The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-11-18
CRUELl Y SHOWN
TO PRISONERS
BY B0LSHEv|K|
British Residents of Moscow
Relate Suffering While in
Hands of Red Guards.

LONDON. Nov. 1S.-Sufferings OF
some Of the British residents Of Mos
COW in the Bolshevik prisons in that
city where they were kept for six
weeks after having been arrested by
the Red Guards upon himsy pretexts
are wildly portrayed by Guy Beringer.
Reuter- correspondent at Moscow,
who was set free early this month and
has reached Haparanda, Sweden.
Beringer, In his report wired from
Haparanda. says he was arrested
while in the home of the British chap
lain adjoining the British consulate in
Moscow. and together with the chap
lain and several other English men
and women was marched on foot two
miles through the streets to the Luby-
anka House OF Detention.
Il was separated from my compan.
ions and was led to a room in which
were some thirty prisoners, mostly
civilians. including a few women"
writes Mr.. Beringer. II spent hve days
and nights in this room in which there
was just sufficient space for the in
mates to sleep on the floor. There
was no bed OF any kind, and for food
we had a piece of black bread and
few drops with wooden spoon into
bowl of the thinnest possible cabbage
soup containing some herring heads.
Eight of us had to share the contents
OF this one bowl. Many people who
were without provisions from outside
were literally in a state Of starvation.
Like the Russian prisoners we were
treated as helots and were addressed
insultingly in the second person singu-
lar by low brutes among the Red
Guards.
Late one night when some Of the
other prisoners were singing suddenly
trehe was deathlike hush ! looked
up and saw Red Guard officer and
soldiers standing at the opening to
the ante-room in which the prison
guards were stationed. A list of
twelve names of civilians and soldiers
was read out. No one doubted what
this meant. II was the list of those
set down for immediate execution. 1t
included two pairs of brothers. All
the condemned men rose without de-
lay and shook hands with their neigh
bors. Not one showed the slightest
fear.
Prisoners Executed.
"The iron folding doors between the
DIS TOCu anu the dHIe-TOOm were lucu
closed. This was done only when
prisoners were taken away for execu
ton. The doors remained closed for
few minutes and were then reopened
and the names of two others who
had previously been overlooked were
called out. These also rose without
tremor and the folding doors were
shut second and last time. The con-
demned prisoners were either shot in
the Easements of thesprison withstheir
backs to the firing party or they were
taken out to the suburbs in motor lor
ries and there told to get out and get
away Then volleys were poured into
them while they were walking or run
ming away. The bodies are sometimes
recoverable by relatives on payment of
heavy bribes"
Later Beringer was transferred to
Butyrky jail at the other end Of the
city which contained some 5000 pris-
oners. In the cell he occupied there
was Russian ex-judge, few soldiers
and some members of the middle and
working classes. The vermin was as
bad as at Lubyanka and sanitary con-
ditions verse. There was no possibil- |
ity of taking a bath but Beringer was
allowed a half hours exercise daily
In the yard.
There he and some of the others re-
ceived assistance from Major. Allen |