Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1948-11-26
6S2O SUPERIOR AVE.
Continued from last week.

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One day in 1888, Rev. Dainys and
his fellow-prisoners were shaved Of
their unkempt boards, dressed in
better clothes, given better food, and
were taken to some locality in the
town, seated in the prison auto,
called "Black Crow" There were
ten priests in the group: Msgr. Ma
tulionis, Revs. Dainys, Cegys, Pau
lavicius, Pranc.sietis, Bugenis, Pas
kevicius, Iljinas, Ladyga, and Juri-
anas. They were ordered to
alight and were led by the prison
guards to some fine building and
told to wait in an elegant waiting
room. From there they were sum-
moned one by one to the next room,
from which none of them returned.
Those who remained wondered what
fate was awaiting them; was it pos
sible that the GPU had devised
such a theatrical way of sending
them to their death?
Finally it was Rev. Dainys' turn.
Hardly had | entered through the
door," relates Rev. Dainys, "when
a tall, greying, kind faced gentle
man arose from his writing desk,
approached me and said, extending
his hand: 4 am Baltrusaitis, accre-
dited Minister of the Lithuanian Re-
public. | greet you in the name of
my Government and announce that
an agreement has been signed with
the Soviet Government to exchange
you for persons desired by the So
viets (forty Communists, agents of
the Soviet Government, were handed
over by Lithuania in exchange for
the ten priests. Ed.) Do you wish
to return to Lthuania p
81 swayed slightly in my utter
astonishment. When l recovered, l
was holding the Minister'S hand
and repeating: 4 do want to, Mr..
Minister, | do Some man in So
Wet uniform who was standing by
the window, made a grimace and
said to Baltrusaitis why even ask,
Mr. Minister? Undoubtedly he will
be better off in Lithuania than in
our PRISONS
after the interview with the
Lithuanian Minister" continues Rev.
Dainys, g. | found others of our
group who had already seen the
Minister. We were all transported
with joy; we shed tears, embraced
each other, asked one another if
this was not just dream. All ten
of us were conveyed in the "Black
Crow back to prison. Here we
found food already sent by the
Lithuanian Legation, the like of
which we had ceased to dream of.
Only Msgr. Matulionis was thought
full and silent, and suddenly said:
L for one, refused to return We
were stunned. But the Monsig
nor repeated: 4 told Mr.. Baltrusai-
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and believe me, for very important
reasons Our persuasion and our
pleas were of no avail. He remain
ed adamant. However, probably be-
cause of some oversight Of the So
Wet officials, the name of Msgr
Matulionis was also inscribed in the
list of returnees, which a prison Of
ficial read to us some time later.
Msgr. Matulionis bent his head and
said: 1T seems that such is the will
of God. So be it. God knows that
my desire to remain was sincere.
Rev. Dainys relates how the Mos
cow station was emptied and fenced
off from the general public when
those ten "criminals' were put on
special train with barred windows
reserved for them, how they were
searched, and how prison marks on
their clothing were conscientiously
erased with pitch; how on the Lat
Wan border they were formally hand
ed over to a representative OF the
Lithuanian Government, and how
they saw with what sadness in thei"
faces the exchanged Soviet agents
proceeded to their Red homeland;
how enthusiastic were the evations
of the crowds greeting them IN
Daugapilis, where they were formal
ly greeted by the Latvian Bishop
Springovicius and by representa-