FACING THE FIRING SQUAD

Evening Star, Issue 18255, 20 April 1923, Page 5

FACING THE FIRING SQUAD

HOW THE GREEK MINISTERS ME* DEATH. S. S. Papadakis, a resident of Athens, and an eye-witness of the outrage, describes in ‘ Current History ’ how the Greek statesmen held guilty for the Asia Minor disaster met their . deaths. The Smyrna disaster, which uprooted a million and a-quarter people from their historic homes in Asia Minor and turned them into a homeless, penniless rabble of refugees, produced such suffering and represented such a gigantic _ national calamity that public ihdigation was aroused throughout Greece, and the question, “ Who is responsible for this volume of human misery and for the shame and humiliation of Greece?” demanded imperiously an answer. To meet this national demand the new Greek revolutionary Government arrested the statesmen hold guilty for the disaster, and, after a trial of startling swiftness, condemned them to death.

Tlie death decree was issued by the extraordinary court martial at daybreak of November 28 in the Parliament Building at Athens. The court martial _ had withdrawn for deliberation at midnight, and it brought in its verdict at 6.30 in tlie morning, only six and a-half hours later.. The men condemned were the former Greek Premiers, D. Gounaris, N, Stratos, and P. Protopapadakis; the former Ministers, N. Theotokis and George Baltadjis (Baltatisis or Baltazzis), and the ex-Coniiiiander-in-Ghief of the Greek army in Asia Minor, General Hadjianestis. At tlie hour stated, just at daybreak, General Otlioneos, president of the court martial, entered the assembly hall. Here a large throng, which had waited _ all through the night to hoar the decision, among them many women, listened in tense silence to the reading of the sentence by General Otlioneos. During the reading the guard presented arms. Messrs Gounaris , Stratos, Protopapadakis, Bali.adjia, Theotokis, and General Hadjianesti.s were condemned to death, while Admiral Goudas and General wore sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentences included military degradation. Heavy fines, varying from 200,000 to 1,000,000 drachmas, were also imposed. Meamvhile the prisoners (with the exception of Gounaris), who during their trial had been lodged in a room in the Parliament Buildings, were transported to the Averoff Prison on large trucks under heavy military guard. Gounaris was lying dangerously ill with typhoid fever in a clinic. At 7 a.ra. three trucks filled with policemen called at tlie hospital and transported the former Premier, trembling with fever and wrapped in a blanket, to the

prison, A little before 11 a.in. the pastor of the prison administered holy communion to the men condemned, took their confessions and asked their last wishes. What the prisoners said in those tragic moments was not disclosed. A closed camion was .stationed at the door of the Averofl Prison, and two police officers stood by the chauffeur. The parting of the prisoners with their families was heartrending. The guard had difhculty in separating them. Stratos, in parting with his son, was heard to say: “You will have my curse if you ever interfere in politics.” The prisoners entered, one after the other, the camion, the hack part of which was closed only by loose curtains flapping in the air, that allowed me to see the pale faces of those who had been the autocratic rulers over 8,000,000 people, going to their death. As they were entering the camion a laborer shouted to them, “ Farewell, farewell! ” The camion started, followed by the cars of the accompanying officers, the pastor and some trucks with armed policemen. Two cars with newspaper men, in spite of all prohibiting orders, succeeded in breaking through and following the line of cars. None of the relatives was allowed to accompany the prisoners save Dr Vlachos, tire family doctor and a cousin of Gounaris. Some of the people of the neighborhood and some children followed, riming after the line of cars, which passed the Thon Villa and stopped at the foot of Mount Hymcttus. Infantry had been stationed on the spot since the early hours of the day. The commanders had fixed exactly the place where the sentenced leader's were to be shot. The camion drove through a double line of_ soldiers, whose flanks were closed hy policemen, forming thus a parallelogram in whose centre were the sentenced Ministers, the Revolutionary Procurator, the Secretary of the court martial, the pastor of the prison, and a few officers. We, the newspaper men, with some hundred other people, stayed a few steps behind the lino of soldiers. Gounaris, deadly pale from his sickness and staggering, had to he supported successively by Stratos and Baltadjis. As they wore marching, Gounaris, addressing it near-by officer, said: “Only let the story end as soon as possible.” Stratos, with nervous movements, offered Theotokis a cigarette from his cigarette case. Thcotokis. who was wearing his monocle, lighted the cigarette and smoked it with apparent calm. Stratos had taken off his hat and was smoking nervously. He stamped with his feet on the ground as if to choose a firmer basis to stand against the bullets. Baltadjis took off his monocle, cleaned it as if to see more clearly, and replaced it. Gounaris stood motionless with his hands deep in his overcoat pockets. An officer with his sword pointed out where each one of the condemned was to stand. They all marched silently to their positions. They were placed in a straight line, each at a distance of live metres from the other in the following line: Theotokis, Stratos, Baltadjis, Gounaris, Protopapadakis, Hadjianestis. The Revolutionary Procurator, Colonel Gregoriades, approached General and pronounced the formal phrase of military degradation; “ General Hadjianestis, you are unworthy to wear the military insignia. I degrade you! ” And he took away the insigna. At a distance of about five metres there was a special line of soldiers in groups of six opposite each condemned. Then followed an agony of five minutes, during which the secretary of the court martial read the order of execution. All the soldiers presented arms during the reading. The moment the reading ended, the officer at the head of the executionary' detachments raised his sword and shouted the military command; “Attention!” Then, “Take aim! ” This was the. most tragic moment of the whole scene. Noone moved, and there was a grim silence, during which all of us hold our breath. Then came the final order: “ Fire! ” A unison of shots brought to tho ground the six sentenced men. Of tho six soldiers of tho executive detachment facing each of the men condemned, only five soldiers fired together. The sixth, after tho unison of shots, approached tho already dead man and fired through his head, giving him what is called in military language tho “ coup do grace.” Immediately after this, policemen lifted the blood-stained corpses of the statesmen and placed them in the same camion which had carried them to the place of execution. As our reporters’ cr.v for some time the camion, I distinguished through the flapping curtains of the back part of tho camion the white head of Protopapadakis moving to and fro with the jerks of the car. The bodies were taken to the first cemetery of Athens, where at 4 p.m. of the same day they were buried (by permission of the Revolutionary Committee) hy their families. Few men listened to the funeral service of these men who in life had beeu followed, for some time at least, by a whole nation.