Page:John Feoktist Dudikoff - Beasts in Cassocks (1924).djvu/101

 Father Richlov noticing my hesitation remarked: "If you don't sign this before a notary, not only will you lose your money, but we will arrest you and deport you to Russia, and leave your wife here as a hostage, or else" Here Richlov took a card from his pocket, and showing it under my very nose, added threateningly: "If you don't want to meet these, do as you are told." On the card I saw the following symbols: A skull, a revolver and, between them, a bomb. I stared at Father Richloy. After all I had gone through, his threats held no terror for me, and I decided to shew the paper, before I signed it, to those who could become witnesses of the clergy's misdeeds. Father Richlov, seeing that his threats did not sway me and that I still hesitated, changed his tactics. Now, almost in tears, he blamed his outburst on his shattered nerves, and apologized to me. He next fell on his knees before the image of the Saviour, thrice made the sign of the cross, and swore that he would not give the confession to anybody and particularly to "these robbers", as he called the Bishops, until he was handed the money. He also vowed that he would guard me from harm, and if Metropolitan Platon and Alexander and their whole clique refused to return my money, he, Richlov, would testify in Court in my favor and not only would he demand that the money I deposited in the Mission Bank—$7,800 plus interest be refunded, but that the culprits be put in jail.

The subsequent promises affected me more than all the former threats. He related how Alexander had tormented him, how he had forbidden him to officiate at services, how he had prosecuted him in the courts, etc., etc. "Don't be afraid of me," Father Richlov continued, "I will not deliver you into the hands of these enemies of the human race. You don't believe me? Here, see what I wrote in the Russian papers about their autocracy. Not only their hands, but also their souls, if they have any, are drenched with blood.