Men would submit to operations on their eyes, ears, or limbs, which caused them horrible sufferings, in the hope of escaping the service.

If the operation was successful, the patient was rejected by the examining officers, and in a short time he was well, and a free man.

Often, however, the deformity intended to be temporary proved incurable, so that there were many men in Polotzk blind of one eye, or hard of hearing, or lame, as a result of these secret practices; but these things were easier to bear than the memory of four years in the Czar's service.
Sons of rich fathers could escape service without leaving any marks on their persons.

It was always possible to bribe conscription officers.
This was a dangerous practice,--it was not the officers who suffered most in case the negotiations leaked out,--but no respectable family would let a son be taken as a recruit till it had made every effort to save him.

My grandfather nearly ruined himself to buy his sons out of service; and my mother tells thrilling anecdotes of her younger brother's life, who for years lived in hiding, under assumed names and in various disguises, till he had passed the age of liability for service.
If it were cowardice that made the Jews shrink from military service they would not inflict on themselves physical tortures greater than any that threatened them in the army, and which often left them maimed for life.