Cossack Brutalities.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 781, 27 March 1905, Page 2

Cossack Brutalities.

Our cablegrams h.ive told how the bloodthirsty nature of Hie Cossacks asserted itself in th v course oi tho street lighting in St. Petersburg*. One who hits thoroughly studied the Russian soldier thus describes the Cos-

Kvery country has its corps d'elite imt no country give; u more prominent position to its " crack " corps than Hussia concedes to the Cossack's-. This is the more remarkable, in. siiiuch as the Cossacks nre not re:illy Russians, bill the frontier ti'ibcM which liussia has absorbed. The explnnnlion is to be found in tl'e fact, that the Kussians proper in.- not a wfM'lii.p nation. Thcv

(I've In the iiruiy under coinpu'sion wou'd very much perfer thai tl,e Cossacks should il<> til. ij- iiiq i (J> - them. On the oilier hand, the Cossacks level in lighting and in the congenial task of keeping order amongst the students, .lows, and ihe other disturbing elements of the Czar's pence. So the Cossack is given liride of piiice in the Kiissjun army because he is a genuine lighting man, and because no pcnc.'nble H, ssian would dre;uu of disuniting- ! his claim*).

The Cossack is a pri\ person ; he has a special education and laws of his own. lie hus also his own customs!, which arc not very pleasing. From his early days ' lO is taught that blood is the one thing needful;.. As a youngster he will attend at the slaughtering of nnminfS. and run to catch the blood in a little wooden cup— and he drinks it. When he grows up his thirst for blood is installable ; it i.i a practical, working thirst, und not a mere liguru" of speech'. It is the craiving of a carnivorous beast. The smell of blood effects him lis it does tho tiger, and his instinct guides him to tho " kill." lie is not particular as to the fountain from which he drinks. An ox or a pig will serve him ; but sometimes he flics al higher game. In Omsk n Cossack was arrested by the police for murdering a Persian pedlar. The I'ersian was what i» known as a " box wnlluh " in Anglo-India, lie u*.-d lo go round tho town with a bundle of printed cottons for sale. The Cossack coveted the Persian's goads and his money, so ho waylaid and iniurdered him. He confessed, when arrested, that he had cut tho Persian's throat and drunk of his blood. I was prcs-ont when he made the confession, and I came across a very similar case in Malo-Cherkass. It is a common report that In the war with Turkey the Cossocks practically lived"'on tho l.lood of the Turks whom they had captured, until Alexander the Second got word of it, a»d ordered the Cossack general to put u stop to the practice.