FEARFUL BARBARITIES IN

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 57, 23 February 1918, Page 15

FEARFUL BARBARITIES IN

RUSSIA.

POLISH NOBLE MURDERED.

A FURY OF DESTRUCTION.

Before the war the tragedy lately enacted in the castle ot Slavuta would have sent a thrill of horror through all Europe. As it is, the bare fact that one of the greatest of the Polish nobles. Prince Sangushko, who was ninety years of age, had been murdered has been known for some little time, but the ghastly details of the crime have only just been revealed.

The castle of Slavuta, built when the district of South-western Russia, where it stands, belonged to the King of Poland, lies on the outskirts of a little manufacturing town of the same name. Owing to the unsettled state of the country, which is infested with deserters from the army, the military authorities had sent a guard of dragoons to the castle, which contains priceless historical treasures accumulated by the Sangushko family ln the course of [the centuries.

I One of these dragoons caught a soldier from a neighbouring village cutting down a tree in the forest surrounding the castle, and tackled him. The thief was slightly wounded, but not severely enough to prevent his running to the neighbouring village, where his regiment was stationed, shrieking that the guard at the castle was trying to murder him. The soldier's comriJet; ot once seized their rifles and declared that ammunition must be supplied them. There was none In the village, and in spite of the efforts of the colonel and officers of the regiment, the men set out to get ammunition from the military stores at Slavuta, and forced the colonel and three officers to accompany them.

MANIACAL FDRT.

In the town they got the ammunition they required, and at once surrounded the castle of Prince Sangushko. They began to flre, and the dragoons on guard returned their fire. All the time the officers and the members of the regimental committee ■were appealing to the insurgent soldiers to obey orders and to cease firing. Suddenly they gave way, only stipulating that a .deputation from the regimental committee should search the castle, as they were convinced that the old Prince had stored machine-guns for use ln the cause of the counter-revolution. Of course, there were no machine-guns, and all that was found was a few sporting guns and revolvers.

j Just as snddenly as the crowd of soldiers, standing in the courtyard of the castle, had yielded to the appeal of their officers, came a new uproar, and. in an Instant they had overpowered the guard, and rushed into the castle. Neither threats nor appeals had the slightest effect on them. They destroyed, ln a fit of maniacal fury, everything thnt they could lay hands on. Pictures, furniture, statues, draperies, were destroyed blindly, ruthlessly. The venerable Polish magnate and his two nieces, the young and beautiful Countesses Rsyszcicwskl, fled to one of the attics, hoping that, lf their borne was to be ruined, at lenst their lives might be saved. From early in the morning, when the marauders began their attack, until five o'clock in the afternoon, the sacking of the castle went on. Then the soldiers retired to the courtyard;

'What about the Prince?" cried one of

And tbe lovely Countesses?" added

nnother. with a leer.

COUNTESSES' TERRIBLE FATE

Back Into the castle rushed a band of soldiers, and began to search for the owner. At last he was found, and dragged into the courtyard amid the derisive yells of the soldiers waiting for their victim. They decided to take him to the village where they were stationed, and dragged the old man along, for he was too old to walk at the pace they desired. On the way they finally lost the last shred of selfcontrol, let the Prince drop half-senseless on the ground, and then a score of men thrust their bayonets Into bis body. So died Prince Sangushko. His murderers, like savage beasts, tore his body to pieces.

The fate of his nieces, tbe two Countesses Rzyszczcwski. was more terrible thnn that of the Prince. They had managed to escape by a back way and had got to the market-place of the town. There they were recognised, and soldiers at once seized them. Those two youthful countesses, whose exquisite loveliness had made them the centre of all eyes ln the salons of the palaces of Warsaw, and whoso goodness and sweetness had made them beloved by the people of Slavuta. were treated In so vile a manner, that It cannot be described, by dozens of soldiers, maddened by the day's orgy of destruction.

HEROIC PRIEST MURDERED.

There was one man who came to their defence; the Catholic priest of Slavuta, who had known them from childhood and prepared them for first Communion. But the soldiers fefußcd to be deprived of their victims, and showered blows with the butt-ends of their rifles on the courageous priest, who fell and was beaten to death. It ls perhaps well that the sufferings of the 'wo countesses ended ln death, and that they have been delivered from the ha.inting nightmare of horror which could never Lave been purged from their minds.

The day ended with the soldiers running amok 5n the town, murdering and maltreating peaceful inhlbltants, while the scene was lit up by the flames of the blazing castle of the Sangushko. The soldiers, carried away by their blood lust, killed all the splendid Arabian horses ln the prince's stables. The orgy of destruction continued for hours. This ls a picture of the Infamous anarchy which exists ln Russia under the rule of the Bolsheviks. If indeed it were known ln West Europe what Is happening In Russia they would unlerstand the terrible situation of Russian landowners, who are now exposed to the unrestricted barbarism of peasants who have been intoxicated by promises Hint i he land shall be divided among them. Brigandage Is rampant nnd remains for the most part unpunished.