OCR Text |
Show BGISHI BIERS Former Vice Consul, Accused Ac-cused of Being German Spy, Still in Russia. I'KTUOG IIA O. l.'ec. 1 7. Victor Hugo Uuras of Nebraska, former American vice consul iif, Lii-ge and otherwise connected with the diplomatic and consular srvice, who was arrested in Aueui, inlti. at the Finnish frontier on suspicion that hp was a German tmy. lias been freed by t he Rolsheviki government, but so far has been unable to leave Russia. Mr. ijuras was appointed to the Liece post in l:il", but left after Liege fell. He was a ppuinied vice cnnsul at ivtrograd in 1011. a year later he left the consular con-sular service and tried relief work at Kh- : rkov. and finally obtained a position in te American letuition at Kii'diaresl, a connection which he soon severed. Proceeding to t he Finnish f rontier in August. 1916. he was placed under arrest by gendarmes, who declared that they found in his ' possession the sen 1 of the American legation at Bucharest, blank passport forms, a pass through the German Ger-man lines and also a letter purporting to bear the signature of Charles ,T. Vopicka, the American minister to Rumania, attesting at-testing the inviolability of all his documents. docu-ments. ' Mr. Duras explained that the German pass was one he had in Belgium.,. He was takn. however, to the Peti bgrad prison. The American embassy sent notes to the Russian foreign office and finally demanded an explanation. The govern - 1 ment answered that they considered him a spy. i An embassy representative was Told by ; the prosecutor that the Russians deemed Mr. Dura s an impostor, citing the fact that lie wore a wig. j In March. 191J. when a revolutionary mob burned i he prison. Duras escaped and rented an apartment, in which other residents said his actions were suspicious. He was rearrested by the Kerensky au- , thorities. but escaped and went to Khar- i kov. Here he was arrested again, but i escaped and went to Irkutsk, whefe he was recognized by Basil Miies. special representative of the state department at "Washington, who was in charge of the German prisoner relief. Mr. Duras was returned to the Petro-gfad Petro-gfad prison, from which he was released a week aeo. He tried .to proceed to Sweden, the embassy having furnished him with a passport which was good only to the United States. At Ralicstrov he was arrested on the demand of the espionage es-pionage bureau and brought back to Petrograd under guard. Later he was released, but has been unable to secure a permit to leave. |