It had the command of considerable funds, freely subscribed, and was carried on by a number of zealous persons, but it is not on record that they arrested a single conspirator, though, like the police, they sometimes took up the wrong people. The well-known case of Vera Zassoulich showed conclusively how little the police were able to protect themselves. It was she who resolved, like a second Charlotte Corday, to call General Trépoff, the Prefect of civil police in St. Petersburg, to account for his cruel ill-usage of a prisoner, one Bogoli Ouboff. This man at one of Trépoff's inspections did not remove his hat when the General passed. Trépoff not only struck him with his stick, but ordered him to be flogged. Corporal punishment had been abolished, and the order was therefore illegal; it caused great indignation in St. Petersburg, and nearly produced a serious outbreak in the prison. The story travelled far and wide, finally reaching the ears of Vera Zassoulich in a far-off province, that of Penza, seven months later. She started at once for St. Petersburg, and obtained admission to Trépoff's presence on pretence of presenting a petition. But directly she saw him she drew a pistol from her pocket and fired at him point-blank. Trépoff was badly wounded in the side, but eventually recovered. Vera was seized and removed, but her demeanour was calm and self-possessed, and she only asked to be allowed to put on her shawl, which she had left in the waiting-room. It was thought that Vera's attack was a part of a general conspiracy, but there seems to be little doubt that she acted altogether alone and on her own motion. The sequel was curious, and showed how generally Trépoffs arbitrariness was condemned. Vera was brought before an ordinary tribunal, tried, and acquitted. Her friends then very judiciously got her out of the country, fearing, and with good reason, that this decision would not be allowed to stand. They were perfectly right, for the Government overruled the verdict, although given by a legally constituted tribunal, and ordered Vera to be re-arrested. Happily for her, she was already safe in Switzerland. After this the Government decreed by ukase that all political offences should be tried, not by a jury, but by a specially constituted tribunal. They were, in fact, to be brought before a court-martial having the same powers as in war-time, and inflicting penalties under the military code, which included deportation and the loss of civil rights.