WARSAW TRAGEDY

Hokitika Guardian, 10 June 1927, Page 2

WARSAW TRAGEDY

(Australian & N.Z. Cable Association.]

ASSASSIN’S RUSE. AVARS AW, June 9.

The Tsarist youth, Kowerda, who shot the Soviet Charge d’Affaires at Warsaw, lias lately been a pupil of the Russian Gymnasium at Vilda, where be was supported by a charitable organisation. He came to Warsaw four days ago, and' applied to the Soviet Legation here for a Russian visa, which was refused him. It is believed that this application was Ids ruse to get Yoikoff, whom the youth had already determined to kill.

Yoikoff, it seems, was proceeding to Russia on leave. Kowerda, therefore, hovered in the vicinity of the Soviet Legation, and he finally followed the Minister to the railway station. Kowerda declares that ho is a member of no party. He says that he shot for National Russia against the Internationale.

The whole of the Polish press is expressing indignation at the crime of Kowerda. It is disclosed that Poland recently offered M. Yoikoff special police protection, which, however, was refused bv him.

POLAND’S REPLY. AVARSAAV, June 9.

The Soviet Minister, M. Litvinoff’s Note to Poland has caused a painful sensation in Poland. Nevertheless, the Polish Government will not be deflected from its normal course. It is understood the Polish Government will reply emphatically disclaiming any responsibility for the crime. The Polish police, acting on the supposition that the murder is the result of a plot, have arrested thirty Russian Monarchists at Vilda and seven at Warsaw.

These arrests include a number of ex-Tsarist Generals, and also General Gorlow, the representative of the Grand Duke Nikolas :Nikn!aeviu-h. It lias not been decided yet whether Kowerda will be tried by an ordinary Court, which can award a maximum sentence of fifteen years, or by a. Court Martial which can sentence him lo death, with which alone, it is believed, Russia would be satisfied.

RUSSIAN FEELING. LONDON. June 9.

The Times Riga correspondent states that a fortnight’s mourning for M. Yoikoff lias officially been proclaimed in Moscow, where the theatre, games anil amusements arc closed. Meetings throughout Russia are telegraphing sympathy, and proclaiming defiance of imperialistic forces which are alleged to be .responsible for M. Voikoff’s death.

The Polish Legation at Moscow is guarded by cavalry patrols. A great funeral is being arranged for M. Yoikoff at Moscow, with a mass parade in the Red Square in front of Lenin’s tomb. The officials of the Commissarit of Foreign lAffairs have been ordered to observe mourning for a fortnight. The city is flying red flags with borders of black.

A HINT FROM GERMANY. BERLIN, June !). Importance is attached to three hours’ conversation between the German and Soviet Foreign Ministers, in which, it is believed Herr Stresemann impressed on M. Tchiclierin the importance of restricting the excitement over the Yoikoff murder. THE FRENCH VIEW. PARTS, June 9. The opinion of the Yoikoff murder here is much the same as that in Britain. While the crime is severely condemned, the attempts of the Soviet Government to make political capital out of it are being even more severely deprecated. A FRONTIER INCIDENT. LONDON, June 9. The Times Riga correspondent reports that Russo-Polish relations have been further complicated by an incident near Minsk, where the “White” Russian rescue party attacked a posse of Soviet “Cheka” agents who were motoring to Minsk, and liberated from them a prisoner, namely, a Polish Intelligence officer, named Lieut. Jan, who bad been captured near the frontier on suspicion of espionage. There was a brisk figlit, which resulted in the death of M. Apanslcy, who was commanding the local “Cheka” troops, and also the death of the driver. MOSCOW, June 8. Two bombs were thrown at a Leningrad Club, while a Communist debate was in progress. Twenty-six were seriously injured. The bombers escaped, firing revolvers as they ran.

RUSSIAN DEMONSTRATIONS. .Received this day at 8 a.m.) MOSCOW, June 9

Demonstrations of protest at the murder took place in all the large cities of Russia. The demonstrations were officially described as numbering several hundred. Thousands marched past the Foreign Affairs Commissariat at Moscow from three in the afternoon till late at night. All demonstrations passed resolutions emphasising the alleged close connection of the murder with Britain’s anti-Soviet policy; also demanding a dissolution of the White Guard organisations alleged to exist in Poland.