•After two days
‘tramping’ along the track, according to one of Gareth’s 1935 American syndicated articles
for Randolph Hearst, his trek came to an abrupt end:
•“It happened in a small station, where I was
talking with a group
of peasants: “We are dying,” they wailed and poured out the old story of their woes. A red-faced, well-fed
OGPU policeman in
uniform approached us and stood listening for a few moments.
•Then came the outburst, and
from his lips poured a series of Russian curses.
“Clear away, you! Stop telling him about hunger! Can’t you see he’s a foreigner?”
•He turned to me and roared:
“Come along. What are you doing here? Show me your documents.”
•Visions of a secret police
prison darted before my mind. The OGPU man looked at my passport and beckoned to one
of the crowd,
whom I had taken to be an ordinary passenger, but who was obviously in the secret police.