Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-28
SAY ALLIES COULD
EASILY R0UT REDS
Would Be Unable to Resist
Trained Army, Russian
Officers Declare.
TELL OF HORRIBLE DEEDS

WARSAW, Tuesday, December "a
(by the Associated Press).-Russian
officers who have escaped from boil
shevik Russia to Warsaw, in discuss
ing the possibility of an allied mill
wiki, pointed out to the correspondent
today that the bolsheviki would be
unable to resist a trained army. The
bolshevik forces, they declared, would
flee before armored motor cars,
tanks and other methods of modern
warfare to which they were not ac-
customed
Tanks would be of practical use
on the hard SHOWS in case of a Win
ter campaign. An army Of interven-
ton could be reasonably sure of OBJ
tanning food supplies from the Tx
raine.
Poles Need Equipment.
Polish and Russian officers say that
if the Polish forces were given arms,
airplanes and ammunition they would
soon constitute a more or less strong
barrier against the bolsheviki, who
are advancing across the old German
front of -vitebsk-M Mo-
hilevPinsk which has been
evacuated by the German army of
Gen. Hoffman.
The Russian officers said they
thought that if action against the
bolsheviki were delayed against
spring the bolsheviki, provided their
army survives the food conditions
this winter, may be stronger. The
bolsheviki now are talking freely Of
increasing their army to 100000
men. The red army is an offshoot of
the red guard and. the officers say.
the only dependable troops are those
that are highly paid.
More Dreadful Than Old Rule.
Bolshevik rule in Russia is describ-
ed by the officers as more dreadful
than that of the old empire. and it is
also more corrupt Money, it is said.
will buy judgments in the courts.
Prisoners are tortured, their legs and
arms broken and sometimes their
tongues are cut out.
The bolsheviki, the officers continue,
have been guilty of many excuses in
Lithuania and the Ukraine. At one
place in the Ukraine the landowners
were arrested and locked up in a cell
lar. which was flooded. Bands con-
sisting. in part, of criminals CAPTURED
a number of former imperial officers
at Pskov. The officers were knouted
and then hanged to trees along the
roads.
Refugees who have arrived here
| from Petrograd, after spending all
their money to buy their escape. re-
port that Prince Vassichlikoff is
among the hundreds Of wealthy Rus
SLAMS held in prison. His friends
hoy 10 IN
loo, 900 rubles.
Divided Into Four Glasses.
Society in Petrograd is divided into
four classes. In the first are the
heavy manual workers. in the second
class are the heavy mental workers
The third comprises clerks, janitors
and small shopkeepers. while the
formerly wealthy. The fourth class
is now very limited in number.
The refugees say that the govern.
ment has started propaganda
against religion. Ikons are being
taxed and school children are forced
to attend courses in atheism. Civil
| marriages are replacing the religion!
ceremonies. A divorce can be obtained
| by signing a declaration of incompati
bility before a civil magistrate.
] The Russian fleet formerly based a
Kronstadt, is in the Neva river. 1t II
still manned and floating. The sailors
are selling much of the equipment
Take Furniture From Family.
The bolshevik government has de
clared furniture to be state propert,
and an authorization must be obtained
for permission to move it. A famil,
which was attempting to make IT
way from Moscow to Warsaw will
two carts loaded with furniture go
as far as Minsk. where the loca
council decided 1t would keep the fur
niture.
A peasant discovered Q piano anon,
the goods and he began to hop up ant
down with his feet on the keyboard
exclaammg:.