REVENGE DRAMA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

REVENGE DRAMA

ENGLISHMAN AND RUSSIANS FIGHT WITH RED GUARDS FOUR OFFICIALS WOUNDED Ten years ago nn Englishman and his wife were killed by tho Bolsheviks. A few weeks ago their 25-year-old nephew is alleged to have made a dramatic attempt to avenge their death. Tho nephew is William Brown, who went to Helsingfors, Finland, from Hnll, and on Juno 4 was lying critically wounded in hospital after a hand-to-hand revolver fight with four oflicials at tho Soviet Legation. Brown entered the Legation at 10 o'clock and asked to see tho Soviet Minister, Mr. Stein. The doorkeeper said he would inquire whether the Minister could Bee him, but Brown would not wait. He pulled a revolver from his pocket and dashed upstairs, where four Legation guards barred his way. . Brown first used his fists and was soon engaged in a hand-to-hand fight. Shots were fired and Brown was overpowered. In tho course of the firing Brown was alleged to have wounded four Soviet officials, but not seriously. Other officials returned the fire, wounding Brown in the jaw. He was then rushed to hospital, where he was oporated on immediately. _ The Soviet officials were taken to hospital, but returned to their homes after receiving treatment. . , , Brown, who was born in Petrogracl, took a university degree in England. Ho arrived in Helsingfors from Hull on August 26, 1920, and obtained employment in a rubber mill, where he was working until June 13. His mother, Mrs Charlotte Johanna Wilhelmina Brown, was born in 1887 in Petrograd, and is now in London. .... , Brown's brother. Maximilian, who was born in 1913, and his sisters, Ruth,

-born in 1911, and Irene, born in 1907 are now in Petrograd*. His father died in Finland six years ago. . In a statement to the political police in hospital, Brown is alleged to have said he wanted to avenge his uncle and aunt, who were killed by the Bolsheviks and had their property confiscated.