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

at are you doing?” Instantly, about 50 men surrounded him and his companions. Unruh was ordered to kneel and pray to his God be- cause they were going to shoot him for having the audacity to call them thieves and murderers. To this, Unruh responded, ““Who are you and why did you mercilessly kill that young man?”’ “Because, one answered, “he did not want to let us have what we wanted.” They raised their guns, and the Mennonites began beg- ging them not to shoot Unruh. At that moment, the poor demented outcast, Johann Drake, suddenly stepped out of the group, raised Un- ruh to his feet, and placed his arms around him. Looking directly at Unruh he said, ‘Brother, I will die for you.” Then he confronted the Turkomans and boldly said, “Take me in place of this man. For there is no one who will miss me or cry for me, since my parents are both dead. I am alone, and I am willing to die for this man; for he has a wife and small children who care.” A Turkoman spokesman replied, ““This we cannot do, because not only does our religion not allow it, but it is against our conscience; go away and let us quickly kill this man who called us thieves and murderers.” Drake did not even flinch at these words but kept his arms around Unruh. The bandits began murmuring among themselves, lowered their guns, and said, ‘We grant you both your freedom and your lives.” Then they mounted their horses and rode away to the profound relief of the defenseless Mennonites. None of those present had ever experienced anything like this incident and would never for- get it.° When local Turkoman authorities were notified about the murder, they merely suggested that the Mennonites should build their houses closer together, build walls around them, and buy guns for protection. Russian officials in Petro-Alexandrovsk said they could not help the settlement because of its distance from their garrison; and, after, all, Lausan was on Khivan soil. By now, a number of Mennonite families wanted to leave Lausan because of this seemingly indifferent atti- Refuge Becomes a Trap 167 tude by the officials, but the fear of crossing the desert where more Turkomans lived soon dissuaded them. Many others who were not yet ready to leave found that their basic belief in nonresistance was being put to the supreme test. When the news of the murder reached the Russian General Grot- tenhelm, he suggested that the khan be notified immediately. When the Mennonites reported the incident to the khan he immediately ordered an investigation of the murder and also the robberies. Prom- ising the Mennonites restitution for stolen property, he explained that he was a staunch Uzbek who did not like Turkomans anyway, and he promptly initiated steps to shut off the Turkoman water supply in the Lausan area to bring them under submission. In fact, with the khan’s help, within a few months several of the robbers were cap- tured and sent to Khiva for trial. In showing