Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-16
TIE DE SMIRNOPF CASE
BARON RosEN's COMMENT ON Al
LEGGED cRUELTIEs TO WOMAN.

NEW YORK, August 16.-A special to the
Herald, from Magnolia. Mass. says:
Baron Rosen, the Russian ambassador,
last night said he had never heard of Mile.
de Smirnoff. mentioned as the victim OF
cruelties by the Chevaliers in st. Peters
burg.
He says the Chevaliers are the mounted
guard and carry swords only, so that the
report seems incredible. as 1t mentions the
use of horsewhips He says the Chevallers
are not Cossacks, but belong to a olHereh'
branch of the mounted service.
Story Not Confirmed by Relative.
NEW YORK. August 16.-Charles W..
Blow of ST. Louis who is staying at hotei
in Atlantic City. stated over the long as
lance telephone last night that he doubted
whether the Mile. de Smirnoff mentioned In
the Associated Press dispatches from st.
Petersburg was his cousin. the niece OF
Mrs Herbert Wadsworth of Avon. N T.,
and Washington, ID. c.. and cousin OF
James W. Wadsworth, speaker of assembly
Mr.. Blow stated that he received a letter
from the young woman yesterday dated in
Finland, in which she expressed her deter
mination to sail for the United states, ana
that she would doubtless reach this coun-
try on September /.
Mr. Blow said 1t was possible she had
gone to st. Petersburg, however. Mr.. Blow
said he had received no personal confrma-
tl0n concerning the outrage.
Certain Victim is Not American.
ROCHESTER, N. Y. August 16.-Mrs.
Herbert Wadsworth of Avon says she Is
quite certain that the Mile. Nelka Smirnoff.
whom the Russian soldiers whipped nearly
to death in st. Petersburg Tuesday. Is not
her niece. Mrs Wadsworth says that on
August 1 she received a letter from her
niece and she was then engaged as matron
in a Red Cross hospital In Finland. In Or
der to be on the safe side, however, Mrs.
Wadsworth has sent cable to Finland
Representative James w. Wadsworth said
today that he believed he would have heard
before now from st. Petersburg II the young
woman assaulted was his relative. His son,
Speaker Wadsworth of the New York as
sembly. said that Mile. Smirnoff was not
blood relative. but a niece by marriage OF
Herbert Wadsworth. He had often met her
while visiting in this country. In which she
spent more of her time than in Russia. The
parents of Mile. Sm;rnoff have been dead
several years, he slid. She has been in the
habit of paying periodical lengthy visits to
this country, from which she returned to
Russia only about a year ago OF independ-
ent means. she has always trave'ed a good
deal. and has been able to cultivate artistic
tastes in the atelierS of Paris and the
studios of Washington. In the latter city
she was favorite In art student circles.
When the Russo-Japanese war broke out
Mile. Smirnoff returned to Russia and be-
came nurse in military hospital.
A Relative at Annapolis Academy,
Special Dispatch to The Star.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. August l6.-Should it
develop on investigation that the Mile
Smirnoff who was yesterday so brutaly
beaten by the Chevalier guards of ST. Pc
tersburg is Miss Nilka de SmirnoT who
is so well known in Washington friends of
the young lady in Annapolis will manifest
even greater interest than they now feel on
the suspicion that this may be true.
Miss Smirnof is a first cousin Of Mid
shipman Henry Blow Lebourgeois of the
present first class at the Naval Academy
Her mother was a Miss Blow, a sister Of
Midshimpan Lebourgeois' mother Miss
Smirnoff has attended the midshipmen's
hops at the Naval Academy with her cousin
and is known here in that way. Her MILDLY
cousin is now aboard one of the ships of
the summer practice cruise. He Is of
French extraction and was appointed to
the academy from Anna, La