Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-18

RUSSIAN EDnGRE TO CARE SURVIVING

chose the uncertainty Of eternity
because they feared the uncer-
tainty of life.
That was the story between the lines
of note left to former comrade-at-
arms by the one-time offlcer of the
Cars army. whose body, with that OF
his wife, Mary Petrenko, and their
youngest son, Vadim, IS, were found
yesterday afternoon in a gas-flled room
CT their vine-clad home at 1921 Forty
first street. -
Life had not been kind to the Pc
trenkos, SO when they lay down to die
they took with them, as he slept, the
child for whom they had once braved
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS death-at the
hands of an enraged Red mob, that he
might be brought into the world on the
soil of their Russian homeland.
Alexander Krynitsky, himself Rus
sian emigre, knows the constant longing
for the old scenes that moved the Pc
trenkoS
Then there was that fear Of advanc-
ing age and what it might be in an
alien land, unhappy letters from kin
still across the seas and a wound left
tinued to torture Petrenko.
Some of these things Petrenko spoke
of in the note he left for KrynitSky, in
which he asked that the friend and his
wife look out for the two Petrenko
children left behind-the girl, Adriadna,
f8, and her brother Eugene, II. They
were away from home on an outing at
the time Of the tragedy.
So Krynitzky understands the tragedy
lie records
homicide and suicide"
Yesterday afternoon, Mrs. G. A.
Rounds. who lives next door to the
Petrenko home at 1922 Forty-first
street, was attracted by the scratching
at her door of a Persian cat which she
recognized as the pet Of the Petrenkos.
She had noticed there was no sign of
occupancy at the next house, so she
fed the animal as she had done on a
previous occasion, then went over to
investigate.
She was unable to get any response;
tried a door to find it locked, then was
attracted by the fact that all the win
dows but those in back room upstairs
were open. She notified police.
Officers from the fourteenth precinct
found the front door key lying on the
sill between the screen and the door.
The odor of gas was plainly evident as
they entered Confronting them on a
stairway leading to the upper floor was
note, penciled in red:
do not light matches"
1t was weighted down with a small
iron dog desk weight.
Over the staircase were two hoses.
running from opened jets on the kitchen
gas stove through holes bored in the
door of the closed room upstairs.
On mattresses, on the floor, lay
kn hi xxrffo nj 1ofk
locked in her right arm, and one of the
gas tubes beneath them. On the bed,
Vadim lay, one Of the tubes under his
pillow.
Five Notes Found.
The child was in his night clothes
A light on a cord lay beside him, as
though he had fallen asleep reading
The mother was clad in house dress,
the father partly disrobed.
Members Of the homicide squad
headed by Capt. Edward j. Kelly, as
sistant chief of detectives, and Capt.
j. z. Bowers of the fourteenth precinct,
we're quickly on the scene.
On table in the living room were
found five notes. One OF these was adj
dressed to the police. It read:
consent of my WIFE, The reasons for
my act do not concern the Police De-
partment. Please do not ask my chill
dren. We are taking with us our little
boy to save him from the cruel world.
Please notify Immediately I. Krynitsky,
Bureau Of Standards" (The 81" Is
Krynitskys middle initial9
Reconstructing the tragedy, the In
vestigators came to the conclusion that
Petrenko and his wife had waited until
the boy was asleep, then had led the gas
lines into the room, assured themselves
that Vadim was unconscious, then lay
down, embraced, and awaited death.
Note Dated Tuesday.
The note was dated Tuesday, and
from the condition Of the bodies, death
could easily have occurred at that time.
In bed room upstairs they had care
fully laid out the clothes for their burial
and in one box was mourning garb Tor