, 1923-02-25

be cleared up. No alihis. personal con-
formations or anything else was of
any avail.
1t would be easy to continue thu
list of such innocent and accidental
prisoners ad %infinitum. because they
mad up and still constitute the bulk
of h inmates of the Butyrki, serving
.eally as n special item of revenue to
the higher. lower and lowest Cheka
officials.
However. all hardships and physical
and moral tortures were as nothing
compared with that atmosphere of I'M
certainty which was created by those
constant and often unexplained shoot
ings. Positively not one prisoner. the
Socialists included. could be certain
hat some mysterious "~colleEium"
would not decree on the following day
to have him shot, and that ho would
not be called out in the evening or late
at night with your things. to the
city" 1. G.. to execution.
Think what the conditions are I'M
der which these mysterious meetings
of a "~collegium," composed Of three
accidentally chosen and constantly
changing members Of tho presiding
board, are making their decisions!
Not without good cause did D~zerzhin-
sky hasten. at the time of h whole
sale shootlngs July and October
TO December, 1919 to take out Of
the in~vestlgators' hands all Socialist
cases, locking them securely in his
safe, SO there should be no ~"accidents."
But people who don't happen
TO be Socialists, people without a party
organization 10 stand by them, or with
a party which at the given moment
does not cut any figure with h gov
ernment, these ave to listen every
night in fear and trembling to the
steps in the corridor. TO the horns OF
the automobiles, and to the rafting
of the locks. The case of any
one OF these was liable to just como
under the hands Of the '~collcgium.
and every one Of them might draw tho
fatal lot.
The ShootingS Went On
Throughout the Summer
Properly speaking 1t may be said
that s%hootings never ceased through
out the summer. Once or twice q
week n group OF u"nfortunatcg would
be carried away from the Butyrld. In
some unfathomable manner. but Sill
invariably. the prison would learn OF
the arrival of that fatal automobile,
and somewhat later. sometimes eve
on the same day. OF the names,
categories and last place of ~conflne-
ment in tho prison Cecil. corridor) OF
the hRplcss victims. Rumors about
the shootings themselves also would
reach us, as the prison officials would
discuss them frankly Mt the office
whence the details would come TO us
In this way It became known that
in the month of February DR.. Sta
kovsky. who had been sentenced tC
death for having acted as agent
pr]ovocateur' under the Tsarist regime
had slashed his wrists at tho Moscow
Cheka prior to tho shooting. But in
February. March. April, May, June and
part of July they were shooting only
single indlviduals, by the verdicts OF
the tribunals or bandits a~pprehendsd
on the spot. 1. C., people who had been
in prison already for n month or more
and had to n certain extent become
rccoucilod 10 the thought of their In.
rvitUbIc doHth. II Is rue they were
confined right there alongside OF US
suffering terrible nEonieS OF fear ir
The evenings. growing pale ns death
every t!inc they were told that the
'CoM1I!agHry Of Death" Ivauov, hat
arrived at was no who usually am
from tho Moscow ChsEa to fetch tht
'T7inoncr9 VINO were to he sho;J. GG.