Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 187, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1919 — RUSS NOBLEWOMAN DESCRIBES ATROCITIES OF THE BOLSHEVIKI [ARTICLE]

RUSS NOBLEWOMAN DESCRIBES ATROCITIES OF THE BOLSHEVIKI

Hundreds of Persons Tortured in the Most Inhuman Fashion Before Being Put to Death and Their Estates Pillaged and Mansions Razed—Thousands Die From Hunger All Over Country.

New York, —“We do not hope any longer; we die!” The despair to which bolshevik misrule has reduced Russia is thus epitomized by a Russian noblewoman widely known throughout her country, in a remarkable picture of events in her country contained in a letter received recently in New York. Her castles and estates plundered or razed, her fortune vanished and her friends and family murdered, this titled woman is moved to remark that “three years ago, my second daughter and her husband died, he having caught cold in the trenches. Then I was in despair; now I envy them.” “I beg of you never to mention my npme; I wrote frankly to you counting on your discretion,” is the plea which fear of bolshevik tyranny moves the unfortunate woman to place at the close of her letter to her friend, a. New York woman of prominent and influential family. "Excuse the incoherences; I write with my heart bleeding, knowing that I shall never be able to give you the faintest idea of the sufferings that thousands are enduring.” A graphic tale of the' misery that spreads itself over Russia is unfolded in the letter. Wholesale pillaging and murder by bolsheviki, Germans, Finnsand others swept the land dear of its wealth. Both the noblewoman who wrote the letter and the woman who received it are.well known. The danger involved fer the former makes it advisable that not only the names of the persons but the names of the localities mentioned be withheld from publication. The letter in full reads as follows: “My* very”very dear Mrs. B .j—J__ “At last I am able to write to you and to hope to hear from you. “I will endeavor to tell you briefly the personal events of these terrible last years. But how to begin? How to give you the faintest idea of the unimaginable atrocities committed by the bolsheviki? Speaking of ourselves, I will tell you that we have lost everything. The bolsheviki have stolen all our fortune, boxes of silverware, precious objects, personal remembrances which undoubtedly are now destroyed. Freed to Flee From Home. “Three years ago my second daughter and her husband died, he having caught cold in the trenches. Then I was in despair, now. I envy them. The year 1917 in autumn, we had to flee from M , and come to the city, where .we lived under the reds’ regime until the arrival of the Germans. “You have probably read in the pa-

I pers that the reds had sent to Siberia I 300 Russian barons, and also some bourgeoisie; some died and the others returned two months after. “Although under our roof lived a military guard of bolsheviki or reds, good luck kept us from sharing their lot. I cannot describe the last days. After the arrival of the Germans a list was found of about a thousand persons, in which we were, who were to be shot the very next day. “The reign of the Germans lasted exactly seven months; they annihir lated all our hopes, they accumulated taxes upon taxes;' carrying away all the food to Germany, leaving the people of our cities to starve. “No discipline, corruption everywhere, no administration. Only those who deliberately closed their eyes to evidence failed to see that a country thus plundered and so badly treated was not to remain long under their rule. But, alas 1 How many were blind! “Then came the great catastrophe; the German troops fraternizing with the bolsheviki at W ; surrendering to them cannon, war ammunition, and refusing to fight. The Germans even damaged the cannon to the Esthes troops, which had been formed hastily and were incapable of defending themselves, having nothing, absolutely nothing! Reds* Rule Was Worse. “Then, for another year the country was at the mercy of the reds, and it was worse than the first time. “The Bolsheviki had with them Chinese and Red Lettes, who were terribly cruel, and those formed the guard of the unfortunate emperor and his family. “On the 28th of November we learned that W— — had fallen; that the Germans were leaving us in haste; and, as the German general commanding at R— —, had, at the request of the Lettes, refused the formation of troops with the men of the country, we were.left without any defense. “The lights of the electric projectors of the enemy’s ships already illuminated our shores; from the castle’s tower we could see everything; there was not a minute to be lost. The trains were running only for the German troops; it was then necessary to risk traveling by the inland ways, through dreadful roads and in a country in for when the Germans took possession of the provinces they took care not to punish their friends, the bolshevik! ; so that we were compelled to see and to live with the people who had stolen and pillaged our properties. The Germans did nothing to find out the revolutionists and to protect us, nothing! “After having packed in haste the strictly necessary things, our small caravan started at five o’clock in the morning; it was dark and the roads were frightful. “We arrived at R —— on the second of December. We were able to stay four weeks at our home, then in great haste we had to embark on the boat sent to Finland for the fugitives and we arrived at Helsingfors. Lassitude, troubles, and emotions of all these weeks -overwhelmed at last my poor husband. “Fortunately we found two rooms in a hospital; there we lived for two months, being often hungry, and when we could get some food it was execrable.

“The high prices of living in Finland are unbelievable. A pound of tea, which ordinarily cost from five to fifteen kronen, cost from one hundred to

a hundred and fifty marks; a kilogramme of sugar one hundred marks, etc. Also Finland tried to get rid of so many people she had to feed, and, as the bolsheviki who come up to 28 kilometers from R- had been repulsed by the Finn troops, which had at the last moment come in aid to the Letts and to the volontaire corps of Balthes-Germans, the Finns then ordered all fugitives to leave the country within six days. However, we received, on account of my husband’s bad condition, permission to stay until h« would get better. “Going back was an impossibility, the situation being still very grave; a second expedition was no longer possible for the strength of my poor husband; moreover, we had nothing left. Our large city house was taken and turned into a hospital by a Russian volontaire corps. M devastated and blundered! First by the bolsheviki, then by the Esths, whom the Germans left unpunished; then.by the white troops and the Finns, who were fighting the reds, German properties being left unmolested. Family Lost Everything. “Last year our estate had suffered, but our magnificent castle with all its dependencies had been respected. Now all have pillaged it. The Finns being more civilized stole the most beautiful things—paintings, bronzes, . antiques, etc. Finally the 36 masters’ rooms and the 11 servants’ rooms were plundered. What they could, not take away they smashed or burned. We lost everything. Not a sheet, not a plate br a glass exist, and when our intendant complained- to the minister of state (a Thesthe), he answered him that naturally in war time everybody wanted to have some souvenirs. The whites pillaged, as I hear, 80 estates, and they were supposed to be our defenders!

“Friends here obtained for us the permission to come to K , where We found two rooms in a family. We hope soon to find some occupation, and sell some furs that I could take with me, for unfortunately my beautiful laces are Also in Petrograd. “I do not know whether you have an idea of what the bolsheviki have done everywhere whenever they had to retire. At W —— they killed 82 people; we have lost friends, acquaintances and our excellent and noble doctor. Ab most all were tortured before being put to death. Before shooting Doctor L they broke his two legs. To the old Baroness H., seventy-two years old, aftei having opened her stomach, snatched out her intestines while alive, They killed priests, doctors, nobles, merchants, worsen, children and peasants. They made several persons dig their own graves, forcing them to undress; a carriage was waiting to take away their clothes. Then they tortured every one, breaking arms and legs, crushing the limbs, snatching the intestines, gouging out the eyes, scarring the cheeks, and they even burned two persons alive. “There were three large pits; they tossed pell mell in one of them the living and the dead, and then these monsters jumped into the pit and trampled under foot the unfortunates until they w*ere lifeless. ‘Twelve persons were so crushed and disfigured that they could not be recqgnized. And all that is true!

• “After the corpses had been exhumed the doctors and the officers of the state took photographs of each, after having examined everyone of them. Russia Awaiting the Allies “At D , at W , etc., whenever, the Reds were repulsed—note, I pray you, that I say ‘everywhere’—the same tortures w’ere inflicted to the unfortunate ones. I shall not try to describe the horrors of other places, for It has been the same everywhere, “At D , hundreds have been thrown under the ice of the river, yet a clement death compared with the others. “Thousands, die from hunger in all Russia; bolshevism reigns everywhere. We had hoped to be delivered by the Germans; and they having failed/ we hpped for the allies; now, as an officer who has escaped from Petrograd was telling, we do not hope any longer, we die! • “Russia is anxiously awaiting the help of the allies, for she alone cannot conquer the terrorizing bolsheviki.”