Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/166

 They were saved. Four of them were separated from their comrades, landed in a prison, and were also saved.

Part of the men forced to mobilise in Tavastland were taken to the railway station at Riihimäki, and as they refused to carry arms, they were locked up in the Russian barracks there. But Riihimäki was soon on the eve of surrender, and rather than let these imprisoned Tavastland peasants fall into the hands of the liberators, the Red tried to murder them. They—and this time it was not Red men, but armed women—placed themselves at the doors and began to fire random shots among the prisoners. The latter rushed about in their terror, were hit and fell. The result was twelve killed, and eight or ten wounded. Of the latter, two had lost their reason.

The upper staff at Valkiakoski Paper Factory in Tavastland were conducted to forced labour by the Red on the 15th April. Already on the way to the place of work two were shot, a cashier and a clerk, both over fifty years of age. On the 20th April another two were selected, taken away, and shot. On the 24th ten at a time were conducted to the wood. They were walking along a path when their Red custodians, who were walking behind them, suddenly began to shoot. The prisoner in front, a clergyman, succeeded in escaping; the nine others were killed. Now there were only six prisoners left. They had heard the reports from the wood, and understood what they meant. They did not have to wait long for their doom. Later in the day they were taken into the wood, where they were shot. However, from this group also one man succeeded in escaping. All the bodies of the murdered men, who were in part atrociously ill-used, were plundered.

The murders had been committed at the order of the "Staff." This latter now caused bottles of petroleum