The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1920-12-31
FINDS BROTHER IS
FACING CALL0WS
BUTTE BOY BACK FROM RUSSIA
AND HARDsHIPS OF WAR
HAS SAD HOMECOMING
Mike Chr0n0s Tells of Battle Tx.
periences in Campaign Against the
Bolshevist Army in Weather With
the Thermometer Registering Is
Degrees Below Zero.

Returning from Russia where, as a
member OF the American expedition
airy forces. he spent II months CAM
pafgning against the bolshevist
hordes. only to learn upon his arri-
val in America that his brother,
Theodore, whom he had not heard
from In four years, had during his
absence, been convicted of murder
and condemned to be hanged, Mike
Chronos last week visited his old
home in Butte for the first time since
1915.
The story of his stay in Russia was
filled with the usual hardships and
adventures accompanying a soldiers
life In country where crime and
arson flourish and bands of outlaws
prey upon the weak.
AS member of the Three Hun
dred and Thirty-ninth regiment of
the Eighty-ninth division, Chronos
was stationed in northern Russia at
Telzo. 375 miles to the northeast of
Archangel. where he experienced his
first taste of guerrilla warfare. The
american camp was pitched in a
dense woods. when on the morning
OF September 90. 1918. band of
about 900 bolshevists surrounded
their camp and opened fire. Having
neither artillery nor machine guns.
the much smaller American force was
compelled to withstand the on
slaughts of the bolshevists with their
rifles, the latter being we'll equipped
with field pieces and machine guns.
Many Dead Around
the next "a hours, and when the at
lacking lines withdrew on the MORN
Ing OF the second day it was estimat-
ed that at least IT'S dead lay around
their camp. The Americans lost five
men. Equipment was brought up
within the next week and the Ameri-
cans. according to Chronos, further
added to their store of supplies when
they captured a bolshevist ship laden
with food and clothing.
In the IL months which followed,
the company of which Chronos was
q member participated in six en-
gagements. Evacuating the Telzo
district the Americans retreated $50
miles to the northeast. Passing
through the town of Shenkust they
were overtaken by the pursuing for
ces. which demolished the village
with their artillery. The retreat of
the Americans. Chronos said, was
greatly handicapped by the presence
OF 1900 civilian fugitives who relied
upon them for food and protection.
With the thermometer registering
IS degrees below zero. Chronos con-
ttnued. the retreating army went in
to camp Jan. % at a small village OF
the name of VistOvka, consisting of
about Is houses. Under protection
Of darkness two days later. three men
on horseback rode up to the gates of
the village and threw them open.
Russian Officers
The sentry on duty believing them
to be an American patrol did not
them until after they were
again on their horses and had dis
appeared in the darkness. They
later proved to be Russian Officers.
The bOlshevists, it was related, lined
their machine guns across the road
and as the Americans came tumbling
from their huts swept them with
their fire. A battery of Canadian
artillery. stationed about two miles
distant. eventually succeeded in beat
ing off the invaders.
1t was the following day of which
ChronOs relates an incident that gives
some conception of the weather con-
ditions under which both sides were
fighting. AS member of a patrol |
he was sent out on a accommodating
expedition and was only q short dis
lance from the outskirts of the town
when they unexpectedly came upon
an enemy outpost.
A soldier with his back to a tree
and his rifle at rest in his hands was
on guard. Covering the man with
their rifles they ordered him to sur
render. When he failed to respond
the corporal In charge of the patrol