Siberia (Russia); Siberia (Russia) -- Description and travel
It was not so much his work and spying which I wished to investigate,
but I was interested in his methods, and I wished to determine if
possible who was supplying him with money and who was directing his
efforts. He was not merely a man who professed a dislike for the
United States, but he evidently belonged to a coterie which was well
instructed as to how to build up an enmity between the Russians and the
Americans.
I had talked with this man twice, or rather he had sought me out and
tested my knowledge on what the United States intended to do in Russia.
I had discussed matters with him as if he were what he pretended to
be--an uneducated working man. As a matter of fact he had been a lawyer
in Michigan, making a poor living among Russian and other immigrants,
and none too ethical in his ways of making money.
Such detachment commanders as I had talked with on the way up, when
asked as to suspicious characters, all declared that they had noticed
no persons who appeared to be worthy of attention--and all told me of
Red Sweater. The usual story about him was about this:
“There is a man in a red sweater who worked here on the track a few
days, with the section hands. He talks English. He hung around our men,
generally showing up at mess-time, and asking for some American food.
He has ‘joshed’ the men about being in this country, but they don’t pay
any attention to him. He finally went away, and we haven’t seen him for
a couple of weeks. But he doesn’t amount to anything--just kind of a
poor simpleton, who thinks he knows it all because he can talk a little
English.”
That sounded reasonable enough the first time I heard it. The next
time I heard it, I began to take notice, and a day or so later, Red
Sweater attached himself to my train in the capacity of a provodnik, a
man who keeps up the fires, pretends to sweep the car, and gives out
the candles.
Red Sweater worked first on my interpreter, and then felt his way along
with me in English. At that time, I was confident that our expedition
would take such action as was necessary for the good of Russia, and
in time proceed to establish a new Russian front against Germany in
association with all the available forces of our Allies. Of course,
this was some time before the armistice, or early in October. But I
professed to be entirely out of sympathy with any American action in
Russia. That attitude was far more likely to bring to my attention such
Russians, or enemy agents, as secretly opposed us, than an attitude
of desiring aggressive action by my country. And in their eagerness
to find an American who upheld their contention, Bolshevist agents
and others, walked into the little trap and revealed their lines
of propaganda. It is remarkable how the person who appears to be a
malcontent, attracts the professional agitators--they seem overjoyed
at the prospect of making a convert, or in having their reasoning and
actions justified by others not in their circle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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