MUTINOUS SAXON ARMY.

Taihape Daily Times, 16 June 1919, Page 7

MUTINOUS SAXON ARMY.

, MINISTER ASSASSINATED. THROWN FOOM ELBE BRIDGE-_ IWounded soldiers: from the Dresden hospitals collec.ted this morning on the Theatre Square to protest agaimst the order of Herr Neuring, the War Minister, that in future wounded soldiers should only receive peace time pay, wrote a corerspondent from Copenhagen under date of April 13. In a. procession, numbering five or six hundred, the men marched to the War Ministry, where they sent a deputation to interview the Minister. Herr Ncul--ing refused, however to receive them, Thereupon the crowd, incited by Comrnunistic speakers, .asumed a threat—ening attitude, and stormed the entrance to the building. The SOll-tries made use of their arms, but were overpowered by the crowd-, which had by this time received reinforcements Government troops who had been summoned to the scene declared that they would not intervene. They surrendered their arms and march ad of-:‘_ The excited crowd continued to eccupy the 's'iiuare before the War Ministry. Machine-guns were post-3:1 at various _poin’[S and subjected the Ministry to their fire. At four o'clo°.l{ in the afternoon the (lclnollSfr:Lm:'s 11-‘Jl'C("tl their way into the building, S€i7o(i the VVar Minister, who had fled to an upper storey, dragged him out into the street, severely maltreated him, a.nd finally hurled him from the bridge into the Elbe. Vvhen he tried to swini to the bank the demonstrators fired at him, so that within :1 few minutes he disappeared under the water. The following is the official version of the occurrences leading up to the murder: “Shortly after noon Some hundreds of wounded soldiers collected before Ministry of Military Affairs. A deputation was received by the Minister, Herr Neuring, who listened to the recital of the men’s various demands. and promised that they should in general be fulfiilled. male meanwhile the Wounded were joined by a number of other soldiers who were partly armed and who preven’fé'd people from entering or leaving the Ministry.‘

“About two in the afternoon some armed soldiers pushed their way into the inner -part of the Ministl'_V' An imprudent young soldier, who was employed in the Ministry as an orderly, at this moment, in his confusion, threw two dummy hand-grenatles into the light well of the building. No one was injured and it proved on inspecttion that they Were merely practice haml-grenudes and not loaded. ‘‘ln the street the rumour thereupon arose that Herr Neuring had given orders that hand-grenades should be thrown. This rumour, however, was quite baseless. The Minister and those with him were, on the contrary, jll.st' as startled by the explosion as the others, and were obligcd"to make

inquiries to find ot the ca.use. On the strength of this false Tumour the Minister was then murdered in a brutal manner. After the occurrence three uniformed men pushed their Way into the building of Headquarters No. 12, They’ said they were members of the Red Soldiers’ League_ One of them had only‘ very defective knowledge of German, which proves that the enfire 'occurrence was influenced by Russian agents._‘’-’ '‘3‘ V ‘A semi-ofiicial telegram from Berlin of to-day’s date says that ‘many troops are being sent to Dresden, so that law and order may be definitely and speedily restored there.