When the fighting armies overran Poland, the Poles saw their chance and seized it. The dream of a free Poland had never been absent from their minds. When the world catastrophe came the Poles saw in it not only an opportunity to regain their land, that had been dismembered more than a century before, but also an opportunity to avenge themselves on the hated Jews. Just as the Russians had always played the Poles against the Jews, so now the Poles hoped to play Russian, German, Austrian and Jew against each other. It was indeed to the interest of both Russia and Austria to court the sympathy of Poland. And the Poles seized the occasion to denounce the Jews, now to the Russians, now to the Germans, as spies and traitors. The position of the Jews under this cross-fire became unbearable. Here are several cases, selected at random, showing its effect upon the Jewish population: One of the first towns in Russian Poland captured by the Austrians was Zamosti, near the Hungarian frontier, taken by a detachment of Sokol troops in September, 1914. They were soon driven out by the Russians; and at once the Poles of the town denounced the Jews to the Russian commander, accusing the Jews of having given aid to the enemy during the Austrian occupation of the town. Twelve Jews were arrested. They denied their guilt but were sentenced to death. Five of them had already been hanged, when, in the midst of the execution, a Russian priest, carrying an image of the Virgin, appeared and with his hand on the image took oath that the Jews were innocent and that the accusation was merely a product of Polish vindictiveness. He proved that the Poles of the town themselves had supported the Austrians and that even a telephone connection with Lemberg could be found. The seven remaining Jews were then set free. But five had already been hanged.[18] At Lemberg, in September, 1914, the Poles accused the Jews of firing on Russian troops; as a consequence a great many Jews were arrested, and nearly seventy were attacked and wounded; but an investigation proved them all innocent, and Drs. Rabner and Diamond, the Jews who had been taken as hostages, were released.[19] At Kieltse and Radom the Poles plundered many Jewish shops and when the Russians returned after the German retreat the Poles denounced the Jews as German sympathizers. Here also those Jews who were arrested were found to be innocent and released after investigation.[20] At Mariampol, near the East Prussia frontier, because of a similar accusation, the entire Jewish male population, with their Rabbi, Krovchinski, at their head, were compelled to work the roads for three days—September 22–24 (October 5–7), 1914 (the first two of these days falling on the Sukkoth holiday.)[21]