The Naval Intelligence officer who gave Admiral Welles the account of this pathetic case, from which are taken the particulars recited above, wrote:
"For years to come, when the American tourists visit the now historic ports of the American Expeditionary Forces, they will see, if they look carefully, a few scars on the thick wall of the Chateau courtyard at Nantes. These are the marks of bullets which ended the careers of two poor deluded women who attempted to betray the Allies. ***"
CHAPTER XXIV
AMERICAN ADMIRAL SAVED KOLCHAK
HEAD OF RUSSIAN FLEET RELEASED FROM PRISON AFTER GLENNON'S ADDRESS TO MUTINOUS SAILORS—AFTER MISSION TO WASHINGTON, BECAME HEAD OF OMSK GOVERNMENT—KILLED BY BOLSHEVIKI—UNITED STATES VESSELS IN NORTHERN AND WESTERN RUSSIA—KNIGHT AT VLADIVOSTOK—MC CULLY AT MURMANSK AND ARCHANGEL.
When revolution swept Russia in 1917, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet mutinied, assassinated their commander-in-chief, and murdered a hundred officers. The Black Sea Fleet for the time remained loyal, but in June revolted and deposed its commander.
The American mission headed by Elihu Root, of which Admiral James H. Glennon was the naval representative, had just arrived in Petrograd. The sailors at Sebastopol on June 20th voted to remove Admiral Kolchak, send him to prison and elect a commander-in-chief from their own ranks. When the Admiral was notified, he appeared on the quarter-deck of his flagship and addressed his men. Appealing in the name of Russia and the cause for which she was fighting with the Allies, he urged them to remain loyal. But the sailors refused. They were bent on taking control. There was nothing for the Admiral to do but to give up his command, and leave the fleet to be managed by a committee.
They demanded his sword, but he would not give it. Drawing it from its scabbard, he saluted the Russian flag, and threw the shimmering blade into the sea. Turning upon his heel sharply, the former commander-in-chief came down from the quarter-deck, climbed over the side of the flagship into a waiting boat, and was taken to Sebastopol, where he was put in prison along with Smirnoff and other officers. Kolchak might have met the same fate as the commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet. "Execution by order of the Sailors' Soviet" is quite as deadly as assassination.
Unaware of the serious situation that had developed, Admiral Glennon set out for Sebastopol to visit Kolchak and the Black Sea Fleet. With him went Admiral Newton A. McCully, naval attaché, a master of the Russian tongue and a great admirer of the Russian people, whose affection and confidence he has held through all events.