RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17144, 25 April 1919, Page 7

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.

ATROCITIES IN PETROGRAD. WOMEN'S FEARFUL TRIALS. ! STORY BY SOLDIER'S WIFE. Among the soldiers' wives who landed yesterday from the lonio were several who had themselves seen and known from | actual experience Ihe horror of invasion ! and riot and bloodshed. One of these was Mrs. 0. Benge, wife of Sergeant-Major Benge, of Wellington, and daughter of: General Tarbeef, of the Russian Imperial; Guards, Mrs. Benge, still in her teens,' lived in Petrograd until August, 1917, and her story, told yesterday in vivid manner and quaint, broken English, was one of thrilling interest. Some time before the revolution, General Tarbeef had been despatched to Salonika in charge of a Russian division there, his only son also being stationed there. The effects of the war, said Mrs. Benge, had, of course, made themselves felt keenly in Petrograd, but up to the time of the revolution, nearly all commodities had been obtainable, though at high prices. Events moved afterwards with tragi: swiftness, however. For a short time after the abdication of the Tsaor it seemed as though the great revolution had been accomplished without any of tho awful tragedy of that of the French, but very Boon the revolutionaries adopted more violent methods. All the streets were patrolled by large bodies of soldiers. " Oh, it seemed so strange," exclaimed tha speaker, "tho rifles, the bayonete, all pointed as yon walked. So people: stayed at home out of danger." Terrible Murders Committed. Bui soon rioting and bloodshed broke out in the army and there was terrible slaughter of the Russian officers by the soldiery, who became more violently Bolshevik as the doctrines of Lenin and Trotykz gained sway. A great number of General Tarbeefs fellow officers and Monarchist friends were killed, " and that would most certainly have been my father's fate, had he also been in Petrograd," said Mrs. Benge. " Our household was in ereat peril, but our soldier-servants were loyal and kept us Bafe. even when our friends were murdered. Then at last the rebels attacked our house, and we fled to Moscow, my mother and I, taking only our jewels and a few valuables." When the Kerenßky party came to power, she continued, conditions were less violent, for a little while, and the refugees returned to Petrograd. They found the house utterly wrecked, furniture, doors and windows smashed, and everything of value stolen by the Bolsheviks. Very soon signs of still worse times ahead grew terribly threatening, and every effort was made by Mme. Tarbeef and her daughter to get cut of the country.

Betrays! of Her Country, All efforts proved fruitless, however, and the position grew more desperate daily. Finally, escape was renders possible through the intervention' I 'of the French Government. Mrs. Benge's brother had beer' stricken with serious illness at Salonika, and been invalided to Nice, Southern France. On the ground of his serious condition, permission was granted his mother and sister tq visit him, and with an escort of three French officers, they set out on their long journey, via Norway, Sweden and England, to France. Here they were joined later by Gen. Tarbeef, who also had been invalided from Salonika, Describing further the terrible upheaval which had swept away so many of her friends, Mrs. Benge spoke passionately of the betrayal of her country by Lenin and j Trotszky, " traitors' in the pay of Ger-1 many!" she declared. She told of the mysterious journey of Lenin from Switzerland to Petrograd, shortly after the revolution, in a " blinded " train, and the wonder of the Russians that he had been allowed by the Germans to come. The Bolshevik movement was spoksn of with horror; its ideals had been hopelessly lost in the mad struggle for power, and | greed and blood-lust. It had cowed the whole country through fear. After the: revolution, the peasants on large estates owned by General Tarbeef, in Central Russia, bad seized the property, and thus became possessed of large quantities of grain and foodstuffs. They were forbidden to sell this to' the people, however, and those who did so were severely punished, or even killed, as the Bolsheviks would not allow the food to reach the cities. f Faith In the Future. At the time of the signing of the iinnistice, said Mrs. Benee, the Russian division in France was demobilised, but the men refused to return to their country, and large numbers of Hum joined the Foreign Legion. But better times were in store; just before the speaker left France a special envoy reached Paris from a Russian general fighting the Bolsheviks for the purpose of seeking aid from the French Government and re-forming the division to return and fight their country's betrayers. "We shall yet be free again," cried the Russian girl. "They cannot crush Russia, in spite of all they have ' done, because the true spirit some day will live again in the hearts of the people, and there is great wealth untouched."