GERMAN BRUTALITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15930, 29 May 1915, Page 9

GERMAN BRUTALITY.

SCOUrS EAR CUT OFF.

HEROIC RUSSIAN SOLDIER.

Further authentic particulars of the martyrdom of the Russian scout Panasuk have been published in Petrograd. He was examined at Rasoga by 10 German officers, who tried to induce him, at' first by offers of money," to give information as to the disposition of the Russian troops.l It was also suggested to him that hs should enter the' German secret service as a spy.

As lie indignantly refused to say anything, lie was threatened that, unless ha )ecame more compliant, his ears and nose would be cut off, his eyes put out, and that he would then be hanged by his feat and left to die. These 'horrible menaces liad no effect upon the steadfast Russian soldier, whereupon the Germans proceeded to put them into execution. A pair of scissors was brought, and ono of the officers cut off the lobe of the prisoner's right car. At intervals' he repeated his barbarous work till he had trimmed the organ down to the auditory cavity. At the same time another officer was mutilating the man's nose, tearing away the cartilage with his fingers, and varying the operations with occasional blows with his fist in the mouth. With wonderful courage and self-control Panasuk bore this fearful ordeal without flinching, and refused to answer any of the questions put to him. . After the torture had been kept up for more than an hour, the chief officer ordered him to be led away under arrest. On the way to a place of confinement, Panasuk, taking advantage of the darkness, managed to escape from his escort. Ho succeeded in reaching the Russian lines, and is now in hospital at Warsaw. The report of the doctors and photographs of the man's mutilated face are to be published in the press. This outrage is of so bestial a character that if it had not been vouched for by official authority, says a London paper, one would have hesitated to attach the slightst credence to it.