AUSTRIAN GENERAL KIDNAPPED.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 177, 26 May 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

AUSTRIAN GENERAL KIDNAPPED.

CH.UFKEUR HANDS HIM OVER. TO THE RUSSIANS.

Tili~. unr,lia-i been full of remarkable incifli'iit*!, but none more surprising than that lelat.d ill tln> eminent Russian pa]>c:r, "Rttsskuie Slovo". Die commander of the Austrian Second Division on tlie Galician frontier was General Skartou\ itch, a stern and unbem!ixifi; man, ami well known for his mielfy to tlic .-o!dier b under his command. Quite recently his wife, a proud lady and a beauty, visited him at headquarters. and, ill honour of that visit, the general arranged a round of festivities, which entailed extra duties on an already over - worked and disgusted soldiery. Weary and worn with hours spent in the trenches, the men wire compelled to put the time designated "rest hours'' into preparing a. magnificent reception for the general's lady. With his cnstomar.v'eriielty, tiio general was very severe on an.v act of laxity. On the, third day after his wife's arrival the general was summoned to headquarter?, and decided to take liis wife with him. Something wrong with the mechanism of the car caused him to he late, at his destination, and in his anger he beat the chauffeur so tinmen 1fullv that he subsequently succumbed to 1 jis injuries. This necessitated the . ligagemenl of a new chauffeur fur the return journey to th.» frontier, but the new man, knowing th. -1 fate of bis predecessor, determined to revenge his comrade's death oil the sjcneral and his wife. The journey from headquart.: s to the Attstrinu iirin.'i line would take at least rix hours, and the ueneral having had Jitr!e or no sleep the previous night, hot'i If ami bis wife fell into a heavy sleep No lights were allowed; there was nothing to indicate the direction in which 1 lie car was travelling, and the ••■ auffeur. seizing the opportunity, tnrii'd the car in the direction of the IJit lines. At d:iwn. when (be general awoke as t'e ."r came to a halt, he expected t.> -I'p r.■;f t-o own oaarlevs. and in? received with the customary honours. l">t, ,i.l. he found himself fa.'e to face w!i:i t-'.e Russian';, who n.erri'y deflated l-iet :» prisoner of war, reserving to the 1 ;idv to <7O where she wished. The ■ baoil'enr bad fully avenged the deathof liiy nredecessor