The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia, 1880-1884, Fred Richard Belk, 1976

e Turkomans and their Mennonite neighbors occurred on March 24, 1883. One family living on ‘‘the hill” reported that someone had come in the night and stolen a horse. The owner blamed the Turkomans living nearby, but when accused, they hotly contested the charge. They did not like be- 164 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites ing blamed, they argued, for something another clan did. After this initial incident many horses were stolen from the fields of the people of ‘‘the hill.’ At first the thieves had proceeded stealth- ily, but upon finding no opposition, they resorted to more brazen methods. Unlocked stables were broken into, and when the farmers locked their stables, the marauders began breaking the locks to get at the horses. These depredations continued until within a short time about fifty horses and more than thirty cows had been stolen. One horse was unchained from a wagon standing beside the owner's house and spirited away. As time went on, the Turkomans became even bolder. Horses were taken in the daytime; some even rode the horses past the homes of the Mennonites, dismounted, walked into their homes, stole clothing or other items, went back outside, and rode away. So serious was the situation that Johannes Jantzen moved his family from the hill to one of the walled courtyards in the flats to seek great- er security. Mennonite determination to remain true to their tenets of non- resistance simply emboldened the Turkoman bandits to acts of greater violence.’ No longer satisfied with merely stealing horses, they began entering homes by force. Their usual tactic was to break win- dows by shooting into them and screaming for the families to come out. They would then break down the door, drive the people out, break chairs and tables to start a fire, and search the house for money or clothing. Many homes were then vandalized: bedding was cut up and clocks or other useful articles were destroyed. Inevitably, this humiliating treatment led to physical injury. When two Mennonite men tried to stop a band of housebreakers, they were stabbed with sabers. Hearing the commotion, neighbors ran to help and confronted three Turkomans on horseback with sabers and knives raised. Charg- ing forward, the Mennonites beat the robbers’ horses with sticks until they broke and ran with the riders. Even this mild form of resistance was too much for many of the elders to accept. But the young men of the settlement found the continuing depre- dations intolerable and wanted to fight back — at least for purposes of self-defense. They had been told that the reason the Turkomans had become bolder was that they knew Christianity taught: “And if any man will . . . take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.” It seemed only right, to their way of thinking, that the Mennonites would only be following their Scriptures if they complied with their neigh- bors’ demands for their property. To further justify their mar