seven year old son of another woman, who had saved herself by flight,
was killed in beastly fashion for his refusal to make the sign of the
cross.

[Footnote 1: In the government of Kiev.]

In many cases the pogroms had been instigated by the newly arrived
Great-Russian "bare-footed brigade" who having accomplished their
"work," vanished without a trace.

A similar horde of tramps arrived at the railway station of Berdychev.
But in this populous Jewish center they were met at the station by a
large Jewish guard who, armed with clubs, did not allow the visiting
"performers" to leave the railway cars, with the result that they had to
turn back. This rare instance of self-defence was only made possible by
the indulgence of the local police commissioner, or _Ispravnik_, who,
for a large consideration, blinked at the endeavor of the Jews to defend
themselves against the rioters. In other places, similar attempts at
self-defence were frustrated by the police; occasionally they made
things worse. Such was the case in the town of Konotop, in the
government of Chernigov, where, as a result of the self-defence of the
Jews, the mob passed from plunder to murder. In the villages the
ignorant peasants scrupulously discharged their "pogrom duty," in the
conviction that it had been imposed upon them by the Tzar. In one
village in the government of Chernigov, the following characteristic
episode took place. The peasants of the village had assembled for their
work of destruction. When the rural chief, or Elder, [1] called upon the
peasants to disperse, the latter demanded a written guarantee that they
would not be held to account for their failure to comply with the
imperial "orders" to beat the Jews. This guarantee was given to them.