The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-07-24
BOLSHEV|KI LEFT
DEATH IN wake
Murdered Civic Leaders and
Sacked Homes Before
Quitting Riga.
$4,000 nj FROM STARVATION
Captain Forman Makes an Official Re-
port on Conditions to the Ameri-
can Relief Administration
No Bread for Weeks.

New fOrk.-BeIOFe the D~OisneNistd
abandoned Riga they murdered most
Of the civic leaders. played machine
uns on the persons In one prison and
sacked the homes of the wealthy, ac-
cording to an official report received
here by the American relief admins
tration.
This report, made by Capt. Howell
Forman, head OF the administrators
Baltic mission, and forwarded by Her
bert Hoover, director general of the
organization, asserted that inhabitants
of Riga, heartened by the arrival Of
American supplies, had turned on their
oppressors and now were hunting
down bolshevists and executing many
daily.
The report warned that "a large rad
Teal element Is left In the population,
and failure of the authorities to pro-
vide food until the city can get on Its
feet again might lead them, with the
assistance of the b~olshevists still In
hiding, to attempt another uprising"
Even with the arrival of American
supplies food conditions were pictured
MS distressing. Roof rabbits"-bol-
shevik for house cats-are bringing
almost %prohibitive prices. as they are
virtually the only form Of meat avail
able.
$1,000 Persons III.
Captain Forman reported that 1S7,-
600 persons-nearly $1,000 OF whom
are seriously i'll from typhus, effects
OF starvation and other causes-are
receiving a meal a day from so Amer
lean kitchens. while American bread
Is being distributed from 80 depots.
With an epidemic OF ~dysentery feared
In the approaching warm season,
American medical experts are study
Ing the situation to decide what foods
are most urgently needed.
Before the bolshevists abandoned
the city they opened the doors Of one
prison and drove the prisoners into the
yard, where machine guns played upon
Them" said Captain Forman's report
1.-THE bodies OF seven clergymen and q
number Of women were found wheI
troops entered the city.
"Under the bolshevik reign occu.
pants of handsome residences were
moved into slums and hordes Of ruff
fans invaded richly furnished apart
ments. Houses of the wealthy were
ransacked and furniture, clothing ant
jewelry shipped into the interior.
'To be well dressed In Riga toda,
u dangerous. A grim local fest says
If a man Is well dressed he Is a Dol
shevik IL In rags he Is harmless
"The bolsheviks divided the popula
ton into three classes for distribution
Of food. To receive this daily ration
applications had to be made for cards
but as applicants were often thrown
into prison instead OF receiving cards
many were frightened into staying
away and starving.
No Bread for Weeks.
"Feeble men and stood In
line for hours 10 receive their rations
and often there was no bread FOL
weeks. When there was any extr,
food, such as meat, fats or vegetables
bolshevik commissaries were the onl.
ones to benefit. No food was to b.
had I'm open markets.
'The bolshevik ration being insufi
clent the inhabitants either starved
Or IL they had property exchanged
jewelry or clothing for bits Of foot
struggled into the city by peasants
from the country. E%xorbitant prices
were demanded. Bright-hued bolshe
vik currency, printed In vast quaint
ties. was thrown about In the streets
being practically vaiueless.
Curious crowds still gather on thu
water front at Libau watching white
flour unloaded from American ships o.
the American relief administration
Women and children In warehouses
pinch -four from the floor and eat II
raw from their finger tips. Stevedores
scrape humps of wet flour from ship
decks and secrete II In bootlegs.
"A little meat Is on sale at prohibi.
tive prices. House cats are sold under
the more appetizing title of roof rab-
bit.' After five years Of war and boil
shevism the population Is reduced
-. 90 AnA - a