Show st petersburg press asserts they were among the trailers trawlers lers off dogger bank hull fisherman says he made the statement while intoxicated london december 22 the publication in st petersburg of tho statement that hull have voluntarily unta rily deposed that foreign torpedo boats were among the trailers trawlers lers oft dogger bank when the latter were fired upon by ships of tho russian fleet Is probably nothing more than a repetition of similar statements emanating from hull and appearing la london papers tho laba few days these are circumstantial aad it would certainly appear to bo true that some men of the game cock fleet have mado statements the russian consul abo name of only one of these has been revealed he is tho boatswain of the trawler ava and he said today that he was induced make the bbate r ent while he was intoxicated ho admits he received a certain amount of money but now says the statement hs made Is untrue the extraordinary tenor of his statements or any others has not been revealed all published reports from hull says positively that these statements were secured by two agents of the russian government but the russian embassy in london tonight repeated the denial communicated to the associated press on dec 21 saving that there Is absolutely no truth in the statement that the russian government or any one in any official capacity or any ono delegated by russia has been endeavoring to secure statements from the gamecock fishermen in support of dussias Rus sias position before tho paris commission it was pointed but however that although russia had offered a reward tor information tha russian government was not responsible sible tor tho course hakea by any person desiring to secure the reward which would only bo paid in tho ebent that the information aad the method in which it was secured were approved by the russian government and shown to have been received from irreproachable sources it was positively stated that the embassy has no knowledge and no information tending to support the report of the st peters burs paper alluded to the sensational press of England directly charlesj charge sj the russian government with using underhand means by bribery and intoxicants to secure balsa falsa statements men ot the gamecock fishing fleet the russian consul at HulL tonight said the boatswain ot the ava was brought to his office but that he sent him to the commissioner ot oaths where the consul says tho boatswain swore he saw a japanese torpedo boat with the trailers trawlers lers the consul says ho knows ot other trailers trawlers lers who are ready to maae similar statements but that they are afraid of the consequences the consul indignantly denies that he has made any attempt to induce fishermen to make statements he says that when informed ot the nature of tha ent the boatswain ot the ava intended to make it his duty to bla government to render every assistance altogether an air of mystery surrounds the matter but no credence in responsible quarters is given to the allegations that unfair methods have been used by the russian government one explanation of the whole leatter emanates from paris where is Js said that two reporters ot the petit par recently visited hull in order to interview men ot the fleet and secure independent information concerning the dogger bank affair As none of the newspaper reports assumes to identify the agents as russians being united to calling them foreigners employed by the russian government this is the most probable explanation of the story which however may possibly have an equal in baay others for sensational pur noses |