The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1919-05-12
1000 MURDERED
BY B0LSHEv|K|
U. S. Red Cross Agents Tell Of
Reds Atrocities in
Siberia
DIG OWN PITS; BURIED ALIVE
Murders Were Without Provocation
and the Victims Were Largely Of
Thrifty or Intelligent Glasses
or Servants of Church.


Omsk. -Indisputable evidence of tn,
massacre by the bolsheviki of more
than 1000 civilians in and near the
town of Osa has been obtained by
Messrs. Simmonds and Emerson anC
DR.. Rudolph Teusler of the American
Red Cross, who have just returned
from Perm, Osa and other re-occupied
Russian territory. Approximately SOC
persons were killed at Osa and 1,50O
in the surrounding districts.
Osa, which had population Of 10,-
600, was SO denuded of males by the
bolsheviki that General Casagrande.
obliged to telegraph to Ekaterinburg
for men to administer civic affairs.
Dogs Dig Up Bodies.
In addition to securing verbal and
documentary evidence the American
Red Cross officials witnessed the ex-
humfng of scores of victims from
trenches, where they were buried
sometimes several deep in graves re-
vealed by the digging of dogs.
The murders were without prOvOca
ton, and the victims were largely of
the thrifty and intelligent classes or
servants of the church, which latter
it was the announced intention of the
bolsheviki to exterminate.
The evidence discloses almost IN
thinkable atrocities. A blacksmith, by
economies, had attained a shop. He
was required to pay 5000 rubles; be-
cause he could not, he was shot. A
man was shot be. ause he lived in a
brick house. All attorneys and jurists
were killed, and doctors, whose Sery-
ices were not required for the moment
were disposed of in q similar manner
A woman whose husband and two
sons had been seized applied to the |
commissar for information as to their
fate. She was told they had been
taken to Perm. After repeating her
visit several times she was informed |
that if she bothered the commissar
again she would be shot, as they had
been.
The body of a woman was exhumed
and identified in the presence of the
as the wife of a general
through jewels sewed in the lining Of
her clothing, of which relatives were
aware. Another woman was compelled
to fetch a lamp and gaze upon her
murdered sons for the amusement of
he slayers.
A wife required to pay 1000 rubles
or the release of her husband Dor
owed 800 and paid it over; later she
'eturned with the remainder, and then
vas informed that her husband had
,een Shot. There were scores of SINH
ar cases All were killed without any
orm Of trial. ss ss'.-T
Victims Dig Own Graves.
The soviet called meeting and pre-
jared lists of those to die. The houses
prescribed were visited by squads, the
oors were smashed in, and the vic
inns dragged to the edge of the town
nd forced to dig their own graves.
hose who resisted were shot in the
treets.
A survivor testified that he had seen
zen thrown into pit and buried
live. This testimony has been con-
rmed by bodies exhumed, the clenched
ands of which were clinging to the
lud at the bottom Of the pit.
The only spark of humanity discov-
Bile was that in confiscating the be-
,ngings of the residents. In some in
tances where there was 8 family OF !
mall children, the family was permit j.
ID to retain one COW out Of several. i.
occasionally a peasant was allowed to /.
eep his worst horse. !,
The bolshevik attitude toward the I
aurch was incorporating. Priests
ere hunted numerically. The evil
ence showed that men were slain i.
hose only offense was that they =
orked as sections or caretakers OF :,
1urches.