Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-02-14
FORMER SUMP Ter
MAN BACK FROM
RUSS SHELL RAIN
Edwin S. Waterbury, Son of G. W.
Waterbury, Prairie du Sac,
Reaches Chicago

! Edwin S. Waterbury, son Of Mrs. G
w. Waterbury of Prairie du Sac, and
former resident Of the town of Stump
ter, and twenty other Americans were
imprisoned in the National hotel in
Moscow, Russia, during the entire sew.
en- bloody days that brought that coun-
try under the power of the bolsheviki
Mr.. Waterbury, who is a representa-
tive of Morris & Co., Chicago packers,
has returned to that city, and the Chi
! cago Examiner of a few days ago print
ed the story of the experience he had
while in Moscow. We reprint it in
/ part.
Between 5000 and 5000 men, wom-
en- and children were killed during the
seven days." said Mr.. Waterbury.
"The fighting began at midnight on
November 8.
''The bolsheviki forces included both
soldiers and workmen. Someone-per-
haps it was Kerensky-had given the
workmen $4,000 guns.
'"The cadets, or junkers, were de-
Tending the city against the bolshevi-
! XII. A swarm of them occupied build
! ing across the street from the hotel.
| They had machine guns and were rak-
| ing the streets in all directions.
"The bOlsheviki batteries were half
mile away on hill. Our hotel was
{ in plain view, and they shelled it in
the belief that it was the machine gun
stronghold.
"Twenty-seyen shells crashed into
the hotel. Machine gun bullets poured
in continuously from the other side
We had to keep stepping pretty lively
when one side shelled we hurried
to the other side of the hotel to get
walls between us and the firing. When
the other side opened up we skipped
back again. We didn't get much rest
Sometimes it got so heavy we were
obliged to take to the basement. We
cups Of tea and piece Of black bread
morning and evening was all we had
for a week.
after many rifle volleys on the
fourth day, the bolsheviki rushed the
hotel. Every window was shattered
[ counted as many as thirty bullet
holes through some panes. And they
were coming hotter every minute
"The bolsheviki were much surprised
when they found we had no cadets in
the hotel. They took away all Of our
firearms and all other weapons they
a1ItI a &C
es. We were not mistreated.
zone hundred and forty of the boil
sheviki were stationed in the hotel and
they soon put he machine guns across
the street out of business. For two
days they stood in the windows and
sniped in all directions. The cadets,
of course, sniped back. We were glad
for one thing, though-the shells had
I quit coming.
cat last we got tired of that, even.
We sent word to both sides asking
them to make the hotel neutral terri
tory To do that we had to turn the
| bolsheviki out into the streets-and,
strangely enough, they went.
"They weren't at all bad fellows in
their way. Once when twenty of them
got drunk we all took to the basement,
not knowing what was going to hap
pen. But their leader soon fixed things
up.
"He simply pushed them all out lilo
the streets in the face of heavy firing:
from the cadets. 7 don't know what
became Of them
when the hotel became neutral we
ran up the American flag, along with
the French, Italian, British and Japa-
nese flags, and there was no more fir
ing.
"In the next block was a family ho-
tel full of women and children. 1t
caught on fire from the shells and the