Page:Ossendowski - From President to Prison.djvu/179

 CHAPTER XVI

AN EREMITE OF THE LAW

N the meantime darker and darker clouds were massing on the horizon. Owing to the intrigues of the monarchists, the army began to display a boisterous spirit and demanded that the railroad officials, whom they accused of wishing "to keep them for ever in Manchuria," should be punished. Chief among those who asked that revenge be taken upon the Union of Workers was General Batianoff, who had a great deal of influence in St Petersburg and at the Court.

He proposed to the Commander-in-Chief a punitive expedition to Harbin and, after a very spirited interview with General Linievitch, succeeded in eliciting his acquiescence in the plan. The next day he was already on the way with his detachment. The officials of the stations north of Ssupingkai allowed General Batianoff's train to pass, in view of the fact that he hung the station-master at one of the first stops when the man protested that he had no right to allow a special train, not included in the regular schedule, to move without the permission of the Board of the Union.

The moment I learned of this, I immediately called General Linievitch by telegraph and spent an hour in arguing with him and pointing out to him the danger and ramifications of this measure of the Staff. Linievitch finally acquiesced and at once telegraphically recalled 167