, I'm
case you lose anything"
| Now. later, at the Russian border,
the rascally Latvian officials asserted
the right to seize either goods OF
money that had not been registered
Of course, to search the clothing OF
more than 800 people, as well as theil
baggage, would have taken much time
\ 80. occasionally they made searches o.
the clothing of people whom they
suspected of having considerable
money.
Il We could not see what was going
/, on. for examination was made OF ont
car at a time, but soon we began u
q hear stories of losses of money. Thes'
4 stories varied so widely that l final.
o began to hope they were only rumors
;. but eventually I verified some o
O. them. We had train committee elect
. ed by the immigrants themselves. on
: ! of the committee assured me, whe'
N the examination was about hal
,f through, that the money losses up t
rs that time amounted to about SS,Oo'
IN Later / personally met one man VIII
% had lost $1,10O.
He was Abraham Shmitov, ms
chinist Of Cincinnati, travelling
Moghilev, Russia. He had his none
=, secreted in his underwear and shoe
- They took $3.50 and handed hi
T : back a little of it, saying they wou
:. take $1,000. When he counted wh'
~ ~ remained he found only $3.50, whit
= led to the discovery that one offici
= had secreted s1OO for his person
~ benefit.
au Propagandists Are Active.
yer This happened at Zilupe. The pla
'as was infested with international spi,
ad, Propagandists passed systematica'
res from car to car telling us horril
has tales Of what would happen to us
soviet Russia. Somebody pays the
hat people, and it is not Latvia.
me All Of this is what might be
'ed, pected from government which
18th 1919, as / was informed by Lett
rem comrade, arrested 20 Latvian boys
girls for belonging to a young p
ars Piles socialist society, executed ele'
h and sent fourteen to prison.
ats. The scenes along the route W
to very interesting. II was country t
rsts had been fought over at differ
wo- times from the first German adva
two to the defeat Of Yudenitch and
an supporters. The land was strewn v
rom barbed wire entanglements, some
was which were used for fences. Irene
and earthworks and buildings der