The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1920-07-28
DUCKWOR1H
rs THROWN
INTO CELL!
Describes His Arrest and
Imprisonment at Hands
OF "Red Terror"
~ ,. HERBERT DucKwoRTH
(Cepyrsghs. 1880. ~ n. ~ A.

NeW tork. by mail 10 Seatue,s-l nod
not bcen long In Moscow when I fell
into tho clutches OF the vetchaika-
Rather than be picked up on the
otrectS by an ignorant red guard and
run the risk OF being cast into an
obscure and verminous lookup. I de-
eided 20 report to the extraordinary
counmisston--fo ndly believing that
uaent did In rskov.
4 The word "vetchaika" has boon
Rcolned from the initial letters Of tho
BueriAn fer all Russia extraordinary
eonmissiop.
Tho vctchaika Is the most dreaded
ono feared institution in Russia
II directs the terror.
II - THE government
But for It's activities. both sides
aoFce. the revolution would have col
6psed hong ago.
The vetchaikn Is at No. 3 Luni.
anha. stones shrow from the outer
Wn1ln ~ the krcmiin. The hcadauar.
ewu and the temporary prison occupy
two large buildings. one formerly the
Hoesl Rillo and the other the main
ooAce cf the Anchor Insurance COM
pany. The two buildings have been
knocked into one.
vETCuAIKA PREVENTS
I5t0LUTION'S COLLAPSE
ne main floor Of the hotel has
boon divided into half = dczen small
Houuns By high board partitions.
sCoUNIER REvOI.UTIONARIES.
CoXH0 WITH TERROR
The place when entered was fun
- soldiers guarding tho locked doors
- the different chambers A balcony
I noar The ceiling. where the orchestra
o0eR played. was Jammed with terri
- men and crying women. the days
1Aul - Observation-Disclosures"
when ! was In Moscow over co.
~ counter evolutiontsts"
Workingmcn and women--were In
m. Up iii March last at least 90
pr cent Of the whole population Of
Moucow had passed thru the hands
- Tie extraordinary commission.
1 I 90 taken thru q labyrinth Of
Gnfk passages. up and down . num-
x16orA lined with cells and heavily
guArdsd. to the main office.
1he vetchaika runs day ana night.
ou& being Sunday. few Officials we're
- duty.
AZ INST I was taken before he IN
1nmous Mogilsfsky. the chief inQuis-
~.
AZ ono side Of MogiIsfsky sat one
~ the long haired communist had
oDon IN the restaurant. A. the other
80 was . third man. with . short.
E1y red beard and u cruel smile---a
oF1n that displayed teeth and gums
uko horse.
uu0GlAN UNABLE 10
U0D0U1SE HIMSELF n
/ afterward learned that he was
Jocohson. formerly Of the cars -
cret police. a man with . long and
Sinister experience on the Russian
Indian frontier.
jacobson spends most of his time
hanging around the foreign office
Uverybody knows him. A Russian
can't disguise himself A Russian
-. lodging behind pillars and
poues. with his theatrical side
e1nnces. always looks ~ tho he had
1une jumped out OF the movies.
During 1917 thousands OF che
enr's spies were put to death: those
Who escaped now work for the Vet.
chatkA- They are trusted: Mt one
bguath Of suspicion Of their loyalty
they ~dtsappear."
Nogiiefsky himself II not q very
nice person. Tall and slim. with
black curly hair. he il absolutely
uerciIess. He makes rapid decisions.
\ prisoner might" be dangerous
then shoot him. that Is the safest
eH1ng.
Or. Stella, . bearded old gentle
I'm, who might have been q pro-
1onsor Of languages In former days.
Wns the interpreter.
WANTED TO KNOW or
CONREDERATES IN RUSSIA
Much the same questions were put
20 me ~ In Pskov. Mogllefsky want
"a 70 know how I had got over the
frontier without being detected. and
whether had had any confederatcs
b Rusaia.
There is some advantage In using
IN interpreter. When your answer
doesn't seem to please your inquis-
itor, then politely suggest that per.
haps the interpreter misunderstood
you and put the reply a different
vay.
I rather felt I had a friend In DIR.
Otolla until I told him that I had
ooon turned down five times by
hcherin, minister for foreign AZ.
1naru, In my attempts to get permis-
sim 20 enter Russia. Stella, on his
own hook, snapped savagely at me;
Then. wasn't that enough?
No, Stella only LOOKED friendly.
While I was being questioned the
buiIding was shaken by a number OF
terrific explosions. Several days
later I heard that big arsenal on
the outskirts Of Moscow had been
blown up. that spies were suspected.
ana that all foreigners would be
made TO suffer for the loss!
Locked INTO CELL BY
SOLDIERS WITH BAYONETS
After my record had been taken !
vas led below. where I was politely
relieved of all my money. my watch,
papers, maps. notes. Russian die.
fionary. photographs, safety razor
and . few foreign postage stamps
and then taken upstairs again by
two soldiers with glittering bayonets
shown into a cute little cell and
locked In.
Il IL not hard TO see why the Rus
sian people dread the Vetchaika.
II has been computed land II II
b~lieved by the Russlans) that $4,000
counter-revolutionists and men and
women only suspected Of working
h.p har