THE FEAR OF DEATH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8261, 15 October 1906, Page 3

THE FEAR OF DEATH.

THE RED JERROR IN RUSSIA

WARSAW, August 24. Warsaw looks like h conquered uity. Everwhere soldiers. One sees them on guard on every tiaiswayoar; one meets tbom in the stieets wherever one :goes, now in email bodies, on foot or on horse baoß, now in larger detachments.; at the ooraersjnf the streets, <-Ju front of hotelsjniid piivate buildings, at the «ntranJJßfe-to the parka, markptplaces|Oafid cab everywhere a polioeman is posted two or three aoldie|jß stand guan? over him. The men seem to be on the quivive the •whole time, their faces set, their eyes watchful, their' hands tightly griping'their rifles or carbines. They do not march in close tormation, but always in single file, one on each side of the street, with several paces between every t-,vo nipn. In this way a bomb will be of less effect.

Nothing more pathetic than the aspect of the policemen, nothing more Jpitiablo tbun (ho look of their face?. Some try to put on a jaunty air and look unconcerned, others again to look barah and severe; but behind the mask, whichever they may have chosen ;o adopt, Jone leads feur—the cruel fear of death. •

Every day airl pvry night they have to come out, stand there at the peril of thair lives, knowing the *hole time that nmons! the thousands of people that walk past tbera are sure, to bo some belonging to the terrorist parties who hsv<i sworn doath to every, man that wears' hia uniform, fearful that today it may uo himsplf that will he carried home on a s-retcher or as a mutilated curpso. as dny after day with relentless regularity hehas Been it be the case with one or the other of bis comrades. And this "terrible strain has lasted, for orer a year.

He has not ranch chance ngiinst his assassins.: These can choose the opportune moment, when his atten tion is occupied in another direction, when there are few soldiers about, end preferably when the street is crowded so thai; they can make good their escape. Thoy know that no civilian will interfere. They rJid somotimes 8t the beßinning, I bat ©xrerience has iaught them better; now tbey stand aloof. There is nothing that distinguishes the assassin from the ordinary crowd. He is dressed like the others, sometimes as a workman, sometimes aa b sbophand, or an errand boy or a nawker, sometimes as a student, or even as an officer. A policeman was killed yesterday. Two rather stoutisb, elderly ladies came walking together along the pavement in his direction. A slim youth of sixteen waking behind them, screened from the view of the policeman, suddenly his arm between the ladies and fired point

blaqk two shots, killing the policeman on the spot. Emptying the remainder of the chambers on the two soldiers, he ran away and was Boon-swallowed up by the crowd. While the murders of soldiers, pol'omen, and other public functionaries ore committed for purely political or Socialistic reasons, the large criminal population of Warsaw have found this time of disorder 'and terror an excellent opportunity of feathering thefr own nests. They keep away from the police, in search ■of more remunerative spoils, and .they have succeeded- in terrorising the civilian population to an even greater extent than their confreres vhave terrorised the police. Most of these criminals are mere youths, boys of sixteen to eighteen years of age, but their rekolessness, their nearly incredible impudence and fool-hardiness make up for their want of strength. They enter shops and banks, they stop railway trains and rob rnail-oarti, they hold up people in the streets, even in the centre of the town, in full view of the public, and woe betirte the person who does not immediately respond to their demands; they have no time to waste, and they are telrribly ready with their revolvers. Their victims have no chance against them. They very seldom carry arms. It is easy to get a license, and a revolver would often come very handy, but there is still more chance of its bringing them to grief. Every now and then people are held up by the polios or the gondarmes in the streets. 1 saw" it four or five times during the couple of days I visited the town. Sovoral of these people were well dressed and look ed like gentlemen. They were or dered "hands up," and thoroughly searched, and if a revolver was found they stood a very, good chance of being beaten and arrested, if not pierced with a bayonet. The license is not of much avail; the sight of a revolver acts upon them like a red rag upon a bull, and besides, not half of them can read. The ojtizena of Warsaw have fonad out that, on the whole, it is safer not to carry any arms.