The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-02-28
SOCIALIST TELLS
ABOUT B0LSHEv|SM
CALIFORNIAN HAS EXCITING
EXPERIENCE IN RUSSIAN
BOLSHEVIST PRISONS.

! BERLIN-(By The Associated
Press )-Bolshevik prison methods
lack all elements of decency and civil
zation, says M. Schwartz, California
socialist and labor leader who with
his wife was thrown into Bolsheyist
prisons in Moscow for four months
after he had failed to voice approval
of the Bolshevist government. His
wife died Of the effects of a hunger
strike started while in prison, as he
has made known in previous state
ments.
my first two months in prison
were the worst" Mr.. Schwartz said
after arriving in Berlin, "My wife,
who could not speak word of any
language but English, was taken
from me- / did not know whether
she was in the same prison, or what
had become of her. l could not get
word of satisfaction from any of
the prison officials.
''There was small peephole in the
door of my cell which opened into the
main corridor. This had little slide
over it and there was sign IN Rus
sian warning the inmates of the cell
that they would be placed in solitary
confinement if they peeked out into
the corridor.
"Many times day footsteps pass
ed the door, Sometimes there were
light steps and | imagined women
were passing. To the horror of other
men in the cell with me, | occasional
ly moved the slide the least bit in the
hope of getting a glimpse OF my poor
wife. | became bolder and bolder.
The corridor was so dark it was diff
ficult to recognize the people who
were passing.
Finally, in sheer desperation. |
pushed the slide far back one day
when light footsteps were audible.
To my horror the eye of the guard
almost touched mine. He opened the
door and asked me if | could read
Russian. I admitted | could and ex-
planned to him that my anxiety about
my wife was responsible for the vlo-
lation of regulations.
"I Immediately taken to dark
cell in the cellar. 1t was full OF num-
cry rats. Water and sewer pipes ran
all around the walls and there was so
much gas that I felt | was choking.
began pounding on the door but the
guard warned me not to and threaten.
ed to put me into a still lower cell II
I didn't keep quiet.
aAt the end of three hours l was SO
badly overcome by the gas that
punded on the door In desperation
and asked to see the commissar who
was in charge of the prison The
guard was apparently uneasy about
nv condition and called the commits
sar.
"I told the commissar my anxiety
about my wife and asked hlm II ne
would not have peeped through the
hole under the same condition. he
was moved by my appeal and ASKED
me if would promise not to repeat
the offense if he let me back into my
old cell.
sYou may be sure l promised, and
| kept my promise. | had companions
in my old cell and there weren't any
rats and gas there. | can't tell you
how horrible it is to be confined
alone Even if ones companions have
no common language, human com
panionship makes a cell more endur-
able. Solitary confinement, sucn as
my wife endured for two months, IS
the most horrible punishment that can
be inflicted.
think Of a civilized, refined
American woman Delng CIedIeu do
she was by the Bolshevists! 1t is no
wonder that her constitution was SO
by her jail experiences
that she died shortly after we We're
released. But her blood is on the
hands of Lenine and Trotzky and
Chitcherin (Foreign Minister). She
appealed to them repeatedly for a
nearing and so did | She finally af-
sected our release by her hunger
strike, but her strength was not SUI
'icient to survive the awful agony |
she endured"