RUSSIAN GENERAL.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXVI, Issue 4469, 8 September 1911, Page 4 (Supplement)

RUSSIAN GENERAL.

SENT TO PRISON FOR EXTORTION AND EXCESS OF power.

I ( i RUSSIAN hardly ever docs aayA. thing; but when he dooa _sonio1* thoroußHy.” 0«BOL the tot of Slav fictiomata. m b» »»«™ “ Dead Souls,” wrote that, and tJ *, interested public in the r «. the'Moscow <f Judicial Institutions centlv agreed with hnn* # The occasion was the triah ofthe ent, bribe takmK. f a! y imprisonment, excess of pow and 16 other offences wmch were re ■S&SBP&g a comfortable room m a t j_f?i, on „ h Not in the amount stolen creat—but in ingenuity, perat least £5,000,000. fi years Had h°. only wedded sooner Reinboth ' became .an honest maii-As it aias n .one of the bi?ges of the (writes the foreig arrived ‘ n Chicago Tnbnno ). (1 n lin'-itcd. desMoscow as K^ o( a ' t ; r bho city .had smiled on him.- &• „ • expensive “ handsome general »vea luxuries, and a ° hi + 0 supplement £OOO. he naturally h-d to U - for his°pnrpose! The city was was ideal tor “M P’ 1 # extril0 rdinary soin the condition of e lhat while the cunty, wlueh me. ‘ . Uc( i the ad* civil authorities still control! . mkto under mertW .. 1»V. v«te“« rt s3Sf*£.*X£» the obpowers to expel or “ r the noxious persons; and suu9 new only judge, that means he cxpeis o exiles whom ho likes. Remtoth saw the enormous advantages lion of blackmailing citizens Ho a rr.vTf.fi wliollv innocent' men, threw them into gaol, and sent then’ into exile if they refused to pay. The handsome ‘ “‘;i started a “ charitable fund, ostensibly for the tonofit of potmen sufferers from the revolution, but tne fund was his own private banking i*9' count. Roinboth was well backed by his assistant, Colonel Korotko, wno sat mside bun in court. -noin. All Moscow paid blackmail, to Remboth. First came private individual citizens, then owners of gambling bouses and others, and, finally, the city seas en* -rer firms, which were punished for offences against public health unless they paid, an! if they did pay V were allowed to injure tho public health as much as they chose. Some gambling hells pa d £2OOO in'one year. The trial lasted six •’.• ooks, and hundreds of witnesses sworw that they paid eporraouo sums to the prefect,-none of which he entered m his official books Those who refused to - pay wore threatened and bullied into Reinboth'is intermediary in. dealing with tho criminals ho patronised was “ tho shoemaker, fjfcvol.'iff,’’ an uneducated man; and Stvoloff duly became one of the chief potentates behind the scenes in Moscow, and iisca to boast—with reason—that by luting his finger he could ruin anyone in the city. In addition to the “ charitable fund, Reinboth covered up bh roobenes by misrepresentation. That is, ho booked stolen money as “ rewards to tho police for special service.” The police never got the rewards. Tho system .bo.camo daily more and more oppressive, but no citizen of*Moscow dared to complain lest ho should he thrown into gaol c-r exiled. Some of the “ handsome general’s ” victims w ere jruinod. A man named Vasilieff was thiown into gaol for no reason, and kept there for six weeks During his incarceration his property was sold by auction. All these acts of violence were covered by the excuse that the* victims were il revolutionaries.” However, his power was exercised in other ways. One of tho most extraordinary stories told at tho trial was the incident of the. prefect, the peasant blacksmith Savelieff, and the beautiful millionairess, Countess Lanskoi, daughter of a general, and last representative of one of Russia 3 most illustrious lines. Mile. Lanskoi, under some amazing infatuation, fell in love with the illiterate, unwashed blacksmith, and openly avowed to him her passion. She implored him to run away with her to Moscow, and there marry her. ~ The stupid peasant, not .knowing what he did. agreed. -The pair eloped. The girl’s aunt flew to Moscow and implored Reinboth to save her reice. Reinboth agreed, “ for more than £1000.” He simply took hold of tho blacksmith and threw him into gaol. There tho lover was kept while the prefect daily ordered him, on pain of worse punishment, to withdraw from the ruaten. At last Savelieff was exiled from Moscow, and, to excuse this raid into others private affairs, Reinboth reported to the Government that the blacksmith had been exiled for “ political unreliability.” Although the prefect, in reality, was only an ordinary criminal, he was treated as a statesman who was indicted for a breach of judgment. Tho. Government, knowing hia influence with Nicholas 11.. was half-hearted in prosecuting him. The charges of Senator Garin included one of being in league with assassins; but the Government whittled away the indictment, and washed all the colour out of it. Tho general drove to court in an automobile, ordered “ comfortable chairs for 15 friends,” mid behaved as if he were prosecutor and not accused. The tribunal tryingh!m was not tho ordinary Criminal Court, hut tho Senate. One secret of this leniency is that the general had mighty friends, who placed hia plea before the Czar, that all his offences were inspired by zeal against the revolutionists.” Another is that Reinboth s main defence was that M. Stolypm and the supreme Government at St, Petersburg are not better than himself. . About a year ago, .while the trial was still pending, Reinboth issued a 600-page book containing his “ justification.” He showed therein that when he wanted money to fight revolutionaries the -St. Petersburg authorities authorised him to appropriate it. and enter it up falsely under forged headings.