Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 140, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1920 — NOTED RUSSIANS SLAIN ON YACHT [ARTICLE]

NOTED RUSSIANS SLAIN ON YACHT

Finding of Bodies Reveals One of Most Mysterious Tragedies of Black Sea.

FLED FROMJHEJOLSHEVIKI On Board the Yacht Found 14,000,000 Rubles in Gold, Paper and Jewels —King of Roumania Is Pushing Investigation. Bucharest.—The discovery on the yacht Ostrara, stranded at Sulina in one of the mouths of the Danube, of the bodies of 11 noted Russian men and women, each shot through the head, and not a living person on board, has presented to the Roumanian authorities one of the most mysterious tragedies In the Black sea. The bodies have been identified as those of members of the noted Russian families of Falzfein and Skadowski. The Falzfeins were descendants of German Mennonite colonists who settled in the province of Kherson at the invitation of the Russian government.

Water in the Cabin. The discovery was made by soldiers, who, when they went aboard the helpless yacht, found the cabin half filled with water and the 11 bodies floating around. On board the yacht were 14,000,000 rubles in gold and paper, and jewels. Some money and valuables were found to be missing when records of the victims were checked up, but the amount was apparently small compared to the funds and valuables left aboard. The elder Felzfein still grasped a pistol in his hand when his body was found, and whether the party committed suicide or were murdered is a question that remains unanswered, and it is believed that the solution of how the families met their death may never be known. An investigation is being made by the Roumanian authorities, aided bj Russian friends of the two families. All that is known is that the two families fled their estates to Odessa, and when the bolshevik! arrived there in February put their belongings on board the yacht, w’hich was then towed by a Russian steamer bound for Constanza. The tow rofles broke several times, owing to severe storms, and finally the steamer lost the yacht altogether and proceeded to Constanza. Drifts at Mercy of Storm. It is believed that later, while the yacht drifted at' the mercy of the storm, the refugees, six men and five

women, became exhausted from the ’cold waves breaking over the vessel and from lack of food. Unable to manage the yacht, the party made a despairing effort to put it ashore on the desolate beach near Sulina. There they succeeded in launching small boats, but Roumanian guards, under strict orders to permit no landing through fear of the bolshevikl, ordered them to return to the vessel. It appears that some coast fishermen offered a rescue when the vessel began settling, owing to the consequent pounding of the heavy seas, but soldiers prevented. That was the last known of the vessel until it stranded. King Ferdinand and Queen Marie of Roumania have taken a great Interest in the investigation, especially because when the royal family was driven into exile and the capital removed to Jassy, the king and queen were offered the magnificent home of the Felzfeins, across the Bessarabian border.