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THE STRANGE CASE OF IVAN VERSOLVITCH
By
EUGENE KINKEAD
THIS tale is taken from the records
of the Cheka at Irkutsk, Siberia,
and is simply the statement of
Ivan Versolvitch concerning his per-
sonal history, to be used in his own
defense in the case numbered 281
versus the Government, March 13,
1920.
The prisoner is described as being
twenty-two, tall, almost slender, with
no distinguishing marks save a pair
of unusually large eyes. At the time
of the trial his beard was unkempt,
his clothes were ragged and torn, and
the privations of his ordeal showed
themselves plainly in his peaked face
and nerveless limbs. The courtroom
was filled with country folk clad in
their big sheepskin coats that buckled
around the middle, with their Astra-
kan caps in their hands; and around
the walls stood an immovable line of
blue blouses bearing the dirty red
bands of Bolshevism.
When asked by the fat pudgy "com-
rade judge" to defend himself, he de-
murred. It was only after some diffi-
culty that he spoke.
"In the year 1915, when I was just
a boy, I was drafted into the Cossack
Army with that regiment that was
recruited from the lower Dnieper re-
gion. My education was interrupted,
as I was a student of law at that time
in the University at Odessa. We were
sent against the Austrians in Galicia
around the Carpathian mountains.
The campaign was long, arduous, and
difficult. Because of poor leadership
at the start we were nearly routed
several times, and it was not until
General Lenor came that we made
any progress at all. He was a butch-
er; he sacrificed men by the thous-
ands; but we took Cracons in the
early spring of '16."
When interrogated by the court as
to the Cross of the Order of Saint
Nicholas which was found in his
pocket, the prisoner was non-com-
mital. He simply admitted owning
the decoration, stating that it had
been awarded to him in the above-
mentioned campaign.
"News of the revolution at home
reached us soon after that. Opinion
was divided, but those who held the
command loudly proclaimed the Re-
public, and our corps was withdrawn
shortly after the treaty of Brest-Lit-
vosk for 'internal duty.' We were sta-
tioned at Moscow with the Eleventh
Corps under direct command of Com-
missioner Trotsky for the next two
years. It was my unfortunate ex-
perience to be assigned to one of the
execution squads, which branch of
the army was most busy during those
months, and to see fall before me
daily hundreds of human beings."
The court interrupted here, know-
ing something about the laws of evi-
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