This had happened before and was no joke, and many people would
not leave their homes that day. Those who did had to walk; there was no
other way of getting about. Few people, on the whole, were on the street
that morning aside from the soldiers and Cossacks who were guarding the
bridges and keeping an eye out for disturbances. After luncheon I started
to make a call and as I passed the barracks of the Volynski regiment,
situated near where I lived, I saw a company of soldiers lined up, heard
the command to load, to shoulder arms, to march, and off they went to the
Nevski. I followed them for a distance and then turned aside and went my
way. In returning I had to cross the Nevski and found that all avenues
thither were guarded and that no one was allowed to go in that direction. I
managed, however, by showing my American passport, to get through the line
and reach the street. Excited people were moving up and down and from them
I learned that about three o'clock a number of people forced their way to
the Nevski and were fired upon by the soldiers and the machine guns
that were concealed. Among the killed of the day was a captain of police
who was knocked down by a Cossack.
Sunday night was full of excitement and fear and there were not many who
slept soundly. Firing was heard at different times but what it portended,
none of us could tell.
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