Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1922-10-21

Execution as Heu rage IN rlstO'J
of Modern Observation-Disclosures OF
Church Treasures Is Cause Of
Trouble-Witnesses Who Came TO
Give Evidence for Accused Are Ar
rested-Friends Are Shut Out.
The trial ana execution of Arch
bishop benjamin, metropolitan of
Petrograd, is red page in the history
/ of modern Russia. II is not every day
that an archbishop is hailed to prison.
tried as criminal and shot as con
vict. was, SO far as | am aware.
the only foreign writer in Pctrograd
at the time of the trial. Here is the
story as | learned and saw 1t, writes
+. 4. Mackenzie In the Chicago Daily
News:
The archbishop and large number
+ Of his advisers and supporters were
/ arrested in May, and brought to open
trial in the hall Of the old Mobiles
/ club In Petrograd. the trial starting
on June IL.
Among the prisoners were the arch
mandrite Sergci, the bishop of kron-
/ stadt. the deans of Petrograd's three
! cathedrals. ST. Isaac's. Kazan and the
Troitsky. Prof. NOvitsky, a famous
lawyer and chairman of the church
council, the Rev Prof. Ognieff Shein, a
former member of the duma, and some
three score others. Altogether rs dis
/ tinguiShed q group of men rs you
could find. even in Petrograd. the intel
lectual capital of Russia.
Resisted DEGREES Of Soviet.
The prisoners had conspired 10 re-
sist the DEGREES OF the soviet govern.
ment. When the authorities Informed
| MonSlgnieur Benjamin that the church
treasures were To be taken for famine
relief he replied In formal docu-
ment in which he asked three things,
"a proof that the money could not
be raised In any other way. (2) guar.
antees that the money should not be
used for any other purpose than fam
Inc relief. and CD that the consent
of the patriarch in Moscow should he
obtained. He added 10 his ofIensc by
.
He was summoned to the Smolny in
stitute. the headquarters of the Mos
COW soviet. ne came attended By his
counsel. He Withdrew his first and
third points, hut chung TO the second.
Give us assurances that our money
will really 90 for famine relief" he
insisted. on his return home he issued
still another appeal TO the people.
Let me describe what followed in
the words of one Of his holshcviSt ac-
cuserS. "As n result Of this. restless
mob demonstrated on March II. ut the
KaZnn cathedral. mob beat the mill
tin In Sennaya street on March l6.
and the soldiers had 10 he called out,
Stones were thrown nj the soldiers NJ
the church of RoZhdestvo on April
II. there being alarm, violence and
mob rule. the mob also throwing
stones at the officials who were col
lecting the church treasures. Similar
violence took place at the Putilov Zas-
tava April % and on May g."
The Putilov Xastava Is In the midst
of one of the greatest working-class
districts In retrograd. so perhaps the
authorities had some cause for alarm.
Trial Before Tribunal.
The trial lasted for nearly n month.
not ending until early July. The au-
thOritleS attempted To prove that Ben
jamn and his supporters were really
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. that they were in
touch with the antibolshcvistS outside
Russia who had summoned the karlS-
berg conference. and that they were
plotting 10 overthrow the government.
The chief judge of the revolutionary
tribunal was Nakovchenko. techni.
cal engineer.
II was wearisone trial. The great
audiences that listened day after day
were carefully drawn from the fac.
tories and government offices. Few Of
the friends OF the prisoners could oh
tain admission. So they assembled
outside. and when the prisoners were
brought In each morning and left each
night they found crowds of churchmen
singing hymns. praying and asking
their blessing. One night cavalry
made their appearance. surrounded
every way out and made prisoners of
all the crowd.
Reform Priest Hit by Stone.
There were some dramatic moments.
On the opening day when one reform
priest. Vedensky. was leaving the
court. n woman threw stone. struck
him on the head and nearly killed him.
vedensky was upposed-falsely. as
he afterward assured me--to have In
stigated the trial of the archbishop,
Three witnesses had come to give
evidence In favor of the prisoners
They were then arrested. The friends
Of the prisoners complained that this
so shook the nerves of the other wit
neSses that they could not say what
they would The tribunal was not
sympathetic To the accused When II
considered that II had heard enough,
II refused Ia hear more. II refused
them the right NJ consult certain ma
terlal documents they demanded.