The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1918-08-28


poncd . little longer. A number Of
regiments actually reached viadivos.
tok without any more ssrieus trouble
than q month Of most Uncomfortable
the port they
asked the local boishsviks for bar.
rack ro6m and settled down 10 walt
for their comrades.
Just how the fight started II still
far from clear. Perhaps the orders
came from Trotsky. perhaps the Mos
COW commissionaries did not intend
To 20 TO extremes. II In quite likely
TINT Couat Mirbach thought that he
couid get what he wanted without
Trorsky's direct cooperation. For
be II remembered that the peoples
commissioners were 0beyed by the
and city soviets only In 20
far % Il pleased these local bodies.
And In Siberia. where most Of the
German and Austrian prisoners of
war had been interned. the local
soyists were very largely controlled
by German agents. since the red
guards were led BY German and Mas.
var ex.prisoners. And 70 the nrst
clash which changed the situation
completely occurred at Irkutsk. A
Csechoslovak troop train, waiting At
the lrkutsk station. was fired upon
BY machine guns at the order Of the
German commander Of the Red
Guards. The Csechs had only . few
rifles and bombs and . few score Of
them were killed. before they captur.
cd the machine guns practically with
bare hands. killed the Reds and oc.
cupied lrkutsk.
Il IL not possible to relate In detail
what happened Afterwards. We have
70 rely upon scattered press dispatch
on. But II seems that the conflict At
Irkutsk pushed Trotsky into the
position where the Germans wished
to have him. He gave orders that
every Csechoslovak caught with
weapons on his hands should bs Inn.
mediately executed. The interven'
tien Of the Allied consuls At Moscow
on June 18th had NO result. War
was on between the Csechoslovaks
and the Bolsheviki.
A new front arose. called BY Trot.
sky the Csechoslovak front. II was
a battlefront far larger than anything
Rise seen In this war. for II extended
from the voiga to the Pacific. . dis
tance Of more than five thousand
miles.
when the Csschoslovak army made
tn start for France. Il counted only
$4,000 more volunteers who had not
yet succeeded In rsachins the concsn'
tration camps: most Of them were
scattered thru Siberia. And now u
the trains began to roll over the vast
distances Of Asia and especially afts'
the reports spread into all parts Of
Russia that the Bolshsviki had At
tackled the Csechoslovaks and that
war was on. these volunteers rushed
to the Siberian railroad and Joined
their brothers. We know that In the
middle OF June the army had grown
to 10000 and Il ID much larger now
There are reports stating that . Pol
ish contingent Joined the Csschoslo-
vaks and that other Austrian prison.
ers Of war Of Slav and Roumaniau
races are coming In.
The situation on the first Of Aug
ust was this: the Csschoalovaks were
In fall control OF the siberian rail-
road from the volsa - Tar - some
whore east Of Lake Baikal: they con-
trolled the Pacific coast and were en-
gagged In clearing up that stretch oi
the railroad lying between the Pacih'
and the Baikal, Two columns oi
Csheeoslowsks. one procesdins west
from vladivostok and another march
Ing east Of Irkutsk. were tryins 70 o.
tablish contact and destroy we'll