IN ST. PETERSBURG
A police raid that I attended in St. Petersburg, although not directly
connected with any tramp experience there, has remained memorable, and,
after all, was due to my interest in tramp lodging houses. I explored
the local vagabonds' resorts pretty carefully during my investigations,
visiting among others the notorious Dom Viazewsky, the worst slum of the
kind I have ever seen anywhere. On a winter's night in 1896 (the
conditions have not changed, I am told), 10,400 men, women and children
slept in five two-story buildings enclosed in a space about the size of
a baseball diamond. Only a hundred paces away is the Anitchkoff Palace.
The inmates of the Dom Viazewsky are the scum of the city's population,
diseased, criminal and defiant.
On one occasion, a woman belonging to the Salvation Army was met in the
dead of night by a police sergeant and some patrolmen, as she was
leaving the most dilapidated of the buildings. She had been doing
missionary work.
"My God!" the sergeant exclaimed, seeing her unattended. "You in here
alone?"
"Oh, no, not alone, officer," the intrepid little woman replied. "God is
with me."
"Huh," the officer grunted. "I wouldn't come in here alone with God for
a big sum."
The raid which I attended was made on a smaller lodging house, not far
from the Alexander Nevsky monastery. In a way, it was got up for my
benefit, I fear, and I was later very sorry about it all. The then chief
of detectives was a pleasant old gentleman, called Scheremaityfbsky. I
told him that it would interest me to see how his men "worked," and he
introduced me to a stalwart chap--I forget his name--who kindly offered
to show me how a suspicious place was raided.
We all foregathered first at the precinct station house nearest the
place of the raid, at about nine o'clock in the evening. A Scotch friend
accompanied me. Here were the so-called detectives, or policemen, in
citizens' clothes. A squad of uniformed patrolmen had already been sent
on ahead to surround the lodging house and prevent any departures.
Pretty soon we followed after them in single file, and I could hear
passers-by on the sidewalk whisper, "Polizie! Polizie!" The way they
used the word and stopped to stare at us might have given a stranger the
impression that we were on a portentous mission, which might involve the
arrest of the entire city. Arriving at the lodging house, the gates were
closed behind us, and we assembled in a lower corridor, where all hands
received candles. The patrolmen outside forbade both entrance and
escape.
Clumsily, the tallow from the candles dripping on our hands, we climbed
the dingy stairway to the men's quarters. A dismal lamp burned in the
center of the room, throwing a weird light over the awakened lodgers.
What a medley of humanity that vile-smelling room contained! Old men
barely able to climb out of their bunks; rough middle-aged ruffians,
cowed for the moment, but plainly full of vindictiveness and crime;
youngsters just beginning the city life and quaking with fear at the
unannounced visitation--never before have I seen human bodies and rags
so miserably entangled.
The method of the raid was simple enough. Each inmate was made to show
his passport. If it was in order, well and good; he could go to sleep
again. But if his papers were irregular, or, still worse, if he hadn't
any at all, below he went to join the others who were guarded by the
policemen. The worst that was found that night I fancy were some hiding
peasants, who had run away from their villages and were loafing around
begging in the city. One poor old man took me for an officer. I was
passing around between the beds, holding my candle high so that I could
see the faces of the lodgers. The old man--he must have been
eighty--held out a greasy scrap of paper, doubtless his passport, and
tried to tell me how little he had done in the world that was wrong.
There was an appealing look in his faded, ancient eyes, like that in
those of a mongrel who would fain beg your mercy. I was glad to learn
that his papers were all right.
Later, the women's ward was also inspected. Here was practically the
same bundle of human flesh and rags. Like the men, the women had to
identify themselves or go to the station house. One young peasant girl
lost her head, or perhaps she could not read. She handed the detective
her pass confidently enough, but when he asked her her name she gave a
different one from that on the passport.
"Go below, you little ignoramus," ordered the officer, and below she
went, obviously wondering why all names were not alike--at least when it
came to identification.
The inspection over, we returned to the room below to count the "catch."
Over a score had been drawn into the net. They were lined up outside
between two rows of policemen, the candles were put out, and the
inspector gave the order to march. The weird, gloomy picture they made
in the dark, as they trudged forward in their rags, is one that I do not
care to see again. It seemed to me then, and it seems to me now, that
the scene told the sad, sad truth about Russia.
"A nation on tramp," I murmured, as my friend and I went on alone down
the Nevsky.
An actual arrest is perhaps the most exciting adventure I have to relate
about my tramp experience in Russia. By rights the arrest should never
have taken place, but what do rights count for in Russia? It came about
in this fashion.
General Kleigels, at that time (1897) prefect of St. Petersburg, had
given me a general letter to the police of that city, reading about like
this: "The bearer of this is Josiah Flynt, an American citizen. He is
here, in St. Petersburg, studying local conditions. Under no
circumstances is he to be arrested for vagabondish conduct." The word
"vagabondish" was the nearest English equivalent my friends could find
for the Russian word used; it was underscored by the general himself. I
was told by an American resident in Russia that with such a letter in my
possession I could almost commit murder with impunity, but I succeeded
in getting arrested for a much less grave offense.
The actual tramping in the city was over, and I was back in my own
quarters again, cleaned up and respectable. One night, three of us, an
Englishman, myself and another American, started out to see the city on
conventional lines. My tramp experience had not revealed much to me
about the local night life, and I boldly took advantage of the
opportunity offered by the American's invitation to see the town as he
knew it. In the end, there was not much to see that I had not looked at
time and again in other cities, but before the end came there was a
little adventure that proved very amusing. During our stroll together
the Englishman, a diminutive little chap who had just bought a new pot
hat and wanted everybody to know it, got separated from us. We looked
high and low up and down the street where we had missed him, but he
could not be found. We were about to go to the police station and give
an alarm, when, as we were passing a rather dark stairway, who should
come shooting down it but the Briton, his hat all battered in and his
face bleeding.
"Look at my new Lincoln and Bennett, will you?" he snarled, on reaching
the street, "Sixteen bob gone to the devil!"
We asked him what the row had been about. He didn't know. He merely
remembered that he had gone up the stairs and had been politely received
at the door. "I went into the parlor," he said, "called for drinks, and
sat down. After a while I thought it would be fun to open my umbrella
and hold it over my head. I guess the light must have dazzled me. The
next thing, I was shooting down those stairs. They're bally quick here
with their bouncer, ain't they!"
The American was strong in Russian, and also stood well with the police
in his district, and he was determined that the proprietor of the
establishment should give an account of himself. While he and the
Englishman went up the stairs I remained below in the street, according
to agreement, and called at the top of my voice for a _gvardovoi_
(policeman). Two _dvorniks_ (gate-keepers, but also police underlings)
came running up, and most obsequiously begged the _gospodeen_ to tell
them what was the matter. Forgetting their police power, I pushed one of
them aside, declaring that I wanted a patrolman and not a house porter.
General Kleigels, himself, could not have taken umbrage at my
indiscretion any more hot-headedly. The _dvorniks_ reached for me
instantly, but I ran up the steps to get under the sheltering wing of
the American. The _dvorniks_ followed me, and there was a long, heated
discussion, but in the end I had to go to the police station, where I
absolutely refused to say a single word. The officer searched me,
finding in one of my coat pockets the little Englishman's card. He
rubbed it on my nose, saying: "_Vasch? Vasch?_" (Yours? Yours?) but I
held my tongue and temper. The man never looked into my hip pockets. In
one of them I had a well-filled cardcase, and in the other might have
carried a revolver.
He did not seem to know that hip pockets existed. Pretty soon my
companions joined me, and a long parley ensued between my
fellow-countryman and the officer. Finally my valuables were returned to
me, and I was paroled in my friend's custody until I could produce
General Kleigels' letter. I did this that same day, about three o'clock.
It was plain to read in the officer's face that the document gave him
pause. It was probably the first of the kind that he had ever handled,
or that General Kleigels had ever issued. But he had insulted me, and
knew it, and he apparently reasoned that making any great ado over me or
my letter would not help matters if I intended to make him trouble. So,
after he had noted down the date and number of the letter, he handed it
back to me and pronounced me free to go where I pleased. I shook hands
with him, for some strange reason, and I shall never forget the queer
way he looked at me and the manner he had of doubling two fingers in his
palm when taking mine. If this was meant as a secret sign or signal, it
was lost on me.
The wind-up of this little affair with the police was more amusing than
the arrest. Not long afterwards, in company with the American Minister
and a Scotch friend, I went on a fishing and camping trip to Northern
Finland. While we were in camp I received word that I was wanted on a
criminal charge in St. Petersburg, but that there was "no need to worry
about it." I proceeded leisurely with our party up to the Arctic Circle,
and then back to St. Petersburg, when I immediately made inquiry of my
house porter about the summons or indictment. The porter laughed. "It
was nothing, sir, nothing," he assured me. "One week came the
indictment, and the next week the announcement of your acquittal. It was
a very simple matter."
I was sure that both proceedings could refer to nothing more serious
than the fracas with the _dvorniks_ on the night of my arrest, and I
determined to learn what had happened to my two friends, if anything.
The American I found at his _datscha_ on one of the islands.
"Did you receive an announcement of your indictment on a criminal
charge?" I asked him.
"Yes," he said; "my crime was whistling in a police station."
It seems that the officer in charge, anxious to have his revenge on one
of us, selected the resident American, because he thought it best not to
press any charge against me and he was unable to locate the little
Englishman. The American had whistled unwittingly, and entirely by way
of exclamation. I recalled the incident. On the fateful night, while he
was pleading with the officer for my release, the latter made several
astounding statements, and at one of them my friend could not repress a
slight whistle of amazement. I asked him how he came out with the case.
"Loser," he said. "I put the matter in the hands of a lawyer, and he
mussed things so that I was fined twenty-five rubles. How did you make
out?"
I told him of my acquittal. "There's Russia for you," he declared. "You
are at heart the technical villain and go free. I, the poor Samaritan,
am fined. That's just about as much rhyme and reason as they show in
this country in everything they do."
"And the little Englishman," I asked, "the one who really caused the
entire trouble--where is he?"
"The last I heard of him he was out on one of the Pacific Islands,
having a fine time."
In such ways were spent some of my student days in Europe. That I
learned about Europe and its people during these unconventional
experiences as I never could have learned about them had I spent all of
my time in libraries and the lecture room, seems to me undeniably true.
Some of my wanderings were, in all truth, a submission on my part to the
all-demanding passion for wandering. Yet, as they came along in
connection with my university studies, which kept my mind seriously
inclined, I think they did me more good than harm. I learned to know
England, Germany and Russia during these trips. It was also a good thing
for me to be let loose every now and then into the jungle of Europe's
vagabond districts and then vent such lingering _Wanderlust_ as my
temperament retained.
Political economy as a more immediate field of exploration was at times
neglected. Professors Schmoller and Wagner were not listened to as
attentively as they deserved to be. The German university idea of
serious work was frequently disregarded. Perhaps it is furthermore fair
to say that in continuing, as at times I did, my vagabondish
explorations in Europe, I was assisting in perpetuating roving habits. I
can now solemnly declare here that the real roaming habits of former
days, roaming habits in the sense that I was willing at any time when
_Die Ferne_ called, to put on my hat and chase after her--received a
complete chill during the European vagabond life. That it will pay one
who desires to know Europe in the underground way, to make tramp trips
such as I did, and to get acquainted before they leave home, with those
millions of emigrants who come to us from Europe, I firmly believe.
Neglected though my political economy was on many a journey, forgotten
though were many of the books, I am not sure that I did not read my
Europe, if not my political economy and other bookish things, better
than I could have done it in written form.
Naturally during my tramp trips and experiences in Europe I made use of
them for purposes of newspaper correspondence, magazine articles and
incidentally for the preparation of such a comprehensive book as I
thought I could write on tramp life in general. In this way these
wanderings may again be called useful, because they helped to increase
my powers of observation from a writer's point of view, and to give a
serious purpose to such investigations on my part. I have no reason to
regret any tramp trip made in Europe, but I am glad now that they are
over and done with.
Such training in writing as the reporter gets on his newspaper, I got on
returning to my home in Berlin, and having my "copy" most rigidly cut to
pieces by my mother.
Of course this was not newspaper training in the sense that I had to
report, and to a city editor. But it was all the training I ever had in
writing that amounted to anything, until in after years I was interested
enough in the business to observe for myself, in such examples of good
writing as came to my hand, how, as Robert Louis Stevenson indicates in
one of his books, language may be made to fit most tightly around the
subject matter in hand.