Evening star., 1923-10-12
Staying OF PRIEST
JUST, WOMAN SAYS
Defends Strange Crime While
She Talks Calmly of Paying
Death Penalty.
Special Dispatch to The star,

Special Dispatch 10 The star
CHICAGO, October 12.-When Mrs.
Emily Strutynsky faces trial for the
murder of a priest at the altar, In
sanity will not be her plea. she made
1t clear today.
The SECOND member of highly in
tellectual family to take the admin
istration of Justice" into her own
hands. Mrs. Strutynsky will call on
her lawyers to get across to the jury
some conception of the strange
psychology which led her to look on
the Rev. Basil Stetsuk not as an in
dividual. but as a monster represent
ing tyranny and oppression, when she
shot him to death during Sunday
mass in the Greek Catholic Church OF
st. Michael as he raised his hand to
make the sign of the cross above her
head.
Mrs. Strutynsky admits that this
will be hard to do. So does her
brother. Miroslav Sichinsky. pro-
fessor In a Rochester N. Y. uni
versity. who has come here to aid
her: But the brother, at least. com
prehends.
Il understand her act, but do not
applaud it." he said today. II felt
the same way when ! killed Count
Andres Pototsky. the Polish tyrant.
fifteen years ago. / did not have a
. qualm of conscience about the decd.
But when they told me I had lied
about it, / could not sleep for a
week"
Expects Death Verdict.
Mrs. Strutynsky. calmly awaiting
trial in the Cook county jail sought
to interpret herself to the writer in
she said the decision of the jury IS
of little Importance to her. She fully
expects to pay with her life for her
act But she is eager to be under
stood by the American people
Il killed him because it was just
that he should die. l WIS quite sane
when l did it," she said TO die is
nothing. but to be misunderstood--
ah, that is the tragedy. If the Ameri-
can people fail to und rrstand. l shall
have killed him in vain.
1t is not classes. nor parties. nor
nations. but individuals. who are re-
sponsible for the misery of the world
individuals in high places. who lead
are cheats and hypocrites. Father
Stetsuk was one of these. That Is
why killed him. -After my execution
you will understand"
Philosophy of this sort has never
been heard before in the Cook county
Jail. Fellow prisoners. who accepted
her into their sisterhood when the
heavy key turned on her. now stare
dI neT IN afndIemenl. tnen turn away
and tap their foreheads with know
Ing wink. But the alienists who
come to talk with her run up against
a snag in their efforts to find evil
dences of insanity. The speed and
directness of the mental processes of
this fragile woman battle them They
confess that they cannot grasp the
strange emotional complex which
brought her, leader among Ukraniar
women and herself the wife of a priest
pnyo Do 70 ly;l L,n,
husbands successor in the Chicago
parish.
Makes JniIers shudder.
Even more battling is her attitude
since the tragedy. An air of calm
radiance. as of one who has risen to
consequences. pervades her presence.
She spe"ks of her execution with q
composu~e which makes even her
jailers shudder.
Fully to understand Mrs. struxyn-
sky. perhaps. one must look to the
race from which she sprang and the
county which gave her birth.
Ukrainia, tiny bleak strip of Ga
hcia between the Black and Baltic
seas. a country storm tossed and op-
pressed since first it's little flag flut-
tered to the breeze. target for ty-
rants and vainglorious leaders. one
of the keenest sufferers during the
world war. 1t was here that Mrs.
: . u utS HShy was pOIu, the OduSHteI
of a priest, man of culture and
some Importance in the state.
Her family suffered greatly in the
succession of political upheavals that
swept her country. To kill an op-
pressor in the cause of the masses
was not a crime in Ukrania. Rather,
1t was mark of honor.
Perhaps" says Mrs. Strutynsky.
'it is that have tried to pour
the passionate ideals of Ukrania
into the American mold. Maybe that
is why il is so hard to explain my
deed to your country. But If l was
strong enough to do this thing. I am
strong enough to bear the conse-
quences. After I am executed-then
they will understand"