Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-10-12
THE JEWS ARE
beaten AND SHOT
WITHOUT CAUSE
Associated Press Correspondent
Finds Proof of Cruelties Vented
On Innocent People.
LARGE NUMBER ARE EXILED
One Rich Jew Forced to Pay Ransom
to Recover Daughter From
Soldiers Hands.

LODI, Russian Poland, Oct. H.
The Jews of Russian Poland. now il
the hands of the Austrians and Ger
mans, appear to have suffered, prio
to the Russian retirement, NOR,
than the normal amount of hardship
imposed by war. An investigation
by a correspondent Of The Associat
ed Press disclose that there was {
rather promiscuOus execution by thu
Russians of Jews accused Of espion
age, that many persons were sub
jected to physical assaults of greater
or less violence, committed with
knouts or flats of swords, and that in
many places there was plundering
of Jewish shops and houses by the
Russian soldiery.
The correspondent visited the two
chief cities of this district, LODI and
Piotrokow. He questioned some
Jews from the districts around LODI
and Piotrokow, but was not able tc
visit the small villages and the rural
districts generally, where, the Jews
allege, most Of the massacres, plum
derings, violations, etc., occurred
The outstanding feature, however
of every case investigated was that
in the words of one Jewish scholar
nothing happened to the. Jews
without a previous denunciation. u
In some instances this feature of the
case was Immediately admitted; in
others it was brought to light by
further inquiry.
A typical case of the latter sort
was that of Jew named Kozlokski
storekeeper at Malinitz, village
near Piotrokow. The story was this
When the Russians came to Malinitz
in November, they were angry be-
cause it had come to their ears that
some Jew of the village had made
short work of the Russians. The Rus
slams lined up all the male inhabit-
ants of the town and threatened to
shoot or hang them unless the man
responsible for the words complain
ed Of were delivered up. Thereupon
Kozlokski stepped forward, assumed
responsibility for the words in ques-
ton, and was hanged.
Accepting as true the story of the
manner Of the execution, as it was
told by the father and son of the vic
tim, it was marked by specific
cruelty which frequently marked ex-
ecutions during the Russian raid in
to East Prussia last October. The
Associated Press correspondent at
that time found many instances in
which the victims were stood
against walls and, instead of being
killed by volley fire, as is usual in
such executions, were killed by sold
iers firing at will. Kozlowski ap-
pears to have been executed in the
same manner, after having been
bound to tree.
Polish denunciations, according to
were responsible for the
only three cases of atrocity or cruel
ty found in LODI itself. Russian SOL
diers came to the home of Abram
kochan on the Baluter market in
November and took him away. His
wife was prevented from following
lim. This was on a Friday. The
mans body was found outside the
;ity on the following Tuesday. He
lad been shot.
Israel Blockmann, an old man, I
old how the Russians took his son ]
rom the house on a Wednesday,
md how the body was found two I
lays later outside the city. He had s
'een shot and bayoneted. S
Jews in Piotrokow said there were {
hree days of plundering and rioting II
y Russian soldiers there, in which 6
ews generally were dubbed and t
whipped. One mans hand was
roken, and five, they said, had cuts
n the head Seventeen of the city's
lost prominent Jews were banished
, Viatka. Seven hundred male =
ews, it is declared, were assembled
t the railway station and the Rus :.
ans announced that every tenth .
ian was to be shot. The local Rus
an pope (priest) knelt before the =.
en with a cross and defied the SOL y
iers to shoot. None of the Jews
ere executed. =
Six Jews are said to have been
anged at Suliojeff, charged with II
wing in supplies for the Germans =
wenty-six are alleged to have been
ken away from Brzczyn, of whom