New Britain herald., 1916-08-18

military authorities were FinVited to the session of the superior commits sion of the council of state, and the right of decisive vote was given them.
 They were requested to expose all the information they possessed with regard to the purely military question of the administration of the war of flee under General Soukhomlinoff. The Corriere of Milan learns from PetrOgrad that their testimony was considered sufficient to justify the ar rest of the war minister. The Ques- ton of reasonable relations with the enemy, however. is said to have been left untouched by the superior commission in reporting on the pre- liminary hearing of the case
 The suggestion of reasonable con- duct was based on the relations which existed between the general and the traitor Mossoiedoff. An investigation into this end of the case was post poned.
 An inquiry was then begun into the relationships which General Souk- homlinoff had before becoming a member of the government and it was determined to clear up the in fuence which the acquaintanceships which he gradually made exercised. on his unfortunate career. It Is hinted that, having once started off on cer- tain illicit courses, he let himself be- come more and more involved in in trigues woven around him by rascals and blackmallers, who knew much about his private affairs and were able to hold him in their grasp.
 A dubious crowd of ambitious clim bers had welded an iron ring around the Soukhomlinoff family. This band was formed at Kiev when the general lived there as governor of the city.
 The most intimate frequenters of his house were Massoiedoff, Dmitry Bogroff, who later was the assassin of Premier Stolypin during a theater performance at Kiev; a certain Ku- dapko, and a certain Altschiller. The last mentioned was the strangest per sonality of all.
 An Austrian subject, he lived per manently at Kiev with a Viennese woman who was known in society as his "civil wife" In Russia the only 1 marriage is that performed according | to religious rites, and the term "civiP' l consequently can mean only extra | legal Altschiller and his wife be- came friends of the Soukhomlinoff family, and the latter, indeed, owed no small debt of gratitude to these two Austrian citizens for aid given in bringing about the union in marriage of General Soukhomlinoff with his present wife, who ten years ago was married to a member of the Court of Appeals of Warsaw.
 Young Wife's Antecedents.
 Other accounts with regard to the young and fascinating woman whom the general made his wife are to the >Lfect that she had been a waitress in |; restaurant at Kiev, and first won the heart and hand of a wealthy land owner and philanthropist.
 When General Soukhomlinoff was made minister of war and removed his household from <iev to Petrograd, the Altschillers also changed their res idence and opened an office in Gogol street in the capital. There is still @ good deal of mystery as to what sort of an office this was. The business that was there transacted had no re- latlon with commerce, but it is said to be proved that Altschiller's wife had close relations With the Austro- Hungarian embassy. In bureaucratic circles in Petrograd Altschiller's office was facetiously called the "office for the exploitation of Soukhomlinoff"
 At it's opening, General Soul1h omli- noff and his wife were present. at the head of a gathering of persons invited by Altschiller. The minister's wife served the tea and acted as hostess MassoiedOff was present, for he too emigrated from Kiev to Petrograd with the others. It is now believed that General Soukhomlinoff had no knowl- edge that Massoiedoff was an enemy spy, for the general had become his intimate friend and placed a blind con-