Second Edition DETAINED FOREIGNERS.
kLLEGED RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS Fbr'sQino little time references have ppearecL at. intervals in. North Island lapers. .to the. arrival of two Russian onrmiiLs'w giving the names of J. ichack and' A. Komashko, whoso mis-
jon in the Dominion was, according to heir .statements,, the writing of artiles f® Russian papers at the instance f thb Russian Geographical Society, 'hey have been coming down the Main ’runk 'jine for several weeks past and frived in Palmerston last Thursday, 'lieir tour came to an abrupt termihaion on Wednesday at Levin, where hey fere, detained by the police at he instance of the military authoring. The two men have been under be surveillance of the military for ome time, and have been traced fiom dace to place about the Manawatu, heir movements, -it .is alleged, being Uch a&Jjo- atouse doubt in the minds f the. aul'horities. The men at the line pfx’theit’ arrest were On the presses -of.'A'. Rabmowitz, at Levin. ihey were .later brought to. Palxneiton, offering- ho resistance. A search -wfos conducted by Sub-ln-pactor Marshck add' Sergt. Trealiy in he prek-hee of ColoiuU McDonald, viio repfeserited the Defihice 1 Departnent.*- "The result of the inspection[iselosfed lil'tld-'further information, .'ho found ivere a cumof post cards and photos some akoa ih Hamburg—and well furnished Gather pocket wallets. Of the two non Sbhack would appear *« be the nost versatile, being the possessor of i, motdr-car .driver’s certificate issued , y the London County Council, while locuntent's also found on him revealed he fact that he had followed the oc■upafkin of a seaman for a number of 'ears, and a tailofs pres,fer. -He filso possessed a certificate rom (England) Borough Council to the effect that he is regisered f. significant feature about the docu-nents-is that Schack’s age is given is IS- To all appearances he is a maa jonsideniWWkafifcU OQ| .tl« ® entures with a 'moustache and i well set up and Anther certificate found shoVs- him to re a member of the Society-ef Belgian Refugees, London. Schack's com pan-; on (a llpjiedred td ie less communicative, but like his oitfrere, took his detection quite ihilosophically and answered all the [uestiohs put to him freely. : Bothraien ate of gehtlbinarily bearng ai®&peak.;English wjrbti a pronmined quit*! ’' coher,rifly. ; ieTHtSd? fa tU Questioned as to the reasons for the ie coaid i^P a 4^-Md#l a 4^r ; bnded mien would remain locked up !iho?Hi*# MSVl|tck; would make no stfi't'fonlh’i'f. *-• !l (” tons «lssM ssalvQHv 'W floklA&Otteitc-'.'qr b«o-.ici..a mh the' THEM'MOVEMENTS Si>'CE THE WAR BEGAN. . . ' 'Though nothing can be'ascertained if the precise reasons for the action if the military authorities, it must bo tssuroed that they have grounds for detaining the two men. We are able to publish the latter’s account of their novements sincedjje war began, which they no ,o»tfse fbr: suspicion. The is a,s ; follows* 'They arrived in the Dominion a few weeks ago vfttb bhe'Mteution of seeing all they the country, its customs and the general conditions of things' A ’hdrei- Sehaek is a native of Moscow, and belongs to KiOff. They left Russia I 'four years ago with the idea of touring the- whole w orld ndf sparing time in the pifhkditiiof- ■ knowledge. Already they have"iraa«le; th&ilv; way through South America, breaking into the rough and rugged interior, and have also madeateomplete tour of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria, and they were ‘ unfortunate enough-'to Tiepin Germany when war broke Sift. 5 They were interned for four .months in Kissiftgen,- Mainz, Wiesbaden and Hasson. Fortunately for both they were •close friends of the Spanish Ambassador at Frankfort, and placed themselves under his protection. It wars only .owing to his good offices ifi; makifig special- representations to the’(Sbrman Chancellor, Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, that their re-
lease was eventually Vecuied by stages, after much,, difficulty. Immediately ■war was'deolaWd there was a remark-
able fall m the value of English, French. and, v , .Russian money, Which the GeV’ffiafM woufcl not accept in exchange. Swiack and Komashko had, however, about £l3O. in gold in their , possession;*! which was commandeered by the German officials, who gave them in . exchang e quantity of the new issue "of the paper money. 1 When later they made their way through Sweden they fouricT this almost valueless, arid had ' the greatest difficulty in getting " rid of it, even at a fraction of its purported worth. They were both arrested, pn five different occasions while'in Germany. On the first occasion, at Jyiksingen, they wore hooted wherever tf»6y went, crowds at
;every street corner ‘ crying ;out ‘ ‘ H iis-, sianp, Russians • kill -the —— Russians.” Afterwards, on • arrival at Mainz they twcre stopped; at the station by an niqngd guard, grid .detained ,
fer about four hours before being sent for examination. The whole of their luggage was gone through while their clothes were searched from seam to seam for incriminating documents, but nothing was found on them likely to cause suspicion. When finally allowed to depart from here, the military granted them the courtesy of an escort as they would probably have been killed by the street mobs otherwise. On arrival at Bad Nouheim they were informed that they would have to register their names and other particulars of themselves, and were escorted to the police commissioner for the purpose. The commissioner received them very courteously, asking them what they wanted, and what their business was. When, however, the question came “Where were you born?” and -Schnack replied “Moscow,” the whole idemeanour of the Commissioner immediately changed. He screamed at them “So you are Russians— Moscow, indeed.” He stamped andswore and then rushed to the telephone ■and ordered a car to take them to iFrieburg for internment. On arrival at Frieburg they were -sent to Hessen, (where there was about 2000 other Russians under arrest. The travellers Hvere kept two full days without a (bite of food, while their fellow prisoners were treated in the same way. Aftei this .there was a general protest from the prisoners, who were informed that They would, all have to go back to Bad "Nauheim, as the facilities for internment at Hessen were inadequate. They were then about ten miles outside the town, and in order to get their passports they had to -journey on footmen, women and children of all agesWhen, they received the necessary sane-, tion to travel, they set iff again over the ten miles’ journey to -.the station. Then when they had covered . about Hree-quarers of he journey they wore met by a party of police, who informed them they -would not be allowed to proceed further forward on foot, and they were all turned back again by coach at an extortionate charge, which continued to rise with each succeeding party until it got lip to 36 marks. Those who were so unfortunate as not to possess any German money, were forced to tre-. ble the amount of the charge in Russian, and maiiybhad to,pay out upwards? of 100 roubles for’ tfre - 5 B hqh, joumeyt Aftep four months .of experiences , This kind, the travellers were ipakipg their 'way into Sweden, when they encountered on a train a party of Russian ,wjlo. Rad fieeii finterxied Rostock. Among them was General fffseneff, Chief Justice of Yladiyos. took,, with whom they spoke.. .The r general prior to his internment, was a man of fjng,- .strpng .and hearty, but now he was completely; broken down in health, and merely «v shadow of his former self. He showed, the two journalists a jug containing his rations ;it would have made very, inferior food even for swine. From Sweden they went on to Norway, amt then to London. Fi;om there they camq out,to New Zealand, where they have -.been: MowJy. .torfpg--dowiy t.he M|m Trunk line, collecting material tor their journals.” ; ... , d t —*
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Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 33, 13 May 1916, Page 6
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1,289Second Edition DETAINED FOREIGNERS. Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 33, 13 May 1916, Page 6
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