MISS MALECKA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 21, 22 May 1912, Page 8

MI SS MALECKA.

o AN INTERESTING CASI

For the first time si.me the existence of the Russian courts in Warsaw a. political case has been 'heard in public, Aliss Kate Malecka, a British subject, being charged with belonging to the revolutionary wing of the Polish Socialist party. it is believed that the exception which has been made in the present instance is due to t!ie intervention Oi the British Ambassador m bt; Petersburg. Miss Malecka's lataer war a Pole, who became a naturalised Englishman; her mother was Engisli, and she herself, was born in England. When the case came on tor hearing the counsel for the defence, M. Pa pieski, applied for an adjournment o; account of the absence of two import ant witnesses-—Baron Heinzal, to whose children Miss Malecka acted as governess, and her friend, Alias Alarm, by whose evidence it was proposed to prove that the accused was not in Warsaw at the time stated in the indictment . The court refused the application, and Aliss Malecka having; pleaded not guilty, the hearing of the witnesses, of whom there were 20, bo gan. The first witness was a man named Sukicnnik, a former member of the Polish Socialist party, who is accused of the perpetration of a long series of terrorist deeds, and who now, in order to save his own head, is denouncing all his former comrades. He categorically assorted that he met Mi si Malecka in June, 1910, at Cracow, in Austria, in a flat belonging to a member of the Central Committee o. the Polish Socialist party, and when according to him Aliss Alalccka discussed the party’s affairs.

At this sel again rose, and in an eloquent speech argued that Sukicnnik s piesent hatred of all Polish “Jntollectn als” gave ground for the assumption that the witness’s statement might be false. ‘ M. Papieski accordingly once more demanded that the cas

should bo adjourned, so that Bare; Heinzel and Miss Mann could he sum moned.

Throughout the proceedings Aliss Alalecka maintained a calm and dignified attitude. After pleading, she was questioned with reference to what was described as a “confession” which she is alleged to have made in the presence of a gendarmerie officer. In reply, Aliss Malecka declared, a? a free daughter of England, she had supposed that there was no possibility -of her being condemned simply or. account of personal convictions. Therefore, when questioned by the gendarmerie officer, she declared .in all sincerity that she sympathised with Socialistic ideas as tending to ameliorate the life, of the working classics: Sin stated that she, was then asked by the officer whether she would like'do see Poland free. She replied that Of an Englishwoman she would like to see all nations free and happy, the more so as it was her father’s country. She added, hovyever, that she did not approve of acts of terrorism, regarding them as a dishonourable means of lighting. Aliss Maledka further declared, that she 1 neveW though 1that the confession ot' her convictions would be used against her. She explained that her only object ill going to Poland had been to get to know thq c ountry of her father and the great musician Chopin. If some ol her friends belonged to the Polish Socialist party she could not be held responsible for it.

Aliss Alalecka was released on bail, the securities given for her appearance having been extended, owing to Aliss Alalecka’s claim of British citizenship. The British Vice-Consul at Warsaw watched the case on behalf of the British Government, and was present throughout the proceedings. Aliss Alalecka declared that the accounts given by the Russian police of her alleged association with members of secret societies were sheer inventions, adding that as a British snbicct s'be did not interest herself in Russian social problems. Janina Roszkowska, against whom a similar charge was preferred, was submitted to a searching examination, and likewise asserted that she bad had no relations with suspected poisons.