The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-13
OFFICERS TESTIFY ID 4BUTCHERY BY
 GEN. SEMENOFF
Instance After Instance of Murder, Rape and Banditry Given by Graves and
 Morrow
By Associated Pres.

Washington, April Exchanges Of human "butchery" made by Senator Borah. republican, Idaho, against Gen. Gregorie Semenoff. Russian anti bolshevik leader, were testified to to- day before the Senate labor commit tee by two leaders of the American expeditionary forces in Siberia, Brig. Gen. w. S. Graves, commander ana Lieut.. Col. Charles H. Morrow, his chief aide, who gave instances after instance of murder. rape and banditry which occurred during the period of American occupation of the region.
 Called before the committee in an investigation which Chairman Borah hopes may lead to deportation of General Semenoff, now under arrest in civil case in New York, the two army officers gave accounts of crime, described as unbelievable unless witnessed" excerpts from offical army records and other evidence cov- ering the period between September, 1918, and April, 1920, of nature sel- dom. if ever. laid before congress sional committee. At the conclusion MT. Borah turned to Colonel Morrow, the witness, and said:
 semenoff Responsible
 You were there, now tell us who, In your opinion, was responsible"
 "Semenoff," Colonel Morrow shot back. Anybody who was In that part of the world at that time knows that he was responsible"
 The committee plans to continue the hearing tomorrow when other army officers will be heard.
 General Semenoff was represented at the hearing by his attorney, John Kirkland Clark of New York. who announced that he would attempt to have the Russian officer come here to testify. He said also he would ask Colonel Kroupsky, the generals aide and interpreter. to appear in defense of his chief
 MT. Clark was not sure, however, that General Semenoff would be al- lowed to leave the state because of his being under arrest and MT. Borah said 1t was not the intention of the committee to subpoenae General Seni- enoff at this time"
 General Graves branded the Rus sian general as "a brutal murderer" and declared he had not regretted one of the crimes with which he was charged. Mir. Clark inquired if 1t were not probable that General Sem
 
 might not be that General Kolchak. the supreme" anti-bolshevlk com mander, had ordered the acts com mitted. General Graves declared it was not possible for the situation to have escaped General Semenoffs notice. Colonel Morrow said before he left Siberia in January, 1920, his command had disarmed 4,500 of Semenoffs soldiers, adding that had he remained longer all of them would have been disarmed. Outside in- fluence." however. he said, twas ex- erted, preventing the Americans and the Czechos, who were cooperating with them, from carrying out the purpose.
 What outside influerce do you mean?" MT. Clark asked.
 T do not care to go into that" replied Colonel Morrow, but I assure you there was the outside influ- ence."
 Discussing the "butchery," charges General Graves recited how at half a dozen points in the interior of Si- beria Russians were hauled by train loads to the slaughter ground" and shot without trial. The only reason given for the executions, he added, was that they were bolshevistic sym pathizers. He told of how at one grand festival" more than 1900 persons were murdered.
 Both General Graves and Colonel Morrow declared there were other instances of the same kind, although not as large in the number of killings but outrageous" and unequalled in few instances in history.
 Continual interference with Amer ican operations of the railroads in their sector was declared by Colonel Morrow to have been the work of Semenoffs men. These interferences included. he said, not only the hold ing up and shooting up of trains. but murder and robbery and other crimes.
 Demands for reparations, for ex- pressions of regret, for prosecution of the guilty, met either with evasive replies or none at all, General Graves said, adding: There was no sign of regret and I do not believe one bit of regret ever was felt by Semen off,
 General Graves said he distrusted General Semenoff and had refused to deal with him, adding that no req son ever was given for him to have confidence in the Russian officer The Russians with whom he came In contact generally were not un- friendly to the Americans, he added but under the Semenoff Hash" the same people were driven to crimes against the Americans as well as their own people and were whipped or shot if the orders were not car v