WORST WOMAN IN RUSSIA

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14261, 12 January 1920, Page 2

WORST WOMAN IN RUSSIA

"ROSA THE RED." "Rosa the Eed" is the -woman with th worst reputation in Russia, according- to Major H. S. Sayer, who recently returned Lo England from Kieff. She is in prison in Kieff awaiting the punishment for her many Bolshevik crimes. "I entered her cell unannounced," he said, in the course of an interview ■with the Weekly Despatch. She was seated on a bed biting her finger nails. Nervous restlessness was expressed in her attitude. In her eyes there was a hunted, frightened look. "She glanced up as I entered her apartment with an interpreter, and thereafter gave no sign of recognition of my presence. "I have heard of 'Rosa the Red' in every quarter of Bolshevik Russia. Hundreds of cruel, cold-blooded murders of volunteer officers and of helpless bourgeois women lay to her -charge. "Among the White population her name caused a shudder of fear and hatred. There are many authenticated stories concerning her. "She was. 'persona grata' with the most cruel of the Bolshevik leaders. How she obtained such a.' position I am una"ble to say. Possibly because of her terrible blood lust. "The houses of detention, where were kept captured volunteer officers, were the objects of frequent visits by 'Rosa the Red.' "She would demand that a volunteer jbfficer be produced in the courtyard, and the appearance of the unfortunate [captive was the signal for a spell of torture, probably never before conceived by a woman. " 'Rosa the Red,' armed with a revolver, would, face the officer, and toying with her weapon, would suddenly shoot, so that the bullet entered the officer's foot or shattered the knee. "A quarter of an hour might elapse while she would deliberately torture her victim by pretending to shoot again, jor by actually shooting near to her (captive but intentionally missing him. "After playing in this way, the woman would aim at the man's stomach and eventually fire at some vital point, and so at last put ;.:i end to the man's sufferings. "One of the earlist victims was a Russian noblewoman, Countess Assiere, whom she murdered. She afterwards appropriated the dead woman's papers for future possible use. "When captured she was in the act of presenting a bouquet of flowers to one of the officers of the White Guards, who were marching on Kieff. She was immediately recognised, arrested, and conveyed to prison."