OCR Text |
Show v MY EIGHTEEN MONTHS IN BOLSKEv;: ' PRISONS AND FLIGHT FROM BJJSZ.,:. " ' " " ' " ' - '-- , ... - ., ...n , I - , ., Prine KeurakJn bavins glvon, In hat prcding artieta. an at count of har hardathipa in aviat priaana fti Kiav an Momow, ana har ralaaaa ftar ightaan mantha af phytic ! and mantdl tartui-a, today to-day conoludaa kar anthraMing nar- rativa with tha raeftal af har flight : frtom Ruaaia. In thia ftnal chap tar aha detoribaa tha hazardraf aacapa i and tha caution najcaaaary to tha last mtnuto In tha aacapa af haraalf 1 0 and har 17-yaar-ald aon, And raw. (Copyright, l2Jt In V.: 8. and Oraat Britain by North American Newapapar VMIlanca. All rifihta r-crved.) r-crved.) By PRINCESSKOURAKINE CHAPTER TKN. I wn consumed w.th the deetre to get out of eovlet Russia and could think of nothing alee night or day. The winter was drawing to an and but wa had aa yet decided sn no plan (or my (light with Andrew. An-drew. Tha almplest and moat common mode of escape waa to bribe the extraordinary commission, wlioee members were not In tha leaat em. taking on across the frontier. - But thla method waa danseroue for me aa It waa mora than probable proba-ble that the Tcbe-Ka would accept the bribe and then betray me. They had everything to gain In delivering - tha Prlnceaa Kouraklne to the authorities, alnce they would thue prove their aeal and vigilance, and would not be suspected of aiding In the eacape of other fugitives. Thla plan had to be abandoned aa P rearming re-arming too much ganger. It waa imperative that wa should . find aomeone who ould In aome way bring ua out of Russia, but there were not many who would undertake un-dertake euCB a comroleeion. No one ae allowed to leave soviet Ruaala without aoerlal permit and a de- "Ho will remain what he la, your lawful hue band," he replied. "Your marriage to ma will be only a fake. I ahall procure all tha neceaeary pa. pera and doeumente. A marriage according to tha lawa of the aoviet la neceaaary In order that I may bring you without hindrance to the 'frontier aa my wife. Aa to your on, I ahall obtain an appointment for him In tha Glavkoaakhar near the frontier." The longer I IJetened to him the more hta ealm manner and declalon Inspired ma with confidence. We estimated that a sum of twelve million mil-lion rublea would be neoeeaary for executing hie plan. To raUe thla amount I waa obliged to pat with my diamonda and other jewels, with the exception of a few atrings of pearla I I. waited dally for tha arrival of my eon for whom I had aent my former for-mer man aervent. Audrew arrived at laat. I had not aeen him alnce November, 1919, almost a year and a half. Our meeting waa a hanpy one. He waa no longer the child I had parted from, but waa a tall, etrong and healthy young man who had passed through a severe but wholesome school, which had taught ' him tu be independent;- 1 had soma business with K. next morning and went to see him on the Poushklnskala. I found Vladimir lvanovltch waiting for ma there. "Everything la ready for your flight.' he said. "Here are the falsa doeumente for you and your aon. Can you start at t o'clock this afternoon? If so. we must at once 'get married and we ahall atart for Jitomir on a motor lorry." I had not expected such llrhtning rapidity, but I conaented at once. It waa It a. m. and I had to get "married." "mar-ried." walk . home four versts from Kiev, get my luggage, return to the Poushklnskala and atart by o'clock. It all eeemd like a fairy tale, and Had home to my poor old nurse. I waa sorry to leave her but aha In-; slated ou remaining in Kiev. 1 I waa ready by o'clock. I had covered my head with a dark shawl that entirely hid my hair and tried to aaeume the appearance of a aervant. aerv-ant. 'We took a cab and drove to the Poushklnskala, where Vladimir Ivannvlirh and Andrew awaited ua It threw my "husband's" mantle over my shoulders and with Vladimir Vladi-mir and Andrew went round the corner of the Rlblkovaky boulevard where a large motor lorry waa awaiting for ua The lorry waa taking tak-ing barrels of oil to Jltomlr. Vladimir Vladi-mir lvanovltch introduced the chauffeur and hla assistant to me. Rapid Transit in Decrepit Lorry Our motor lorry waa Ilka an Infuriated In-furiated bat paralysed old elephant. It hootad. ftanted and rattled, but hardly advanced. Although Jitomir la only 18. vernt from Kiev, wa wr not able to reach It that day. After a pen din th night at tha housa of ona of the puarda at a match fueViry. wa atarted at dawn , Uia ioUowliidt diii- Our decrepit motor mo-tor lorry at lied every few n.nui but wa reached Jitomir at laat. Thera were not any hotela In aoviet Ruaala,' ao wa went atralght to tha room a of k college friend of Ira.no-vitch Ira.no-vitch a who waa Initiated Into tha aecret of our flight and who had promlaed to help ua further on u Journey. . , Andrew Gets Over Frontier My aon, who had br thla tima, baan attached to lha Olackoaakhar, waa Immediately given an appointment appoint-ment at Jltomlr, and began to eerve leaJoualy, thua diverting attention from hlmeelf. A few daya later an T preferred siting In tha rart and dreaming. Wa were lucky tot wa were atopped only twtca on the way for verification of our documonta and each time, although my heart fluttered, flut-tered, wa were paad. According- to thAae dvumpnta, lvanovltch waa it eu-vr (artery Inapect j- and hta wife wua accompanying hla while lie H?nt on bualnaaa to tha KJerrbour-ajky KJerrbour-ajky far tor lea. Ve rAc;hed tha Kl.tarak or fn orlce toward enJng of tha third ch. and my "buaband' wr.t ct once to look up h:a friend, who hnd riicd Andrew iupa. lie returned re-turned tr about a hi if hour without with-out hla companion, whi had ha;ir-. him to eay that ha wvj1-,) purposely avoid ntu ao aa to llvict iha aua-plolon aua-plolon of Innumerable aplea who lurked about all tha tugar (n dor lea. Although tha government of tha no- , vleta wai a proletarlua govaenment. It could not do without the intelligent intelli-gent a la and without aperinllata. Tha who had fornjarly worked at tha augar factory, therefore, were left at thetr poet a, hut conaldercd by tha aovleta aa unreliable ahd counter-revolutionary element. Com- .muniat jommlaaakeat iiad J-Cfla HP- j pointed to all thcaa f to it and i aent their aplea to keep vigilant watch over everything thut want on thera. VV were obliged to remftln four daya at tha augar factory while lvanovltch went about ne buelnea. looking exactly lika a bolshevik in hla awful Ruaala n ehirt with collar faatened up tha aide, h'a crumpled, dirty cap. and playing hla part admirably. ad-mirably. CHAPTRP, II.' II y chanca to crosa tha frontier cama at last. A total at ranger, a typical little Russian paaaant with a pleaaant smlllng'faca, entered our room. Although wa were quite I noticed my "husband" at so hooked about him at every moment. We drove on for a verat and a halt until wa reached tha outaklrta of tha for-eat, for-eat, where tha vlllaa-a of Kaminka could be aeen throuah the orcharda and kitchen - gardena which aurr-ounded aurr-ounded It. Wa did not enter tha vtllaga hut remained on tha border of the forest. for-est. Our driver-got down and told ua to wait for hlra while ha act out In aearcn of hla friend whoa hut waa altuated closa to tha edga of, the forest, I It seemed to mo that Vladimir !vanovilch waa not leaa agitated than I waa., Ha had taken upon himself and ardently deoired tha euccena of this nterpriee, atnoerety wtahlng io get ma nut of bolsha vist Huaala, bar X had Buffered uch misery, . , We had ndt Inng to wait. Our driver soon returned with hla friend, who took ua through the kitchen garden to hla hata, where wa Immediately beejan to dt acnes tha queatlon of getting over tha border. Tha way of escaping firat decided upon waa aa follows. Tha peaaanta of tha village Kaminka were preparing ta set out at annrtaa of tha Tnnnwiin -for their flelda on tha Polish aldo of the river, to begin the harveat. H waa to dreaa aa a paaaant woman and to cross tha bridge with fifty of these women. Knowing that they wera going out to work, tha frontier fron-tier guarda hardly ever looked at their documents glanced at a pasa-port pasa-port or two. and let all tha others paaa. I waa afraid but consented to thla plan, lvanovltch obtained peaaant'a dreaa and kercnief from tha wife of our hoaC I dreaeed quickly, tied the kerchief around my head In the true peaaant fashion, fash-ion, and took off my ahoea and atocklnga. lvanovltch, who had just coma In, looked at ma and shook his bead. of being aeen and I had ,to rip them out In tha dark. Tha hat a waa clean and orderly, but tha air waa at If ling and I longed to go out 1n tne open air to rest, lvanovltch could not bear or this; It would not do to run any rlrk at the laat moment. I lay down on tha bench In tha houaa and trie! to aleep, but In vain. One though after another chaaed through my brain, but I could not concentrate on any of them. On the Trail . ' To Freedom ' Kveryone wag aaleep, thera waa only a sound pt tha acratohing of mica and tha aong of a cricket In the corner of tha hat a. It waa hot and tha air waa laden with tha smell of tha flowers on tha wtndow-sUl wtndow-sUl and tha wormwood outside. A cock crowed. aeveral o there answered and than everything grew still. At laat our boat aroes, waked hla wife and lvanovltch. It waa time tn atari, I roae, took off my ahoea and atocklnga and lucked my aklrts above my kneea and w ready. I look a warm farewell or my tern-eewey tern-eewey 'Mteoanel, e.Hanktnir fitiw sMIt ail my heart for what he had dona for me, and wishing him a speedy escape from tha aoviet paradlee. Our host awung my bag up on hla ahouldera. I followed him. and hla wife brought up tne rear, aa they decided to make ma walk be-i be-i tween them and thua guard ma baiter. bai-ter. Aa wa left the hata, the moon I waa shining brlgthly and tha treee 1 and houses stood out clearly. Wa atopped for a moment. tiMening tor any steps,, but everything waa si-lent, si-lent, ao wa kept along the trees and ahruba, bending low wherever thera were none, aa we might easily have been aeen. 1 waa not uaed to wa I id ng bare fand my' feet hurt me terribly. if y com pan I on a were walking quickly and I could hardly keep itp 'with them, feeling aa If I ware j walking on neei lee. I We left the vlllane nd crossed a 'large meadow, at the end of which i waa the river Villa, tne Rubicon a Men I had longed to paaa for years.. A wonderful picture met my eyes, the wHle m endow, where a few ahruba and a solitary birch tree roae here and there, futher on, the reeda bending over the alrver Villa In the distance; to the right, the gloomy foreat, and to the left an old wooden water mill, which seemed to be half gunk la the ground. Thera waa not a sound ta be heard. Everything waa asleep, and , thla mysterious alienee only increased in-creased my fear. Wa crept along tha meadow from bnh to bush, handing low. 1 waa afraid of erery ehadow. afraid of eeeina- a frontier guard appear from behind every bush. The Long v Last Mile Wa were already quite near the river, when my guide atopped and whispered ee me thee He eeitM ge behind tha mill to aee If there were any frontier guarda on the other aide. I aat down at the foot of tha tree, and It aeemed to me aa If my protector waa gone forever. He returned re-turned at length, bringing word there waa no one behind tha mill, and wa could aafely proceed to ford the river. We aeemed at first to be walking In a swamp. Wa atuck In the mud and I could hardly drag my feet out of the attcky slime. I was tremh-llng tremh-llng all over, and my leas shook ao much I waa afraid of alnklng down on my kneea any minute. Hoon, however, wa began to feel tha colli water. Wa had reached the ford The river waa rising higher and higher and soon rT-hfj rnv I lout ail m eoiit-njt-ft, ai1 hanlly manage to ilr( mv lei t. of the nm and the wau-r i and fretted and made a huLi .: aoond at every at rp. Tha guide eo grew anx1"na "I they hear us, we ar loet." h t tried to lift my fret hitch. Tli m i easy enough when you liav not), tag to he afraid of, but when yu teeth r hatter with fenr. gvntnas'lr of thla kind seem irnpo.iii. I felt aa If we had area1y b an hour In the water, and the on poalte bank seemed Juat an mr of and unobtainable. The current strong and 1 stumbled at every a"i At Uat the water became hali It waa easier to advanre. aa It on reached to mv kneea. Wa stept on tn tha bank. I wns In Foland. I hart left the aoviet pmi1'pa b hind me. with Ita Tche-Ka arrei and lmir,inmrn(i, Ita ahoo'i'-e Its burn In. ..te liner, and ri'n ' 1 need not fear them any nur. ,. nervea had ten atralne.d to the m moat and now I felt eo wealt; cotitd net waik another srerj. Here on thie aide of the river etaa In conipiei eiifM v. I ihrf myaelf down on the tf'-rnr.t -and my auil ctimmimt-il wnn without wdrda, but with a prae of thanks. I aaaed over the water to ti'i Ruaeia lay In the darkneas of t r niyht Kuaala. the real mnrtvr hisnonored torn to pi-ea, a"1 w! taring In blood. The imnifi" steppe was steied In tha pm in, of the Ukrainian night. v h not yet dawned, but there in t n Kaat. a har'Hy prrepflhi ptrf.ik o pale rnae Usht proclaimed the com lng of tha morning. And the dawn will c"me fnr rr Rueeia, too. and the terrorim . sovietlsm will cower before i' light. - fTa VnV ' tne traseay or toeee tws yeara, an the acenes ef my arrest, the con-cent con-cent ration campa, my trial, the prl. son, ende& In vaudeville my m arris ar-ris ee to a bolshevik. For the marrlaire we went to a house on the Mlkelaevsaala, mount ed five fltchta ot stairs and entered a filthy. looking room, where two officials, a man and a woman, were slttlns; at different tablea Vladimir lvanovltch went up to tha man, told him wo wanted to be "united In holy wedlock" and showed him our documents. The man wrote eomethlnf down In hla book and motioned to us to address oureelvea to the woman. We had to wait for aome time, aa thera wera several other couples beside oureelvea. our-eelvea. Our turn came. The ceremony of the sacrament of bolshevlet mar-rlefe mar-rlefe did not last more than five mlnutea. Everything waa put down In tha realeter and It waa handed o us to alvn. occasion occurred to send tolm on buslnese to -the suirar factories of Count Potoskl. which were eltuated eloee to the frontier. There were people there who had been Informed of our plena, and who helped Andrew An-drew on his perilous wsy acroaa the frontier. Not only had lvanovltch arranaed that, but he arranged for a cipher telegram which Informed me, an anxloualy waltln( mother, that my eoa waa aafsly In Poland. My heart waa not at rest about my aon, and I waa feverishly Impatient' Impa-tient' to atart myself, but was obliged to remain at Jltomlr for two weeks, waiting for a really aafa occasion oc-casion to get to the frontier. It waa dangerous to travel by railway, aa the Tcho-Katsts In that area watched the movements of ths paaaengers with a. vigilant eye. Their doeumente were verified at nearly every elation and their 1uj gage waa searched. We had to take my pearla and a considerable eum of Pollen money over the frontier. Soma means of reaching It would turn up, and tn tha meantime we waited at Jltjetir. cre made all who were cauaht crossing the frontier without a permit per-mit Haute to be Interned for uq ye.ra in a concentration camp... If foreign money or valuablea auch as gold or precious atonee were found on tha culprit, ha waa shot without trial, It waa comparatively asy for my son to escape aa ha could be appointed ap-pointed to aome poet near the frontier fron-tier and could then cross by stealth. But I had to be very careful for my general appearance did not correspond corre-spond In any way to tha communist woman. I waa utterly Incapable, moreover, of acting; the part of a bolehevlst and waa afraid of betraying myaeit. I wanted to take our nurse with me. but she preferred remaining in ' Russia, firmly believing In a favorable fa-vorable change of government. , A Reliable Guide la Found Time went by, early spring had " - set In. beautiful aa It can be only - i.. .1 i!krin.. I vt, loelne all -Thla won't do,- said ne: "your leaa are too white and thin, and you are not tn the least Ilka a peaaant. I Take off thla attire." I I waa glad to hear thla for I waa not pleased with this plsn, and had little faith In Ita success. Guide Searche For River Ford . both lvanovltch and I wished that I should cross the frontier Without being seen by anybody, without bribing the guards, or creasing ths frontier before their very eyes. There waa but ona way to do thla to find. ford and wada across the river Villa at night. Thla plan appeared ap-peared better than any other and I even found a certain arKa-t In It. I arreed without hesitation and everything waa settled. I glanced at my watch; It waa a little peat ten. Our host aald It would be best to leave the house at I a. m. the aaf.at hour for a departure of thla kind. In the alone, he whisper! mysteriously 'Plan X' haa aent me to' you to help you get over the frontier." We Questioned him ss to where ha would take ua and how he waa going go-ing to manage the whole bualnena He aald he would take ua te the village of Kamlnkn, on the frontier of Poland, on tha bank of tha river Villa. He had friends In that vlllaes who had more than once helpl fugitives fu-gitives to esrans. The details would be worked cut on the eot. Tho chief thing le not to be afraid, he aild, with such a pleasant stifle that I felt full of trust and confidence. We asked him If the f-ontier wss well guarded. -Oh," he aald. 'It la better guarded than It ever was In tha time of tha Caar." Thla did 'not sound reassuring, but ' he went on saying there was nothing to be afraid ot and that I ahould certainly manage tn got over. Our new peaaant frlond came to fetch ua with a cart on that snme day. at i o'clock, and we left Klein-bavka, Klein-bavka, - - I waa outwardly calm, although An Almost , Fatal Blunder A trifling Incident occurred hers which might have ended tragically. I had learned my lesson well. I- did not make any mistake In my repllee. but when It came Xo signing tha register. I forgot my role for a moment, mo-ment, and I began to algn my own name. "T. C. Kour ' After writ- lng tha first four letters, I came back to my senaee and hastened ta make a great Ink blot on thera, and algned my assumed name. - My "husband" whispered Into my ear, "Oat away aa faat aa you ran. I realised that my position waa dan-geroue. dan-geroue. Tha bolahevlkl have a perfect per-fect apylng organisation. Besides the women opposite me, there wera several other persona standing by tha table. 1 rushed down the statre aa faat aa I could, half dead with terror. Vladimir lvanovltch followed. "They have not noticed anything." ha aald. "but do not walk so last, for Jt might seenv suspicious." My soul waa not at rest until I reached tha Poushklnskala. 1 hur- hope of ever getting out of Russia when K. appeared ona day with the k newa that he had found a reliable V man wJo would take, me and my eon over tha frontier. Thla man would sea me on tha following day to talk over our eropoeed flight. I rould not sleep that night from aheer emotion. - On-the following- day Vladimir lvanovltch, who waa to aid In our flight, came with K. to see me. I do not mention hla family name aa he haa remained In aoviet Ruaala and 1 might draw tha attention of the aovleta to him. He waa -formerly an officer In the Ruaalan army and had been an airman. My flrat Impression of him waa a good one. He seemed to have thought out his plan carefully and waa, prudent de-. de-. ' spite hla enterprise and spirit of adventure. "You muet marry me to get out of Ruaala." he surprised ma by saving when wa first met. But what will become of myl real Husband?" I aefced. Wa found at laat mesne of continuing con-tinuing our journey. We had to travel for two hundred and fifty verete'ln a peaaant cart. lvanovltch waa afraid thla woulJ tire me, I'Ut sport of that kind waa much more acceptable, than washing flooro and underclothing In a bolsl.evlk prison. It was sheer delight for me to be In tha open air onoe more. The cart on which we traveled belonged to a sugar factory and had been sent to fetch kerosene from Jltomlr. ' Three Days in Peasant Cart Wa left Jltomlr toward evening and reached our destination near the frontier on the third dev. We ci-f t along at the rate of seven sev-en ve-its an hour, dragged by two broken down )ad.a. The cart squeaked and creaked and jolted ua unmercifully. My aoviet . apouse could not atand thla Jolting and sprang down from the rart. walk-I walk-I preferred aittlng la tho cart end meanwhile he would go out alone, find a ford and make a bargain with a relation of hie. a Pole, to drive me to tha nearest frontier town, Ostros. Kverythlng having been carefully thought out and arranged, there waa nothing left but to wait until tha hour of departure. . flleep for me waa out of tha cueetlnn. Our host a wife brought ua fried egga and milk and wa aat down to a eupner. We went aver all the plans at tha meal and I thanked lvanovltch lvano-vltch from tha bottom of my heart. It aeemed yeara alnce I had left Kiev. Wa had. been lucky on the whole, but now the rest of my flight i must be made alone, aa my aoviet "hush.nd" could nnt follow me any I farther. Before we had finished ! our meal our host returned; he hed found the ford, but. warned me that the water waa high. Ha and his wife than retired and we set to work to unsew my pearla which were hidden In the band of my "httaband'a" troyaera Thla waa no eaey matter, for we were afraid I my pulse muet have been high. The horses' seemed to crawl and the enrt-to enrt-to be at a atandstlll. The heat was Intenss and we were obliged to atop every few) mlnutea and wa tee. .our I horaee. It waa evident that our driver waa eaperlenced In the matter mat-ter of conveying .fugitlvea to tha frontier for we drove almoat the whole time through the weeds or neglected grssa grown country lanes and we did not meet a soul. The sun waa aettlng when we entered a' splendid old pine and oak forest. Our driver abruptly turned from the beaten track Into the thick of the forest snd once .mora whispered with a mysterious air. Dodging Agents Of Tche-Ka "This forest Is on ths frontier, and agenta of tha Tche-Ka lurk here at every etep. Wa must drive very slowly" . I must confess that f felt horribly horri-bly afraid, and all tha mora so aa |