The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-09-08
BOLSHEVIK ATROCITIES DESCRIBED
BY PROMINENT RUSS NOBLEWOMAN
Hundreds of Persons Tortured in the Most Inhun1an Fashion Before
Being Put to Death and Their Estates PiAaged and
Mansions Razed-Thousands Die From
Hunger All Over Country.

rule mas Russia is tnuS eplto-
mlzed by a Russian noblewoman wide
ly known throughout her country, in a
remarkable picture of events In her
country contained In a letter received
recently In New York. Her castles
and estates plundered or RACED, her
fortune vanished and her friends and
family murdered, this titled woman Is
moved to remark that three years
ago, my second daughter and her hus-
band died, he having caught cold In
the trenches. Then l was in despair;
now | envy them"
II beg of you never to mention my
name; ! wrote frankly to you counting
on you discretion" is the plea which
fear of bolshevik tyranny moves the
unfortunate woman to place at the
close OF her letter to her friend, a New
York woman of prominent and influen-
tial family. Excuse the incoherences;
l write with my heart bleeding, know.
Ing that / shall never be able TO give
you the faintest idea of the sufferings
that thousands are enduring"
"a 6AupIlC lutC vi lHS nlStly lHdl
spreads itself over Russia is unfolded
in the letter. Wholesale p~illaging and
murder by b~olsheviki, Germans, Films
and others swept the land clear of its
wealth.
Both the noblewoman who wrote the
letter and the woman who received it
are well known. The danger involved
fer the former makes Ii advisable that
not only the names of the persons but
the names of the localities mentioned
be withheld from publication. The let
ter In full reads as follows:
"My very, very dear Mrs. B:
AT last / am able to write to you
and to hope to hear from you.
II will endeavor to tell you briefly
the personal events Of these terrible
last years. But how to begin? How
to give you the ~faintest idea of the
~unimaginable atrocities committed by
the b~olsheviki? Speaking of our
selves, / will tell you that we have
lost everything. The bolsheviki have
stolen all our fortune, boxes of silver
ware, precious objects, personal re-
membranes which undoubtedly are
now destroyed.
Freed to Flee From Home.
Three years ago my second daugh-
ter and her husband died, he having
caught cold In the trenches. Then /
was In despair, now I envy them. The
year 1917 In autumn, we had to flee
from M, and come to the city,
where we lived under the reds regime
until the arrival Of the Germans.
"You have probably read In the pa
pers that the reds had sent to Siberia
800 Russian barons, and also some
b~ourgeoisie; some died and the others
returned two months after.
Although under our roof lived a
military guard of bolsheyiki or reds,
good luck kept US from sharing their
lot. i cannot describe the last days.
After the arrival of the Germans a
list was found of about a thousand
persons, In which we were, who were
to be shot the very next day.
1.-The reign of the Germans lasted
4 &AANby SCNNh AhohlAiS lhtg Ia
lated all u hopes, they accumulated
taxes upon taxes; carrying away all
the food to Germany, leaving the peo-
pie of our cities to starye.
mo discipline, corruption every
where, no administration. Only those
who deliberately closed their eyes to
evidence failed to see that a country
thus ~plundered and so badly treated
was not to remain long under their
rule. But, alas! How many were
blind!
Then came the great catastrophe;
the German troops ~fraternlzing with
the bolsheviki at W; surrendering
to them cannon, war ammunition, and
refusing to fight. The Germans ever
damaged the cannon they left to the
,Esthes troops, which had been formed
hastily and were incapable of defend
Ing themselves, having nothing, abso-
llutely nothing
Fl Reds Rule Was Worse.
Then, for another year the country
was at the mercy of the reds, and 1t
was worse than the first time.
"The Bolsheviki had with them Chi
nese and Red Lettes, who were ter
ribly cruel, and those formed the
guard of the unfortunate emperor and
his family.
ION the 2Sth Of November we
learned that W. had fallen; that
the Germans were leaving us In haste /;
and, as the German general command
Ing at R., had, at the request of
the Lettes. refused the formation Of
troops with the men of the country,
we were left without any defense.
'.The lights of the electric projectors
OF the enemy's ships already illuminat-
ed a shores; from the castles tower
we could e everything; there was
not a minute to be lost. The trains were
running only for the German troops ;
II vas then necessary to risk travelling
by the inland ways, through dreadful
roads and in a country in revolution,
for when the Germans took posses
/ sion nf thp pr,ovfnccS they took care