Arizona republican., 1915-05-03
Investigation by Non Ba- tocki, Ober President, Shows Extent of Destluc- tion in Province by Rus { sian Invaders
MANY ARE CARRIED
 CAPTIVE TO RUSSIA
Nurses and Others Sus- pected of Spying Taken as Far as Eastern Sibe- : ria-HOrses and Cattle Driven Off
LAssocIArEp rREss pIsPArcHI

KOENIGSBERG. May 2-Just as Field Marshal von Hindenburg has be- come a dominating figure througout all Germany. sO. in the province of East Prussia. Adolph von Batoki. the Ober Praesident. has become the most prom inent character because of his indefa - tigible efforts in behalf of the hun ,ireds of thousands of persons made homeless by the inroads of the Rus sii9ns
 VOn Eatocki began his work as soon as he was called from private life to his high office last fall, for much had by that time been destroyed and de- Nastated With the more recent raid on Memel and the destruction of a majority of the district of which it is the center, he once more took to the field.
 Three hunGred thousand inhabitants of his province. he estimated, had fled from their homes or the remains of them, and had to be cared for in vari- ous parts of Germany. To accomplish their care. typical German system has been restored to. so that about l.500 fugitives from each section were taken care of together apportiOned off to districts all over Germany.
 These S09. 900 persons, older and very young peoHIe in the majority. have lied from tke agricultural districts all along the curving Russian border. from a district 500 kilometers or more in length. and extending inward into the German empire anywhere from 10 to s5 milometers.
 For the most part these fugitives are still absent from their homes, nor are they as yet being urged to return. A few districts. which are only partially destroyed, rave been restored to their former inhabitants. who are struggling back slowly
 Won Batocki found that about 100. 900 horses have been driven off by the Rus Sians. some 14.0O0 of which have been recovered by German offensive move ments The number of cattle taken by the Russians exceeded the number of horses. but so also has the number re captured been greatly in excess of the horses. Fully 100 900 have been re taken by the Germans. but most of the animals were in weakened cOndi- tion that required almost immediate slaughter.
 In tkis tour throughout his province, the ober president said he found trac-
 
 the Russians, none stranger than their almost superstitious fear of espionage. Electric light plants had been demol- ished. grea meats had been dug about hospitals to counteract the supposed influence of the Roentgen Ray, and nurses and inhabitants suspected of spying had been carried off by the hundred to Russia. The fate of these 5r sfif in, ,F nL m to their friends and relatives. Some. it is not known. have been taken as far as Vladivostok in Eastern Siberia. Others. especially. the nurses. went only to Petrograd where they imme- diately continued hospital work, and where with few exceptions they were decentlv and carefully treated.
 IT the Russian fear of Prussion spy ing has been great. they themselves have done their share. In addition to having some few agents in the towns along the bOr6er they made excellent use of the windmills that abound all over the province az signal stations.
 Patrols. or agents. were able to com municate with the columns behind quite effectively by turning the arms of the windmill in a prearranged man. ner
 To this same purpose also the Rus sians found the hay stacks very useful, and would get one afire to give one sig nal. two for another and so on. How many tons of hay have been burned for this purpose it is impossible to estimate but the number is very large
 The worst of the plundering and footing. the over -praesident found. has been committed by Russian soldiers