A WOMAN AMONG THE BOLSHEVIKS

Evening Star, Issue 17037, 7 May 1919, Page 2

A WOMAN AMONG THE BOLSHEVIKS

Peculiar interest attaches to the story of a woman, who has escaped from the clutches of the Petvograd'Bolsheviks. One icadily forms an idea of the dangers men run in the Russian capital, but what of the women? Not much has been told, yet, from their side. This is-tho story of Mrs Victor Ma.vsdcn, wife of tho Petrograd correspondent of the ' Morning Post,' of London. Her husband was seized, with the other British residents of Petrograd, and thrown into the fortress prison of SS. Peter and Paul, and she was left to cope alone with tho Bolsheviks with the effort to secure his release. After many visits to the Prefecture she finally in seeing one of the people's commissaries, and this is her story of her visit: ''These rude fellows, working at tables in a huge room, which was in tho usual filthy state, and had numbers of empty packing-cases lying about for seats, at last, after mocking me and amusing themselves with insolent remarks for some time, saw that this time 1 meant to soe somebody. They began discussing the possibility of summoning a certain; com misery named Mazurin, but one said he had friends to tea, and they dared not disturb him. At this moment tho great doors opened, end in came an ordinary moujik'with a ,faituously consequential air, accompanied by half a, dozen armed Red Guards, who dispersed themselves about tho room. The clerks hurriedly scattered to their tables and began working, but one whispered: ' There he is/ " I wont up to this,, moujik, who, with an attempt at polite behaviour, asked in© to .sit down on "one of the dirty packing cases and himself took another. I asked: 'Are vou the commissary dealing with the incareeawoed English':' 'Weil. I am one of tho commissaries here, a-nd we are, all equally concerned in tho matter."' THE BOLSHEVIK WAY. Mrs Mare-den told .her story, and insisted on the release of her husband. She continues:—■ " Ho listened, as I thought, quite sympathetically, then reflected profoundly for a Jew moments and. said : ' It can be done. Oh, yes, 1 oan send him home to you tomorrow. I will, tell you what we will do. You tome and have snipper with me at, well, the Bear, to-night—Petrograd's most famous restaurant—then wo will have, a little drive and spend a happy night, and to morrow your husband will be at home again.' I looked him over, you can imagine how, and said very quietly: ' I am sonry for having taken up .jo much of your valuable time,' and walked out. As 1' went, down the long room he guffawed and repeated several times: 'Aha! You don't like the idea, do you?' and tho rest of these rascals joined in the laughter." Tho next moaning, on returning from a visit to the Dutch Legation, Mrs Marsden found Mazuirin waiting at her door. " He tried hard this tiime to behave well, and he was no fool. But he* would not go aiwav, and at last said : ' I see you arc* still afraid of mo. You are afraid* aren't you?' I replied: 'Afraid of yon?' with particular stress on ' you,' and immediately used my latchkey and showed him in. I took him into the drawing room, and he removed his hat before entering the room, where his oyes roved carefully over every item. He sat down in his coat, opening it to make a display, and showing three huge diamond studs, a, big diamond ring >u his finger, and a massive watchchain studded with diamonds in every link." I Among other things Mrs Marsden com- | plained, that their apartment had been ' searched and all her husband's papers taken. Mazurin replied: "' Oh, you iKed not worry about that. They will never be read. Wo have rooms ; and'rooms crammed full of papers at the j Prefecture. All the Jews who spoke several languages that used to deal with these things went away long ago Wo have not a. man there now who could do anything with them.' This day M"izuiin —he never admitted this to be his name, but was very anxious to know how I learned 'it, and never denied it—was dressed in a suit of fine new clothes, with all his diamonds in view, and his manners were obviously an attempt to live up to his exterior." A RICH MAN FOR LIFE. Mazrain did not return for some time, but telephoned occasionally. There, came

a Saturday when there was a ring at tho door bell in the afternoon, and on going to the door Mrs Ma-radon found Mazurin there. He said* "'I am going away abroad, and have j come to say good-bye and give you news of your husband.' "'She took him into the drawing Toom, and the following conversation, followed: "'I am going across the frontier ..tonight, and if your husband were out I could take you' too; but I suppose you will not go without him.' "' Hardly.' "' Well, then, I have some news for you. Titere will bo an important meeting at 6 o'clock this evening to make the final decision about the fate of the English in Ss. Peter and Paul —I and 16 others of us .commissaries and two commissaries who have arrived specially from Moscow.' "' Pleaso telephone me the result of the j meeting' before you go.' i "'Telephone! Why, it is only a couple j of minutes in my car from the Prefecture. S I will run ax>und with pleasure and tell you all about it. But you needn't worry. Some of them are sure to be shot, but hardly your husband.' " ' So you are going abroad?' " ' Yes ; I've had enough. The game is up. I have got all I could get out ot it, and alia 11 be in Stockholm in a week, a rich man for life. I will show you to-night.'" The commissary went away, but about 10 o'clock that night there was a ring at the back door. Mrs Marsden went' to the door, and Mazuriu burst in, intoxicated. Mivs Marsden tried to escape through the dming room, but tho Russian followed hev and prevented her getting away. She , '" Mazurin began: 'We'll, here I am. j You see, I don't forget ray promise, and I I've brought you news, good news. We've : had our meeting, and it has been derided, j The Consul, Vice-consul, and M'Alpir.e are ! to be shot, the old men are to be released, and all the rest are to be handed over as prisoners of war to the, Germans.' "' You dare to do that !' I replied. ' Well, I have always said you Bolsheviks were in the pockets of the Germans.' At this Mazurin fell into an awful rage, dragged out a big revolver, and presented ; •it in my face, his hand wavering un- ', steadily and his lingers on the trigger, \ while he shouted a thousand, times: ' J-fow dare you? What daring ' You dare to say this to me! How dare you 1 I'll shoot you dead on the spot!' and so forth. j ''My dog sat calmly looking on, as if he ; knew "that, all would end well, and the \ brute's calmness seemed to support me. j Once or twice his revolver muzzle grazed j my nose. I tried not to flinch. He only j shouted and waved the revolver* in my I face, and as he did not touch me the dog j remained watching. I stood it for some j timo with quaking knees, and keeping hold j of a tobacco jar to strike the moment he { turned aside. But he went on shouting, | and his great voice rolled through the house. " At last I gently pushed aside his revolver arm, and said, as quietly as I ! could : ' Stand off. You may belong to the ! Bolsheviks, hut I do not believe you shoot ■ women and children.' He dropped his arm j and burst into a lit of laughter. 'Ho! ho! j Ha ! ha ! We Bolsheviks don't shoot women f and children, don't we? That's a good ] one. So you think we dare not shoot i women and children? W 7 ell, well! We | will let you know about us.' My remark j seemed to have struck his risible faculties, ; and ho continued for, I suppose, 10 j minutes, still swinging his loaded revolver I about, but no longer pointing it at me. ! He walked about the room, laughing and repeating: ' A lot she knows about it! Don't shoot women and children! Ho. ho! Ha! ha!' " How long this drunken soliloquy, with occasional direct references to me, lasted I do not know, but finally he stopped on the other side of the dining table, put down his revolver, and began to unload his pockets. He had dozens of sandwiches of tine white bread spread heaviiy with butter, and held slices of every finest delicacy of the Russian table, such as we had not seen for years. He spread these things about in their sevei'al papers on our bare dining table, and said: 'Well, you're a brave ono. Come and have some supper. Sit down. You see I've brought you lots of nice things. We had a little spread after the meeting. Sit down. Eh, but you've some daring to say such a thing to my t'ace.' And his hand moved again toward the revolver lying on the table, but with a laugh he repeated tho women and

children joke, and took up a sandwich, rose, and, coming round to where I still stood, pushed it toward me much as he had pointed the revolver, and tried to per- { suade me to eat. OFF WITH THE SWAG. "I said: 'Don't forget yourself. I shall not eat with you.' ' Well,' he urged, 'sit down and be companionable.' "'No,' was the reply, 'I shall not sit j down with you, and don't you forget yourself, please.' "The ton© and wo»ds seemed to act on this moujik, and he wandered about the room or sat dowr, for a few moments, taking up one sandwich after another. He just took one bite of each and handed the rest to the dog, who hugely enjoyed this development, for the poor brute was as famished as we all are nowadays. When all the sandwiches were gone he staggered j | off down the corridor, and I thought and i j prayed he was going. By this time I dared | not stir for fear I should fail fainting on i the spot. Icy cold had seized my limbs, and was creeping slowly upward.' "I stood where I was, turned to ice, and waited, hoping to hear the back door bang after him. Instead, back along the corridor he came, dragging his coat by one arm along the floor. He took out a pocket bottle of vodka, half consumed, and Slipping the cork out, said: ' Give me a glass and you will have a little taste. This is i tile real stuff.' 'I have no glass for you,' j said I, though he couid well have 'seen i glasses in dozens behind my head. ' All } right, then, it's no odds,' and with that j lie tilted the bottle in moujik fashion and [ emptied it at one long draught, This j | changed his mood, and he became boastful ■ and self-congratulatory. j J "'l'm off to-night,'" he declared. 'l've! \ had enough of it, and got all I want. The i , game is up, and it's time to be off. Come [ | along with me. I will take you safelv I I across the frontier to-night. Look here/ I And Mazurin brought from an inner pocket i with extravagant care a beautiful, massive ! ;:old box, long and narrow, but deep, »»r- j haps an old snuff bos, and opened it. The ! box was filled with precious stain's, loose, j mostly diamonds; but as ho tenderlv | raked his finger through the jewels I could i j see rubies and sapphires among the din- i [ monds. ' There's my capital.' he said, | ' and you, see I'm a rich man aiter all. i Lookat them. Worth millions. Thev are ' all picked stones, and i m i v nth them | to-night abroad.' This thought t,ittl| j dozens of times, appea to In c u B c ttd | to him at last that it vi is lmt to l o ;mg. ( ~ I I ''' Well, I must get i\\a\ he con m ma ' | ' r ,„'' con)e aiK - see n- c x U tat j you'li see me downstair (he ir,_ u it I about this lasted a long time I it.peilu!i j refusing and he obstin; teh r emi <i n„ I I should do him honor L\ stcm_ him | I downstairs to. the on ei dooi mtu i e j courtyard. I vrns ntiilv li ntm i -\\\ I weariness, and I suppo k. I mad,, t mi take at last in saying It \n J 1 g I will call the. steward aid \aidjtn ma have you put out.' He sn tc ie I up hi-, [ revolver from the tab'e tgim md c d \ joyously: ' Yes. call them in. I want I them. You shall see | one after another. I'l how \a \ o I | am,' and so on. He p mtcd tne t\ 1 ei j several times again at n up i ing 'me j and again with guffaws wmt 11 modeled j my joke about women 11 I id a! en I I " lie wandered aboittlu. =ig itm_, j all sorts of objects, fi 1 ph t ) [ s cm ! consoles to a tiny elertnc 1 mi ' <di i under a cornice.'which 1 -f 1 <n tun t j had used as a light binif 111 i »u I he- did not shoot: he <m\ hi d \nd ail the while he mutteitd N cb a\ li must shoot. I'll shoot om H J \ t) lit; 1 t , anyhow.' I kept ver\ hj ' aid at 1 * lie put down the revoh" aid 01 cd 1 itt ' his pockets, apparenth to rr d tiu his 'capital' of stoLn ]c t As till safe, I thought much iti ad ibe <• this. The next time hj" d 11 th 1 „ about ffoing I cheerful \ hj 5 ac ir iiany him to the outti c 1 1 11 th? kitchen, I found t 1 1 ( k i 1 1 only unfastened, but cp n iul then in ' dcrstood why I felt so n c d T 1 1 have left it open \vh* i I e fi + brm ed 111 and seared me so th it 1 f u tbi j door. We went down t'o hci ft 11 1 ho talking all the way '"id th dr-* \ i*h for his run in the yard The d - some time away, and I had to wait for him. Suddenly again a lusty peal at tlv back door, but this time I had the cain or. It was Miizurin again. Ho had rcrgotter- his -revolver, and I found .t on; tlie dining room table, and handed it j

through the chained dooar, and at ia«t he was Tcaliy gone. "I sat down in the kitchen to wait for my dog, and then an awful fear seizad me again. It was half-past one, and the back door had been open for nearly four hours. Someono might easily have cr>me in and secreted himself. The moment the dog returned I started a minute examination of evcrv room, cupboard, and all possible hiding 'places evervhere. but what happened next I do "not know. Islanding immovable with my back to the sideboard and dutching your" tobacco jar as my only weapon, for three and a-haif hours I had been under this horrible strain with an icy blast about my feet and a revolver muzzle playing about my face in the hands of a drunken man. I think he hoped to torture me with the sight of good food; but I was thinking of ether things, for his report of the meeting and the decision to hand you over to the Germans after shooting the officials was worse than Ins revolver.

'• I suppose I fell somewhere, for I remember crawling on my hands and knees over the linoleum floors, seemingly for age;. I must have reached the bedroom eventually, for I was there when the dog came bouncing in, as he usually did when ■the bell at the back door rang in the early morning, and I got up i:alf conscious and went to open it. it was then 7 o'clock, and there was Mazer in again. He was sober and tearfully repentant, fell on his knees, and, through the door chain, begged for calling himself 'swine' and 'beast.' 'You have a dog. Take the dog whip and flog mo. I deserve it. But I could not go without your foregiveness.' All I could say was ; ' Go. Yoif see how ill I am. Go at once.' But he kept on beseeching pardon, ana there was no help, for neither the steward nor nuv one of' the rardmen, nor anyor.o else on' the premises 'dared to oppose the enmmissnrv with his leaded revolver. At last he went, and I looked through the front win flows to see if he really had gone. Ye-\ outside was a handsome, powerful motor piled with what should have been a ctentleman's luggage, and with it the moujik. Commissary Mazorin."