Arizona republican., 1922-04-19
GEN. SEMEVOFF IS
HUMAN BUTCHER
SAYSPHOEN|X MAN

W. - - ~ Nbb ~
That General Semeonoff, now in jail
in New York, should be deported, is
the opinion of young Phoenix man
who had a run -irs with him in the
Chita affair which has never been
| fully disclosed. The Phoenix man,
an Arizonian first lieutenant who
was sent to Siberia after the arnis-
tice and remained there year, does
not wish his name disclosed because
of his official connection with it.
But he is in possession Of the Of
ficial orders on which he acted and
| of copies of the correspondence be-
| tween General Graves the American
commander at Vladivostok and Sem
eonoff at Chita, all Of which he has
carefully preserved.
! Seneonoff, whose name is erron-
eously given in the dispatches as
| Semenoff, says the lieutenant, is not
a CoSsack, but a half breed. He had
at one time declared himself by some
sort of an election to be king Of
Mongolia, and the soldiers with
which he had surrounded himself at
Chita were for the most part Mon
golians.
1t was commonly supposed that
| Semeonoff was acting under Ad-
1 iAt4l fAOAAAlcSh cAA4AoN N4iC OOtA-AA~T
wiki, but he was merely an oppor-
tunist and expected to set up gov
ernment embracing the vast terri
| tory between Irkutsk and Vladivos-
| tok. Later he came under Japanese
! Influence and was used as a tool by
| the Japanese as long as his services
were required, when 1t is supposed
| that they were responsible for his
departure from the country.
| When the Americans first went to
| Vladivostok they supposed that Sem
| eonoff was loyal to Kolchack, but
| later discovered that he was not.
The Chita affair grew out of an at
tempt by General Graves to dispatch
several thousand rifles to Kolchack.
/ The first train load went through
without molestation, but the second
consignment, in charge of the Ari-
zona lieutenant with a detachment of
| SO men, was held up at Chita by
| Semeonoff. The lieutenant refused
| to surrender the rifles and stood off
4 the ataman until the latter yielding
/ to a threat by General Graves, per-
/ mitted the arms to proceed.
| The lieutenant agrees with Colonel
| Morrow, one of the witnesses in New
| York. that Semeonoff is a human
| butcher" but he says that he did
not, as charged, murder any Ameri-
can soldiers. There was once a coll
lision between his forces and de-
/ tachment of Americans en- route to
| Irkutsk. Several of the Americans
and more of the Russians were killed
/ in the encounter. But Semeonoff
committed butcheries of the people
of the country, bolshiviki and anti
! bOlsheviki alike, who rose against
him or interfered with the Siberian
railroad passing through the part o.
! the country he controlled.
Why, in the opinion of the lieu
| tenant. he should be deported is that
| il he is permitted to remain in this
/ country or to go to France as he
! intends. it viii be put into the atti-
! tude of furthering his designs against
the soviet government, something
| that would not be in the interest OF
! the peace, of the world.
Says the lieutenant: IF this coun-
| try is sincere in its desire to promote
| world peace, this opportunity to
prove it's sincerity should be taken
| advantage of and this murderer de-
| ported. This country cannot punish
| him for the atrocities charged, but
/ public sentiment once aroused would
! expedite his departure. There will
be sufficient punishment If he should
be sent to Siberia.
Notwithstanding the published
testimony OF Colonel Morrow, and
4 his testimony was unusually mild
there are some who maintain that
Semeonoff was friendly to Ameri-
can troops in Siberia, Foremost of
| these is Dean Barrows of the Uni
versity OF California, former colonel
of the 57th Infantry. The colonel
speaks of that friendship which ex-
pressed itself while there was so
much to be gained by Semeonoff.
| Unfortunately Colonel Barrows left
| Siberia before the ataman showed
| his real colors.
| I'm view of all that happened in
Siberia after my arrival there dis
agree with Colonel Barrows and in
sist that Ataman Semeonoff was not
only unfriendly. but that he sincerely
hated and prosecuted American
| troops on every occasion. Demonstra-
tions of this feeling were many and
documentary proof abundant. As to
the cause of his change Of sentiment
/ toward Americans. much may be
| said
Certainly the lack of definite
! policy, aggravated by the yacillating
| attitude of the commanding general,
caused a suspicion as to the real mis-
/ =. A