Imperial Valley press., 1913-10-08
Mendel Bells is on Trial
Charged with Ritual Murder
(By United Press Association

(By United Press ssoCiation)
Kieff, Oct. S.-After lying in jail
for two years and half, Mendel Bel
lis was placed on trial today in the
criminal section of the Kietf district
court for ritual murder" On account
of the extraordinary interest the case
has attracted throughout Europe the
courtroom was packed by a cosmo-
politan throng, when Judge Boldyreff
and his associates mounted the bench
and began the impaneiling of a jury.
The regular venire fer the court term
from which the jury was chosen con-
sisted of four men with g university
education, fourteen with an interme-
diate or elementary education, fifteen
who have not attended any school,
but who have received some domes-
tic education, and three who are
quite illiterate. More than 200 news
papermen, from various countries,
had previously applied for seats, but
so great was the demand made by
the friends of both local and st.
Petersburg officials. that many of the
correspondents had to stand in the
back Of the room and some, alth ugh
holding tickets, failed altogether of
admission Conspicuous among the
reporte.- was a personal representa-
i've Of NJ Stcheglovitotf, minister Of
justice. who had been instructed to
wire a running detail account Of the
proceedings to his chief in St. Peters
burg. From the inception of the ease
the minister of justice had carefully
directed the activities of the local
prosecutors. Brandorf and Chaplinsky
and it was with the full approval Of
the central government that the
charge of ritual murder was made
in the original indictment.
Ever since the morning of April
/. 1911. when the mutilated body Of
Andrei Muschinsky, a 12-year-old
Christian boy, was found in an aban-
doned brickyard Just outside kietf
the prosecution has been endeavoring
to establish the theory that he was
slain i'm accordance with am alleged
Jewish rite prescribed By the Talmud,
so that his blood might be used IN
making passover bread. For centuries
the ignorant and superstitious Jew
baiters Of Russia have cIung to the
belief that this rite" is regularly
practiced by the Jewish race, and the
government has apparently done all
il could to foster this idea NJ. krass-
ovsky, chief of the kietf detective
department. was actually instructed
to proceed on the theory that the
crime was the work Of Jews, although
the only possible preteXt for the ''rit-
ual" charge was that the body bore
Al stab wounds According to cur
rent superstition the ritual murder
is accomplished by 45 wounds, He
could obtain absolutely no evidence
along the required lines, but on the
contrary believed he had traced the
THREE =. md .diaoao
murder to a gang of thieves to which
neighbors of the boys family be-
longed, and who were known to be
fearful that Yuschinsky would betray
them to the authorities. He secured
evidence that one of the thieves was
sent with a chisel shortly before the
murder and that this same implement,
covered with blood was found by two
boys near the brick kiln afterwards.
The boys, upon orders of the thief,
threw it into a sewer.
When Krassovsky made his first re-
port to his superiors he was sternly
reprimanded. Later he was practi-
cally forced by them to arrest Men
del Bells, a Jew, 40 years of age,
foreman of the brickyard, in whose
room one of the thieves gang said
he had found some of the boys cloth
ing. On producing further evidence
indicating the guilt of the thieves,
and the innocence of Bells, Krass-
oysky was dismissed from office.
When a fresh investigation was made
under the direction of his successor,
NJ Mistchouk, he and his assistants
quickly came to the conclusion that
the ritual murder theory was fan
taaticaiIy untrue and so reported 70
the authorities. The result was no,
only the dismissal of Mistchouk and
Two Of his men but their arrest on
charges OF "fabricating documents
favorable to the Jews They were
acquitted, but the crown appealed
with the result that the verdict Va
reversed and they we've convicted an
sentenced to years hard labor