Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-02
BRITISH ARE THROWN
INTO RUSSIAN BASTILE
sBolsheuik Red Guard Anacks Consulate FolIouing
!, Death Of Comrades. Inaicting Starvation and Other
Tortures Upon Prisoners in Petrograd Fortress
Special Cable 10 Erening Public Ledger

Speciol Gable 10 Erening Public Ledger
Cell 90, Peter aud Paul Fortress.
Trsubetskoy Bsstion. Petrogrsd. Sept. Q,
via London. oct. =.
- On Friday. August 80. Uritsky COM
-nissioner of the interior, was murdered
and the same evening woodhouse. Brit
fsh consul, was arrested. as were mem
hers of the English Club who were pres
rent at the time the murderer was sup
posed TO have tried to hide there. Al
though this club is called English. there
Is no single member an Engiishmau.
hut IL was originally founded in 100
by Englishmen. The father Of the
murderer. Kannigisser. was arrested ac-
.cording TO Chinese fashion.
The following day all the BoIshevisi
papers made great capital cut OF the
English club. and stated that the Eng
llsh and French had directly engineered
the murder. on SATURDAY afternoon a
mass of arrests took place. and a COM
pany of Fed GUARDS was sent TO the
Y British embassy. There an exchange OF
shots took place. the result Of which was
that two Red Guards were killed and
one was wounded and Commander
Cromlie. who distinguished himself so
In the Baltic az commander of the Brit
ish submarine fotilla. vas killed.
The Red Guards were so violent after
the death of their comrades that for a
lime there was considerable danger Of
the member OF the old consulate being
iynched off-hand. However. they were
taken to the old Prefecture NJ Police,
which is now the headquarters Of the
Bolshevist police. and there detained
.tmong those arrested al the consulate
were Mackie. vice consul: Dobsou. the
London Times correspondent Lombard.
the British chaplain. and others on
SUNDAY the arrests continued and Mars
den. of the London Morning Post. Btrk-
meyer of the Daily Express. and myself
tthe correspondent Of the London Daily
.Chronicle) were also arrested
1870 Men in one Room
We were taken to the Prefecture
where We were examined our money
was taken from us excepting about 100
rubles. and we were then placed I'm q
large room in which over 1870 men were
finally confined. These included British
and French subjects, together with Rus
slams. among whom We're murderers,
burglars, pickpockets. cocaine mer-
chants and spectators.
There were thirty-six beds iu the room.
80 the ma iority slept where they cound,
some on the Moor and on forms. { per
sonally slept on a table, and was a good
deal tormented by visitors There
was a regularly elected head OF the room.
a lawyer. who had been arrested for sc-
cepting payment for his services. and
through him we were able IA purchase
cigarettes, raspberry tea. ginger bread.
4 Observation-Disclosures cheese.
stamps, etc. In addition we were able
to get newspaper, We were allowed To
write open letters to our friends and
could receive parcels from them thrice
weekly.
From the money taken from US we
were permitted to receive nifty rubies
weekly, but that did not go very far, and
The authorities fed us once daily about
2 D. m, when every mess Of Ave men
received a basin OF fish soup and q
quarter OF a pound Of dried black bread
per man. We were provided with
wooden spoons and sat arouud and
sUpped from a common basin. Hot
water for tea was provided. SO that, eX-
cept for the overcrowding, insects and
some OF the prisoners. We had not SO
much TO complain of.
on Monday evening p gang Of
criminals was brought in. and one told
me a rather interesting story. The CONF
rissary came in and made some remark
10 his man and went out. The man
then told me that the commissary and
he were old criminals who had been
In prison together. \ short time ago
the commissary was arrested, for house
breaking and was sentenced to be shot
He offered his services 10 the Bolshevikl
and was relea sed on condition that he
betray all his old comrades.
So now this gentleman rides around
In a motor and arrests all his old friends
He had been engaged only two weeks on
this particular job. but he had already
arrested over 200 criminals.
"stine Them! That's whats Wanted"
The relations OF the guards to the
prisoners were, or the whole, correct,
hut one connandant was simply brutal.
rs the room got G. Uwded the atmoS-
phere became more and more sitting
50 a number OF the prisoners went into
the kitchen to get a breath of air. sud
denly the commandant came in. He de-
n what they were doing there.
and, being informed tnat the reason was
that the room was ~ oyercrowded ard
sitting, he called out. Drive them
into the room, Stine them! That's
what's wanted ="
However. the o~Nercrowding became
50 serious OF Tuesday that it was es-
sential 10 take some steps, and so the
British and French ana 2 few others
were ordered to sc, ready. We were
not Informed where we would be taken
10. and there was considerable delay, as
at FIRST the guard fatty refused TO take
US anywhere.
Finally, the guard vas collected. and
We were all assembled in the yard, and
then in broad daylight we were march
Cd through the streets 10 SITS. Peter and