Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-04-10
THE DEATH OF KoICHAK.

THE DEATH OF KOLCHAK.
Our times are too spacious II too
complex to allow to individual the
d%ominenant position that they have
historians, in great crises OF the past:
and yet the epic and the essay OF
economics do not fully cover current
history. There is still Is place, il a
minor one, for the drama of the in
6ividua!. the action of>the hero who.
though subordinated to the chorus,
and the orchestra, still has his few
lines to speak. And some of those
lines arc well and bravely spoken.
From Siberia has come At last the
story Of the end OF Admiral kolchak.'i
When his armies gave way before the
Reds and his Government fed east
ward along the Siberian Railroad
revolution broke out everywhere: in
place Of kolchak's own officials,
whose merit seems as a rule to have
consisted principally in the possession
Of good intentions, and not always
even IN that much, rose uh improvised
governments Of Social Revolution
aries. Overnight kolchak's Govern
ment had collapsed, and he took
refuge with some of the Czech troop
that were slowly evacuating a country
which they had so long protected.
The Czechs, as we knew, surren-
dered him to the Bolsheviki under
fHVnof @I,oy sc 49,,
tect him they would never be allowed
to reach the sea. 1t is a stain upon
an army whose record in other re-
spects is n Of the most brilliant and
honorable in modern history; yet if
there is no excuse for their act, there
are explanations; they and they alone
had upheld Kolchak for months
when he would have fallen without
them: they had been disguested with
the incompetence OF his Government,
they had finally refused any longer to
uphold a war whose issues had passed
out of their hands. they were needed
at home. Those students of history
who do not ignore everything that
happened before their own time will
pc reminded Of the betrayal OF Eu-
menes Of Cardia by the Macedonian
Regiment of Silver Shields; Eumenes
was a better soldier and statesman
than Kolshak, but kolchak was able
to improve on Eumenes in the diff
cult art, no longer so much admired
as it deserves, OF dying like a gentL-
man.
AS in the case Of the Car, there
WAS a rumor that rescue was at hand
Cossacks near Krkutsk we're suspect
ed Of continuing loyalty TO kolchak,
and the Bolsheviki. as usual. decided
to take no chances. According to
the report sent to The Globe w Mr..
Forbrest Stuart, based on the nara
tive of W. American officers who
were in Irkutsk at the time:
At 3 o'clock on the morning of
Feb. Z, the Admiral was awak-
ened and told that he would be
shot at 5. He arose, dressed
himself in full uniform, drank 4
cup of tea, and wrote two letters.
At 5 o'clock he vas taken u in
!. to the Jail yard. where he was
stripped to the waist. Asked if
he wished to be blindfolded, he
answered "No": snapped to at
tention, and faced his execution
ers-twenty rihemen. At the
command they pulled their trig-
gers and Kolchak fell to the
ground, pierced by twenty bull
lets. The executioners were then
told whom they had killed. and f,
they cheered.
BY contrast with this, Pepelayen,
head Of Kolchak's last Ministry, who
was shot Immediately afterward,
dropped on his knees and begged for
mercy, offering to serve in the Boil
shevist army as a common soldier il
his life were spared. 1t was not.
kolchak was an unsuccessful civil
admi9istrator, and not very SUCCESSFUL
as an organizer Of war; yet much OF
the blame in each case must be put
upon. his material. His soldiers
would not fight; that was not his
fault, and only partly that OF the men
aoout him. His civil government in
Siberia was a failure, and in some
places worse; but no credible witness
who was on the spot has impugned
the integrity or the good purpose of
Kolchak himself. Most OF his sub
ordinates were incompetent and SOM
OF them. tyrannical; but as a rule they
were the best he could get from the
material 1t hand. He did his best for
Russia, and that will be remembered
IN the future unless those who would
conhne history to select incidents IL
Illustrating their own dogma should