The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1919-07-14
RUSSIAN ADMIRAL
WHO WORKED ASSHIP
BUILDER RESTORED
Baron de Richter, Stranded In United
States When Reds Seized Govern
ment, Seds News That He Has
Joined Fighting Forces
of KOlcbak.

The United States Shipping Board
Emergency Fleet Corporation has lost
a first class ship rigger and the Col
chalk government at Omsk has gained
an experienced rear admiral of proved
fighting ability.
- News has just reached the Camden
office of the New York Shipbuilding
Company that Baron Othon de Richter,
until recently carried on its payroll
as ship rigger at "a cents an hour,
has succeeded in joining the staff of
Admiral Kolchak and is now in active
service against the Red forces.
When de Richter, after a personal
experience that reflected the varied
fortunes of his unhappy country in the
Great War, found himself stranded in
the United States with unfriendly re-
volutianaries in control of his govern
ment and his personal estate and re-
sources, he did exactly what most able
bodied men would do under the same
circumstances. He began to look
around for job.
The Help Wanted" advertisements
of the newspapers revealed no pros
| pective openings in the rear admiral
line, but they did call for ship riggers
men who know the practical side of
ship and how to outfit her for sea
service.
Luck was with him and he found
place in the Camden yards of the New
York Shipbuilding Company through
| an old friend, worked at it steadily and
with willingness and skill that won
| him a regular berth, and lived on the
! wages he earned.
| Another spin of the wheel of fortune
established the counter revolutionary
government under Admiral Golchak In
Omsk and de Richter received a call to
cast his lot with these forces. That
was at the end of April and de Richter
started at once for Vladivostok He
travelled through British Columbia and
Japan in safety and without delay,
but the latter part of his journey was
! accomplished with great difficulty and
at high personal risk. AT last, how
ever, he gained Kolchak's headquart-
ers and was at once reinstated as one
of the highest officers of the naval
command.
| De Richter's future liz in the lap Of
the gods, tied up with the fortunes of
the Omsk government, but no matter
what befalls him, he has lived-lived
in ease and wealth, in command and
lower in 'ictory and defeat, as a man
without country in strange land,
In poverty, and as a worker, earning
his daily bread by honest and patriotic
toll And his wife, who shared the
| high honors of her husband at the
Russian capital, was his companion
and helpmate during his days of toll
as a ship rigger in this country
| The de Richters held high rank and
possessed great wealth IN Russia I'M
der the Romanoffs. In keeping with
the traditions of such noble families,
whose sons gave service to the army
or navy, othon de Richter, at the age
of II, entered the Naval Academy at
Petrograd.
After his graduation he served with
the Baltic fleet and in 1899, on orders
from the Russian Admiralty, same to
the United States as ordnance Of
fcer in connection with the construc-
ton o. the Battleship "Retvizan" and
the cruiser "Variag" for the Russian
government In the Camp yards at Phil
adelphit. De Richter. senior lieuten-
ant at the time, checked up on arma-
ment on the "Variag" with Andrew
Calberg. then assistant captain OF the