The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-10-18
NOTED PEASANT LEADER IN AID
 OF GEN. WRANCEL
By Paul Brewster, International News Service, Staff Correspondent.

1 SOFTeSpOnQ6QI.
 London, Oct. 16.-Genera1 Wrangel has secured a very important ally in Ataman Makhno, the idol of the Cri- 1 mean peasants, according to Captain Ooshakoff, a Russian officer who has | arrived here to study the military | tactics of the British army Ooshakoff has known Makhno intimately for I Ataman Makhno, ip Captain Oosha- koff's opinion, is the one man who can show the present chief of the White Guards how. to clear South Russia of the Red forces. Operating between the lower Dnieper at Alex | andrvosk to Melitopol and the shores | of the Sea of Azov, with a force of l the Soviet to destroy him. He held the | City of Ekaterinoslav, sN one of the | largest coal centers of the Donetz, for 1 two years.
 Noted Guerilla Leader It was in the Summer of 1919 at Gulai Polei, north of Me1itopol, a large commercial village that Ata- | man Maknno first came into promi- l hence as guerilla leader, when he revolted against General Denikin. He first assisted Denikin in organizing the peasant revolts at Ekaterinoslav, and all along the coast of the Sea of Azov. But later, when Denikin was in Kursk and Orel, he rose against him and cut off the line from Crimea to the north because Denikin's troops behaved badly toward the peasants and robbed and footed them. Since then he has lived as an out law both from the Soviet and the White forces and has mastered the art of guerilla warfare. Ooshakoff thinks that he could even give the Mexicans few pointers in this pre- carious art and could outdo Houdini, in the disappearing act.
 Quickly Disappears.
 lie has frequently made the Reds alyn but badly outnumbered, Ataman merely leads his army into a village and dis appears as completely as though Kansas syclone had struck him and forces arrive they find only num- Der of Moujiks engaged in agricul- unreal pursuits and no trace of the army Their arms are so discretely hidden by the peasants that it is very rarely that even rifle is dis covered.
 These tactics employed against the Bolshevik forces countless times has succeeded in bringing innumerable peace proposals from them and the peace negotiations have promptly fallen through after the Soviet re- ceived Ataman Makhno's answer to them which is embodied in his reply to their last peace proposal received few weeks ago. The Soviet news paper Bednota gave the following report of the peace negotiations:
 
 on one condition; namely, all the peasants are to be asked what form of government they prefer. Which ever they choose they must get.'' Af- ter this the negotiations, as usual, fell through.
 General Wrangel recently issued an order in which he suggested that his troops cooperate with any anti 'In his order he did not mention At aman Makhno by name, but 'Batakes Makhno' or Father Makhno, as he is called by the peasants, knew for whom the proposal was meant and ac- cepted. He issued order to his supporters and the peasants at large that they should assist all anti-Bol- SheVik forces.
 This means that General IVrangel will be supported by all the Crimean peasants.
 '"The true significance of this sup port is shown in the fact that the BolsheVlk troops never were able to occupy Crimea. It was occupied by Makhno, who never joined any polit- 1cal party and was just as much an enemy. of the White Guards as he was of the Reds.
 Peasants Aid WrangeI.
 Wherever General Wrangel goes he will be furnished food and trans portation by the peasants just as long as he does not ilItreat, for just as surely as he does Ataman Makhno will turn against him.
 'Ihe peasants will obey Ataman Makhno's orders to man.
 "Ataman Makhnos popularity with the peasants is explained by his cham pionship of them and the opportuni- ties which he has given them to loot smaller towns. The efforts of either the Soviet or White Guards to destroy his organiza ton or him were in vain for 1t was always impossible to locate him. His hands, clothed as peasants moved with incredible speed and when hard pressed simply disappeared by the act of becoming villagers from whom they were indistinguish- able.
 Sent To Siberia.
 Ataman Makhno is a small, fair haired man with quiet gray eyes. He is about forty years old and is of simple peasant parentage. To the outsider there is nothing to indicate that this man is any different from any member Of the peasant troops which he leads. However, he has passed no less than six years in the Siberian mines for political and other criminal offenses, but his almost wrinllless brow and smooth ruddv complexion give not the slightest hint of his suffering while in Siberian in carceration. Yet this simple unpre- sunling peasant is providing General Wrangel with assistance which Il , TX