It was no secret that there was bad
blood between the soldiers and the police; the former complained that while
they were suffering and fighting at the front, the latter were having an
easy time, enriching themselves by graft, and oppressing the soldiers'
families. The soldiers and the strikers started out with one idea--hatred
of the police. When the police had been dispersed, the Cossacks and
soldiers begged the people to move on, but they, especially the young
women students who were numerous, went up to them and pleaded with them to
espouse their cause. "Comrades," they would say, "come over on our side,
our cause is your cause." The rough, ignorant warriors were disturbed; they
did not like their jobs, and in a kindly way begged the men and women to go
home, but, as it did no good, for they massed again, the Cossacks rode in
a body into their midst and kept turning and turning until the crowd was
forced from the street onto the sidewalk. In the meantime, another company
of Cossacks formed a line across the street, from wall to wall, and swept
everybody before it into stores, courtyards, and other openings. Even this
did not do much good, for as soon as the horsemen passed, the mob fell in
behind and cheered the Cossacks. There was no roughness, but at the same
time it was easy to see that the crowd did not yet know to what extent the
army could be trusted.
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