Norwich bulletin., 1921-08-01
AMERICANS IN RUSSIA TO
 BE RELEASED THIS WEEK

Riga, July 31 (by the A. P.)-The release of all Americans still in prison in Russia may be expected within Q few days, according to Mrs. Marguerite E. Harrison, of Baltimore, who herself spent many months in imprisonment at Moscow, but who was released and came here under the protection of Sem ator France of Maryland. She was in formed before leaving Moscow that all would be out soon.
 No notification of the release of the Americans has yet been received at Riga and the American ocffiials have not been advised as to whether the prisoners will be freed one at a time or in a group. Mrs Harrison related her story to- day and pictured her life in prison as differing far from sketches of her suf- 1 ferings drawn from time to time by travellers arriving in the Baltic states from Russia Although under close confinement for considerable time, she gave an international statement of her experiences. She was thin and frail, and her recital was interrupted oeca- sionally by a deep cough as she unre- sentfully told of theevents from the day of her arrest to her release.
 ''I was first arrested on April 4. 1920, two months after I arrived in Ruseia h'' way Of the Polish frontier" she said. T was detained two days for cross e%ami- nation, then was released, and for six motnhs was permitted to work unmo- tested in Moscow.
 ''In October I was again arrested by order of the Zchecka (the soviet inqui- sition) I was charged among other things with having come to Russia with l out permission, with having Supplied l food illegally to American and British prisoners and with having been in com munication with people hostile to the | government-alI of which was true. Tho examiners were polite, but they made me realize the seriousness of my position.
 "Then I was put in solitary confne inert for six days-not in a dungeon but in a room like a small singlo room of a hotel. At no time was l in a dun geon and this was my only solitary con l finement in Russia I was removed or my own request to a general room. witt the occupants varying from seven tc eleven. where I spent nearly eigh months This building was not origi nally a prison, but was an old' roomin; house; it was primarily used for de tention only and the physical discom forts there were due to this fact. ' Generally speaking. the rations wer as good as, or better than. in the sovie dining rooms outside but I. like the oth CTS. inside and out, lost weight on them Food packages from outside were per mitted weekly. and in these I shared in termittenly. There were periods of sev eral weeks when I got nothing from out side and some packages sent apparentl, never reached me.
 'T had one more hearing in Novem ber which was without result. At in tervals after January first I was in formed officially that there were pros poets of my release if the American gov 1 ernment, formally demanded 1t on tn basis of trade negotiations or in e2I change for communist prisoners i America.
 "On June 6. by order of the priso
 physician, I was removed from Chek
 detention to the hospital in another an better equipped prison especially for we men, where I remained until released receiving every care and attention. Tn first word of immediate prospect of m release came through Senator France
 who called on me on July g. and I wa
 finally freed and taken to a railwa
 station. arriving just seven minutes be fore the train left for Riga."
 Mrs. Harrison declared she gave n . pledge to the bolsheviki not to talk out , side, but refused when asked to malz such a pledge. N