Evening star., 1921-04-24

were passing like bats out of cav
| Suddenly a Russian courier rode u
| and told US to jump on any of tn
| passing Slcghs. They were alread
overloaded. but I managed to get
seat on camel hump % saddler.
and was very glad to ride.
! Twenty of US managed to keep pret
| ty much together. 1t was very col;
and very dark and the roads wer.
atrocious. Frequently we wer.
thrown off and narrowly escaped tn
horses feet.
When ones feet became very col
| one could run beside the sleigh for
mile or two. We began to wonde
how far we might go that night, wha
we might eat and where we nigh
| sleep. ! thought how nice it wouit
be If could find stable and lie dow
in the straw beside the horses.
Z At Taiga We again entrained ant
slowly proceeded. The progress, a:
| the days passed must have been NOR.
encouraging for the reds than for us
| We later discovered that the boil
| shevists already had their agents ir
white" territory and that we. haC
! been the unconscious victims of theiI
i designs.
Before Atchinsk was reached there
| were countless heart-breakinS miles
| OF stagnation. and after a two-day
| wait we found that there had been
! most disastrous explosion. A dyna-
mite train, standing in the station
i had been rather indiscreet and. as a
result. fifteen or twenty cars in the
! center of each Of some twelve refugee
trains standing on parallel tracks had
been destroyed. The wreckage caught
fire and this mercifully made the best
of a bad job. In ordinary times it
would probably rank as one of the
worlds great disasters. Here. how
ever. it was only another unfortunate
| episode in an already annoying situ-
| alton.
When We arrived the dead were
piled up like cordwood. There were
| hundreds Of them. but they were
! luckier than the injured who stiIl
| lived and who could not possibly re-
| ceive medical attentiA.
| But all well ordered cyclones must
| have their moment of calm before
| the climax.
On an ascending plateau to our left.
Verst or so away, one could see the
| same interminable stream of trans
port en- route to krasnoyarsk.
X x X
CUDDENLY a mounted courier rode
to the head Of the column, which
! gradually wavered in a panic of inde-
cision and slowly came to rest as the
courier rode down the lines. Soon two
lines commenced to form and moved
on in opposite directions. Then the
climax came
We watched it all from our coupe
windows and wondered what it might
| be. We wondered then we had
tea while waiting for the semaphore,
momeht. ~ any
! The forward locomotive whistled, the
| second answered. but we did not start.
A sergeant With banjo was singing
! Take Me Back to Dear Old Blghty -
Through the windows on our right the
same stream of transport that had be-
; come so familiar through so many weeks
! stretched into the distance.
! Suddenly some one remarked. "A Rus
sian officer has just thrown his sword
| over the bank" Several more followed
his example. Perhaps they had decided
| to enter Krasnoyarsk unarmed.
On going to the door of the carriage
/ We were surprised to see, about fifty
yards ahead, a horseman with a revol-
TO the turn of the road. A steadily
! increasing pile Of rifles. bayonets.
| swords, revolvers and other equipment
lay on the snow.
To prevent the intrusion of curious
| individuals. guard had been placed
on the vestbule door. But Russian
,, soldier obtained admittance and we
could hardly fail to notice that his tunic
| was festooned with great rosettes of red
| ribbon. The Red" soldier announced,
We have arrived some one replied,
How nicer Even then it required
several seconds to absorb the fact that
| we had been captured by soldiers of
the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet
| Republic There began my personal con-
tact with bolshevism, upon which my
| opinions are based.
AS the ruin of Russia proceeds pea ce
I I.enin and his lieutenants sit in the
Kremlin and dream their poppy -colorcd
dreams of Paradise. 1t is only de-
tail in their general scheme that mil
] lions Of their fellow countrymen perish
from cold, hunger and disease just to
| feed the fanaticism of these lotus-eat-
| ing lunatics. -
X X X
ND what about the realities of
1 Russia while these superczars bask
In the aura of their own cgotism?
should like to convey the impression
| that bolshevism is not a success. 1t is
destructive and not creative. Instead
Of a land flowing with milk and honey.
1 thsra ia only wilderness of wornfWoDd