Alleged Murder of American Official By Soviet Soldiers

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26918, 2 November 1948, Page 5

Alleged Murder of American Official By Soviet Soldiers

N.Z.P.A.—Copyright VIENNA, Oct. 31. United States and Austrian authorities reported that four Russian soldiers “ most brutally murdered ” Mr Irving Ross, an American official of the European Economic Co-operation Administration in Vienna. Mr Ross held third position below the chief of the European Economic Co-operation Administration, Unofficial reports said that Mr Ross was sitting in a car with a girl outside the south railway station in Vienna, When four uniformed Russians broke into the car and forced him at pistol point to drive towards the Russian sector. The girl, Anna Sutkena, who apparently jumped from or was thrown out of the car, is in hospital with a skull fracture. She told the police that two of the four Russians beat Mr Ross over the head with rifle butts, and also beat her. Austrian police found her lying on the road. An Austrian labourer going to work found Mr Ross's car in a field with the wheels removed and all wires cut. The Austrian police said his skull had been crushed by blows from rifle butts, and there were wounds indicating that he had also been bayonetted. Mr Ross’s wife and three children, who live in Vermont, in the United States, were due to join him in Vienna early next month. The Austrian police later said Mr Ross was so - brutally hit over the head and shoulders that the body was hardly recognisable. Miss Sutkena’s condition is serious, but she is expected tc live. Allied military police and United States investigators were permitted to visit the scene of the crime after the Russians first attempted to prevent investigation. Russian troops cordoned off the field in the Russian zone outside the city where the car was found, and allowed no one to approach.