page_title: Garšviai Book Smuggling Society
section_title: First police investigations
hierarchical_section_title: Garšviai Book Smuggling Society / Legal troubles / First police investigations
caption_attribution_description: Lietuvių: Knygnešių muziejus, Ustronė, Panevėžio raj.
context_page_description: The Garšviai Book Smuggling Society was an illegal society of Lithuanian book smugglers during the Lithuanian press ban enacted in 1864. It was one of the oldest book smuggler societies. Active from around 1883 to 1895, it was also one of the longest operating societies. It was based in at the home of Kazys Ūdra in the Garšviai village near Naujamiestis, Panevėžys. Led by Ūdra and Jurgis Bielinis, the society organized a network of trusted associates who would purchase the publications in East Prussia, smuggle them across the Prussia–Russia border, and distribute them in central Lithuania. In total, historian Antanas Tyla registered 54 people as members or collaborators. The society smuggled both books and periodicals, delivering them to subscribers, though they were particularly dangerous – they needed to be smuggled frequently and they were deemed to be anti-Tsarist political texts bringing much stricter sentences than smuggling of "innocent" texts with religious prayers or agricultural advice. For almost a decade, the society avoided more serious legal troubles.
context_section_description: For almost a decade, the society had no serious trouble with the police. Just Bielinis was caught and beaten by Prussian boarder patrols around 1891. Local police constable in Naujamiestis turned a blind eye to the book smuggling activities.
  On 16 February [O.S. 4 February] 1894, Bielinis, Bružas, and Ūdra transported two cartloads worth of Lithuanian publications. Near Raseiniai, about 55 kilometres (34 mi) from the border, they were stopped by a constable. They lost three horses, two carts, and more than 4,000 Lithuanian publications. According to the official report by the constable, he stopped the carts randomly and the three men ran away before he could clearly see their faces. According to an account published by the Vienybė lietuvninkų, the constable was alerted by a local noble. Bružas escaped, while Bielinis and Ūdra bribed the constable 70 rubles to let them go. A similar report was published in Žemaičių ir Lietuvos apžvalga – these reports were too open and obvious making it more difficult for book smugglers to bribe policemen in the future and helping the police to identify the three men in 1895. The police investigate the newspaper reports of a bribe and concluded that it was nothing more than a smear and revenge campaign against the constable.
  On 26 April [O.S. 14 April] 1894, Nikodemas Škutas, a neighbor of Ūdra, accidentally found two bundles of Lithuanian publications. A veteran of the Imperial Russian Army, Škutas disapproved anti-government publications and, despite various pleas and threats, turned in the bundles to the police. The police investigated the incident and questioned Ūdra and Lalukas, but did not search Ūdra's house. The police learned about Bielinis, who could no longer live with Ūdra, but could not determine his last name. Six days after the bundles were turned in, the police intercepted a letter addressed to Ūdra in which he was asked to deliver eight issues of Varpas and Lithuanian books. On 18 July, six policemen searched Ūdra's home. Ūdra was not home at the time, but the police caught Vincas Kazanauskas who had a bag of 30 books and 34 periodicals. The search turned up 54 issues of Vienybė lietuvninkų, 407 issues of Žemaičių ir Lietuvos apžvalga, two letters by Ūdra's brother from United States in which he discussed the book smuggling, an illegal lottery ticket for an alarm clock, and other miscellaneous items. The next day, the police questioned eleven men of the Garšviai village, but they defended Ūdra and claimed they knew nothing about any book smuggling ring. Kazanauskas, while chatting to his guard, admitted to book smuggling and about the existence of the Garšviai Book Smuggling Society. The case was transferred to the police district chief (ispravnic) in Panevėžys, but it (perhaps due to a bribe) lingered without further action for about a year. It was resumed only after Ūdra's arrest in June 1895.
caption: Former granary in Ustronė used as a hiding spot by the Garšviai Society, now a museum dedicated to Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas and book smugglers
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