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Show RUSSIAN PEASANTRY CRY FORJXECUTIOH Demand for Punishment of Traitor Seconded by Labor Unions. GRAFT IN HIGH PLACE Former Minister of War Is Found to Have Brought Trouble to Country. Special Cable to The Tribune. PETROGRAD, July 8. Tho report of the commission which investigated the charges against the former war minister, General Soukhomlinoff, is creating tremendous excitement. A number of peasant delegations from the provinces have arrived here to demand the execution of the former minister and his wife. This demand is supported by the labor unions and almost all political po-litical organizations. The commission appointed for the investigation in-vestigation by the imperial council consisted of Senators Sogorowiski and Kusmin and Colonel jNosowitch, the prosecuting officer of the military court of Moscow, and has been at work four months. The commission states that General Soukhoralinoff received enormous bribes from army contractors. He had organized or-ganized a regular and extensive system of graft. His principal aides 'were Ivan Hoshkiewitch, an engineer and a relative of his wife, a married couple by the name of Aktschier, a certain Maxim Weber, a Mrs. Anna Aurich and the notorious .Rzewski, whose intimate relations with the former minister of the interior, Chwostow, caused the downfall of the latter. Rzewski has made a partial confession. High Treason Charged. Th A eta torn or, fa ma A a Kir T?ttoL-; have also connected General Soukhom-linoff Soukhom-linoff with the activities of Lieutenant Colonel Mjassojedow, who was executed some time ago for treason. The commission com-mission charges the former minister with high treason, and states that he drove the country unprepared into war, so as to be able to graft on a larger scale than before. This charge is based on the fact that the general, in the presence of Lieutenant Lieu-tenant Colonel Mjassojedow, dictated an article to Rzewski, which was published pub-lished by the Birshewija Wiedomosti under the title, We Are Ready, " about two weeks before the outbreak of the war. The article was at once telegraphed j to France and England and helped to stir up war sentiment in these countries. In Russia it caused a wave of war spirit. Woman Causes Downfall. The court clique is doing its utmost to save the indicted general, but he will probably have to pay the penalty for his crimes, because the powor and influence in-fluence of his friends has diminished greatly since the details of the incredible incred-ible scandal became known. General Soukhomlinoff was honest, it is believed, until he became commander of tho garrison of Kiev. There he made the acquaintance of a number of dmtht.f nl e h a rn n tirs wlin an nprl orpnt. influence over him. These criminals and conspirators introduced him to the beautiful woman who is now his wife and who has caused his downfall. After his marriage his wife obtained large army contracts for her friends and shared profits with them. When he was appointed war minister the clique followed him to Petrograd and reaped a golden harvest. Through extravagant ex-travagant living he got deeply into debt, and finally started to graft for himself. Wife Equally Guilty. Colonel Mjassojedow, who has been executed for treason, was known as tho most intimate friend of Mrs. Soukhomlinoff, Souk-homlinoff, and one newspaper openly states that closer relations than mere friendship existed between the two. When the colonel was arrested the police found letters in his possession which left no doubt that the wife of the war minister was also guilty of treason. At that time all Russia demanded de-manded the execution of the woman, but Rasputin and the former prime minister, Goremykin, protected her, and she was only banished to southern Russia. Rus-sia. Within three months she returned to Petrograd to resume her interrupted grafting operations with the aid of-her husband. |