PLOTS IN POLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 145, 21 June 1926, Page 7

PLOTS IN POLAND.

PILSUDSKI IN PVRIL

ENEMIES ELIMINATED

(Received 1 p.m.)

WARSAW, June 20.

The President, Marshal Pilsudski, has accepted the resignation of General Szeptycki, formerly Chief of the General Staff.

M. Pilsudski has also accepted the resignation of General Haller, the commander of the Poeen Army corps, and one of the President's most prominent , opponents, who was hostile to the recent coup d'etat in Warsaw.— (A. and N.Z.)

A dramatic duelling episode wae reported from Poland on June 17. General Szeyptki, formerly Chief of the General Staff, refused to shake bands with Count Skrzyneki, the former Foreign Minister, because the latter did not shelter him against a personal attack made upon him by Marshal Pileudski, the new Minister of War. The friction resulted in a duel with pistole. On the duelling ground both men stood back to back, then advanced seven and a-half paces and wheeled round. General Szeptycki fired and missed his man. Thereupon Count Skrzynski threw down his pistol, saying: "When I pull the trigger I always hit the target. I refuse to kill you. If anyone else in Poland believes he is justified in shooting mc he is welcome to do it."

An earlier message stated that a plot to assassinate Marshal Pilsudski was nipped in the bud by the secret service. It was Alleged that General Haller had organised a party of selected youths to waylay M. Pilsudski en route to Parliament.