Evening star., 1941-04-03
Billy MitcheTs Sister Joins
Death -Defying Serb Legion
American Becomes
Dispatch Rider for
Comitoji Chief
Bx ROBERT ST. JOHN.

Associated Press Foreign Correspondent.
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, April 3.
Ruth Mitchell, who identified her
self as a sister of the late Amer
ican flyer, Gen. Billy" Mitchell, was
sworn in yesterday as the first for
eign woman ever to join the revolu-
tionary death-defying Comitaji.
She was given a phial of poison,
because the Comitaji boasts that no
member is ever taken alive, and was
made a member of the general staff
as a dispatch rider for Kosta
Pecanec, the white bearded leader
of the organization.
In the peasant hovel where he
lives on the edge of Belgrade with
the skeleton of one Comitaji hero,
Pecanec received Miss Mitchell,
former wife of an Englishman, and
initiated her into the secrets of one
of the strangest societies of men
and women in the world.
MRS. Martin Fladoes of Mil
Mitchell, said her sister Ruth
had been in Belgrade for about
a year, and that her married
name was Mrs. Stanley Knowles.
She last heard of her by cable
about two months ago.
Pecanec explained to Miss Mitchell
how for 400 years the Comitaji
harassed the Turks in guerrilla
warfare and how the same methods
will be used when and if the Ger
mans cross the Yugoslav frontiers
Miss Mitchell watched him cross
her name off the list of those who
have applied for membership, ex-
planning:
Eve just cross the name of, my
girl, because we consider you dead
when you become one of us. We
value our lives as nothing. We may
all be dead in a few weeks. I expect
to die myself this time. How about
you?"
"I am willing, too" Miss Mitchell
replied instantly.
Then Pecanec, who as q Serb
patriot in the World War dropped
by parachute behind the Austrian
lines to direct the men under him,
told her how she and her comrades
were expected to cooperate.
There are $4,000 men and women
who wear the Comitaji uniform, but
several hundred thousand more"
Pecanec said, who are secret mem
bers.''
Two Are Cabinet Members.
Two OF these are members of the
cabinet of the new premier, Gen.
Dusan Simovich, he said.
When war comes the reckless men
and women members of the Comitaji
go ahead of the army doing espio-
mage work. They are experts in get
ting information out of prisoners.
If their own army falls back they
stay behind. fighting by day and
working at night.
The Comitaji under Serb law have
the right to demand food and lodg-
ing from any one and the right to
carry firearms.
The poison given to each member
is sewn in the upturned coat collar
in such way that man or women,
even If manacled, can commit sui
eide by sucking the poison out of the
cloth.
AS Pecanec explained these things
to Miss Mitchell he was sitting in
his study Behind him hung a
photograph of Gavrio Prinzip, the
man who assassinated the Austrian
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his
wife at Sarajevo in 1914 and thus
launched the World War.
On the floor in corner lay the
bleached bones of skeleton.
Those are the bones of one Of the
greatest Comitaji heroes" Pecanec
said. His mother comes to see me
in this room every few weeks. She
often asks whose skeleton that is.
have never told her. I am hard, but
not that hard"
Eager to Don Uniform.
Miss Mitchell was piqued as she
sat in her own home later telling
the story to this correspondent
Her auburn hair curled under her
black fur Comitaji cap with its sill
yer skull and crossbone emblem.
She was piqued because she wore
a mans coat and riding breeches
instead of the regulation uniform
which was not yet available. She
said she was eager to don the
black sox embroidered with red
roses, which all members wear over
khaki trousers because there is a
place in the top of one sock for a
long, slender dagger.
THE chief told me I would have
to practice with a knife, plunging
and twisting it into a sack of flour
He said that was good training, u
she said.
Miss Mitchell was the only Eng
ish-American citizen in Northern
Albania when the Italian-G Greek
war started. She had been cover
ing every passable road, writing a
guide book. She first learned of
the Comitaji studying native folk
trict department of the American