The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-11-30
United Press CORES
dent at Athens Gives [
Story of Execution
ONE DEGRADED FIJI
Ministers Hoped to Last thu
Influence of Great Britain
Would Save Their Lives. 1
Copyright, 1922, By United Press.

NCOpyIISnts 1SZG, by OHlC6u GTeSS.3
Athens - A little group of states
men and one soldier-formerly a gem
eral in supreme command of the Greek
armies-strolled into a stone tagged
yard early yesterday and faced death
like gentlemen.
Today it is possible to relate for
the first time the story of how five
members of the cabinet that fell with
King Constantine, and the man who
led the troops of Greece against the
Turk were executed by firing squad.
Condemned to death for treason,
held responsible for the crushing de-
feat administered to the Greeks by
Mustapha Kemal, the minister at first
refused to believe the government
would really go through with it. They
were aware that the British threaten
ed to sever relations if they were kills
ed and other powerful influences were
called on in their behalf in vain.
Finally the hour arrived. Priests ar
rived at the jail and the doomed men
were offered communion. They par
took, kneeling in the barred chamber
the men who once were all highest
and all powerful in Greece, whose
words moved armies-now unable to
save their own lives.
One Minister Seriously ILL.,
All were on hand except former Pre-
mier Gounaris, who was too i'll to leave
his bed for the pre-death ceremonies.
Immediately after the communion
the condemned men were hurried to
the place of execution. Gounaris,
scarcely able to raise his head, was
rolled out of bed onto a stretcher,
placed in an ambulance and so con-
veyed to the spot selected.
Six squads of soldiers, five rifemen
in each, were waiting there to send
the fallen statesmen into the next
world. They stood like automatons,
eyes straight ahead, as emotionless as
wax figures, as the prisoners were
brought in.
Gounaria was lifted out of the am
bulance and placed before the firing
squad. He was too sick to pay much
attention to what was going on. In
different, huddled, with hands thrust
deep in his pockets, he stood there
with his head bowed until the volley
crashed.
Gounaris dreamed of making war and
restoring 'the ancient glory that was
Greece" He failed and paid with his
life.
Baltazzis, who has been a cabinet
minister under several premiers, was
debonair to the last He couldn't con-
ceal his nervousness as he faced
DEATH 1t manifested itself in the
fidgety way he kept polishing his
monocle, occasionally putting it to his
eye to look over the preparation for
execution.
Take Military HOnors.
Gen. Hadjenestes, commissioner Of
the armies of Greece in their fateful
attempt to roll back the Turks in Asia
Minor, was forced to suffer military
degradation before being shot.
Deposed from his high office as war
lord of the Greek military machine,
he stood stiffly at attention when some
of the very men he used to command
approached him to cut the buttons off
his uniform tunic and tear his badges
from his breast They left him dis
graced-a row of ragged holes in his
jacket where his marks of rank had
been. Tears trickled slowly down his
grim face. A few minutes later his
body was carried out.
The others were haggard, pale and
weary looking as they marched to
death but they kept their nerve to the
finish.
These executions practically wiped
out the coalition cabinet which was in
power during the recent war with
Turkey.
The courtmartial which condemned
these men stated their offense as fol-
lows:
"They concealed from the people the
danger of King Constantine's return
which they sought in order to enjoy
high Office under him. They stifed
public opinion against them by ter
roristic methods and arranged a pre-
tended offensive against Constantin-
ople, thereby bringing about the enc
my's offensive"