The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-09-02

word. The engine stopped. A man
clambered down. He could speak a
few words of English. OF this he was
very proud I learned later he was
a doctor, a lieutenant in the Bolshe-
vik force and, suspect, an Austrian.
I made him understand there were
wagons and people back there, stuck
in the mud on the hill He called to
his men. Eagerly they ran to help.
They carried all those household goods
an eighth Of a mile to the box car
and dumped them in.
The moon was coming up over Won
derful Siberian forests as we rode the.
rest of the way t OBOlshevik head
quarters at Grodekovo.
Abramoff was on the station plat
form. He was a Jew-of race once
victims of pogroms in Russian and
then, miraculously, LEADERS OF
THE PEOPLE in revolution. He spoke
English brokenly. He said he had
served in the Belgian army and the
British navy in this war and was a
patriotic ally. I do not know But
/ do know he was sincere-a passion
ate idealist
He took Smith and myself to the
private car serving him as headquar-
tiers. He turned out of his own COM
partment, his wife and he, over all our
objections, and we slept there that
night. He got us bologna and bread
and made tea.
Over the tea we talked with him
until one o'clock in the morning. He
was extremely courteous. For my
sake he used his broken English, most
Of the time. On ticklish points he
broke into Russian, and Smith trans
lated. He was honestly anxious for
Americas good opinion, and suspi-
cious of Intervention. That was the
burden of the conversation.
His men then were not ragamuffins.
They had their old uniforms and were
we'll equipped. They looked fine spec
linens. Abramoff said he had several
score of armed German prisoners in
his forces. We did not find even those.
OF course, that was before the test,
the crisis, in eastern Siberia. A few
days later the Czechs put the soviet
out of Vladivostok and the allies land
ed Then General OrlOff, commanding
the Hardin forces opposed to Abramoff
at GrOdekOvO, was dismissed. Be-
cause-Abramoff had been gone from
his trenches three days before Orloff
knew it.
He took his troops to Nikolsk, juno
ton between Grodekovo and Vladivo-
stok OF the line north to HarbarOvsk.
There the Nikolsk troops and soviet
forces from Habarovsk joined them.
There week after the capture Of
Vladivostok. the Czechs defeated them
badly, taking Nikolsk-and Abramoff.
Once more, after this first expert
ence, l was through the Bolshevik
consult with these men. After the
much exchange Of courtesies-passing.
and repassing. 1t was war 4
But despite this isolation now. tn
impossibility Of any more first-hg
observation, it seems plain Abr@
offs place. for instance, and manyR
ers have been taken by armed prS
erS.
This was expected. It will N
matters. The soviets may fight II
last ditch. But nothing can saves
ill eastern Siberia. .-.
They were asked to join the ca
in SOlldltylng Siberia against the
mans. / heard allied military att;1s,
ask AbramOff. But his one dreanfss
and his face burned and his arms
swung as he told twas of popular
rule through the soviets. He claimed
he was not Bolshevik, but a social
revolutionist. He plainly felt it, in
the bottom of his heart, that this was
an attempt not so much to put Russia
back into the war as to overthrow tho
soviets and throttle the revolution.
Americans know their purpose to
be honest. He trusted America. But
he couldn't quite take the leap. He
chose to fight. So did most of the
rest. And apparently, making the in
terventionist army their foe, they have
welcomed all the armed-prisoner help
they could get.