Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1918 — FACES DEATH IN MOSCOW BATTLE [ARTICLE]

FACES DEATH IN MOSCOW BATTLE

Seattle Woman Tells of Plight ot Americans in Russian City. LIVE LIKE RATS EIGHT DAYS Describes Terrible Experiences During Fight Between the Bolsheviki and Cadets —In Very Center of the Battle. Seattle, Wash—How Americans huddled for eight days in the basement of a hotel in Moscow, Russia, while the battle between the bolsheviki and cadets loyal to the government raged over their heads, is told in a vividly interesting letter received here by relatives of Mrs, Helen Meserve, formerly of this city, who has spent the last three and one-half years with her husband in Russia. Harry Meserve, her husband, ia representative of the National City bank of New York in Petrograd and Moscow. “Living like rats and runnirig from place to place to avoid the bullets of the machine guns and the shells of the larger guns,” Mrs. Meserve says, “was an experience she hopes never to undergo again.”. The first part of her letter Is dated November 17, 1917, at Moscow. It says: “Yesterday we were able to leave the hotel in Moscow and are now at the French military headquarters. For eight days we were under bombardment and for three hours the guns of the anarchists were turned directly on the Hotel National, where great damage was done. All the windows were broken and the walls the big shells. Like Rats in Cellar. “The last few days we lived like rats in the cellar, running from place to place to safe shelter. During all the bombardment we did not take our clothes off and sat up two nights.” Four days later the letter was continued at the Hotel d’Europe in Petrograd. The letter continues: “We arrived here yesterday fb a Red Cross train and are leaving for home just as soon as we possibly can get but. I will try and tell a little more about our experiences in Moscow.

“The firing began at ten o’clock at night. At first only a few shots were fired. There was positively no warning any kind, as we knew the government had been taken over by tfie boisheviki (this party is composed of anarchists and socialists, the former in grea't majority). “Our rooms weje on the corner of the hotel and our windows were riddled with bullets while we were dressing early in the morning preparatory to leaving. “We were in the very center of the battlefield. The fight was between the boisheviki and the cadets, the latter standing by the government and the former trying to overthrow iL There was very little to eat in the hotel, and again the Red Cross men came to our rescue and we did our own cooking, “On Sunday the cadets took possession of the hotel. On Monday the boisheviki began to fire on it with rifles only. Nearly all the windows were broken and we lived in the halls. On Tuesday the big guns were turned immediately on us and the two upper stories destroyed. The big gun firing continued for three long and horrible hours. Cadets Driven Out. “The entire hotel became so filled with smoke and gas It was difficult to breathe, and we could scarcely see ten feet away. “The firing from the anarchists drove the cadets from our hotel, and on Tuesday night the anarchists took possession. “The battle continued for four days more, the boisheviki firing from our hotel and the cadets firing back. On Wednesday the firing was so heavy that the halls were not even safe, and we went to the cellar, where we stayed a couple of days and nights. “It was not only the firing —that was expected—but the boisheviki had demanded the keys to the wine cellar, which had been refused. No one knew when they might use force and get them. You cannot imagine what awful looking people these men are. A large part seemed to be deserters from the army, and they looked as If there was nothing they would stop at. “Finally the firing seemed to diminish, and on Saturday we learned the cadets had been defeated.”