The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1919-06-13
1000 MURDERED
BY BOLSHEvIKI
Y. S. Red Cross Agents Tell oi
Reds Atrocities in
Siberia.
DIG own PITS; BURIED ALIVE
Murders Were Without Provocatlon
and the Victims Were Largely Of
Thrifty or Intelligent Glasses
or Servants Of Church.

Omsk.-Indisputable evidence Of the
massacre by the bolsheviki OF more
than 1000 civilians In and nenr the
town Of Osa has been obtained by
Messl-s. Simmonds and Emerson and
DR., Rudolph Teusler Of the American
Red Cross. who have just returned
from Perm, Osa and other re-occupied
Russian territory. Approximately 500
persons were killed at Osa and 1900
III the surrounding districts.
Osa, which had q population Of TO-.
600, was so denuded Of males by the
bolshevlki that General Casagrnnde.
upon the occupation OF the town. was
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-
huming 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.
tion, and the victims were largely Of
the thrifty and intelligent classes or
servants Of the church, which latter
II was the announced intention Of the
bolshevikl to exterminate.
The evidence dlscloses almost un.
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
brick house. All attorneys and jurists
were killed, and doctors, whose serv-
Ices were not required for the moment,
were disposed Of In 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 II she bothered the c0mmlssar
again she would be shot, as they had
been.
The body of a woman was exhumed
and identified In the presence Of the
Americans as the wife of general
through Jewels sewed In the lining of
her clothing Of which relatives were
aware. Another woman was compelled
to fetch lamp and gaze upon her
murdered sons for the amusement of
the slayers.
A wife required to pay 1000 rubles
for the release of her husband hor-
rowed 800 and paid 1t over; later she
returned with the remainder, and then
was informed that her husband had
been shot. There were scores Of SINH
lar cases. All were killed without any
form Of trial.
Victims Dig Own Graves.
The soviet called meeting and pre-
pnred lists Of those to die. The houses
prescribed were visited by squads, the
doors were smashed In. and the vie
tins dragged to the edge of the town
and forced to dig their own graves.
Those who resisted were shotain the
streets.
A survivor testified that he had seen
men thrown into pit and buried
alive. This testimony has been cons
firmed by bodies exhumed, the clenched
hands of which were cllnging to the
mud at the bottom OF the pit.
The only spark of humanity discov-
able was TINT in confiscatlng the be-
longlngs Of the residents. In some in
stances where there was a family of
small children, the family was permit
ted to retain one COW out of several.
Occasionally peasant was allowed to
keep his worst horse.
The bolshevik attitude toward the
church was uncompromislng. Priests
were hunted unmerclfully, The eyi-
dence showed that men were slain
whose only offense was that they
worked as sections or caretakers Of
churches