Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-12-02
ESCAPE HORRORS
OF BOLSHEVISM
Canadian Mining Engineer and
Wife Tell of Days of Terror
in pikoIaievsk.
MANY TIMES NEAR DEATH
Americans and British In Siberian
Mining Camps Have Miraculous
Escapes From Massacre-Rescued
by Chinese Gunboat.

Seattle, Wash.-With narrowing ex.
periences and tales Of terror, Mr.. and
Mrs. E. Fl. Barker of Vancouver, B.
c., arrived here, after three years
amid the Bolsheviki of eastern Rus
STA. For two months, as prisoners
of the Bolshevist leader Ghiroloff and
his wife, Nina. they lived in hourly
peril of their lives, and were finally
rescued, with sixteen other foreigners,
ny Chinese gunboat.
Mr.. and Mrs. Barker set sail for
NladlvOstok in the latter part OF
March, 1917. They arrived In Mix
o'aievsk in June of the same year.
and soon after Mr.. Barker assumed
the position of assistant manager of
mining camp in the Orsk gold fields
belonging to British company 60
miles from Nikoaievsk.
Nikolaievsk is far cry from Petro-
grad. so the overthrow Of the car
made little difference in the daily life
at the mining camp on the Amur. In
October, 1918, Admiral KOlchak took
over the administration of that Sec
ton, and soon after japanese gar
rison quietly took possession Of Mix
olaievsk. According to Mrs. Barker,
it was after the overthrow of Kolchak
that trouble began. One day Ghiroloff
appeared at the head Of band OF
Bolsheviki and unceremoniously took
over the mines. At the same time
Reds overran Nikolaievsk territory.
Reign of terror ensued, during which
no ones life was safe.
Work Of Vengeance.
In March last an arrangement was
concluded between the japanese gar
rison and the Reds, whereby the lat
ter were to hand over their arms for
one day, on which the Bolsheviki pro-
posed to hold funeral services for
their fallen soldiers. The day was
set, but instead of fulfilling their part
of the agreement the Japanese sur
rounded the headquarters of the Reds
"a hours before the exercises were
to have been held and wiped out the
entire headquarters staff of the Boil
sheviki
Next day the enraged Reds began
their work of vengeance. Streets were
strewn with bodies of slain Japanese.
Mrs. Barker said several attempts
on their lives actually occurred,
despite the fact that her husband
was operating dredges under penalty
.ho& Iicnhadionpn if hn
refused. On May Is 1t was planned
to massacre the entire Barker fam
ily Kamanov, Russian, who was
at heart no Bolshevist sylnpathizer,
frustrated this plan by placing an
armed guard around the house.
The Reds continued their reign Of
merciless terror. Ghiroloff and his
wife We'd with each other in their d.
nbolcal plots and cruelty. A Mr..
Dyer, an American manager of gold
plant, nearly became victim because
he insisted on wearing white stiff
collar Dyer was thrown into jail.
while the council quarreled among
themselves as to whether he should
be killed slowly in the public market
place or shot outright by his wife.
Overs life hung in the balance for
three days. while his wife was on the
point of collapse. Then the remain
ing officials of the mine went in
body to Red headquarters and pre-
vailed upon Ghiroloff to release his
prisoner.
Lives Threatened Many Times.
Time and again thereafter Mr.. Bar
ker said their lives were threatened.
On May % the Bolsheviki decided
to kill or torture every soul In the
village. They had learned of the ad-
vance of Japanese troops, with rein
forcements. The Bolsheviki burned
the city to the ground and then, de-
stroying the mining camps, fled into
the hills.
At this junction the commander of
a Chinese gunboat, which had been
icebound in the Amur river during
the winter demanded that the foreign
ers be delivered to him. While the
baggage and few valuables of the for
eigners were being loaded into open
boats three Bolshevist cutters came
alongside and opened fire. A vigorous
engagement followed. Luckily for the
fugitives the Chinese were victorious.
The Chinese succeeded in landing
the refugees at an obscure port, how
ever, from which they soon left In
a dilapidated japanese freighter.
They learned later that the Bolshev-
Xxi had returned to the city after the
gunboat had left, had killed all the
remaining Russian children at the
mines, and carried off their mothers