is time the lack of food in Petrograd, the result largely of
speculation and "cornering the market," had become so serious that the
government thought it wise to call in several regiments of Cossacks to
reinforce the police.

These Cossacks are wild tribesmen of the plains who enjoy a freedom
not shared by any other class in Russia. They are warriors by trade
and their sole duty consists in offering themselves, fully equipped,
whenever the government has need of their services in war. They were
of a different race, originally, than the Russians themselves,
although by inter-marrying they now have some Slavic blood in their
veins. Their appearance upon the streets of Petrograd was almost
always a threat to the people. Enjoying freedom themselves and liking
nothing better than the practice of their trade--fighting--they had
had little or no sympathy with the wrongs of the populace, and so were
the strongest supporters of the despotic rule of the Czar. At times
when the Czar did not dare to trust his regular soldiers to enforce
order in Petrograd or Moscow, for fear the men would refuse to fire
upon their own relatives in the mob, the Cossacks could always be
counted upon to ride their horses fearlessly through the people,
sabering to right and left those who refused to disperse.

[Illustration: Crowd in Petrograd during the Revolution]

The second week of March, 1917, found crowds in Petrograd protesting
against the high prices of food and forming in long lines to demand
grain of the government. As day succeeded day, the crowds grew larger
and bolder in their murmurings. Cossacks were sent into the city, but
for some strange reason they did not cause fear as they had in times
past. Their manner was different. Instead of drawing their sabers,
they good naturedly joked with the people as they rode among them to
disperse the mobs, and were actually cheered at times by the populace.
The crowds grew larger and more boisterous. Regiment after regiment of
troops was called in. The police fired upon the people when the latter
refused to go home. Then a strange thing happened. A Cossack, his eyes
flashing fire, rode at full tilt up the street toward a policeman who
was firing on the mob, and shot him dead on the spot. A shout went up
from the people: "The Cossacks are with us!" New regiments of troops
were brought in. The men who composed them knew that they were going
to be ordered to fire upon their own kind of people--their o