Russian Refugees Find Haven

RUSSIAN REFUGEES FIND HAVEN IN SAN FRANCISCO ...
UNITED STATES WATCHING FOR "REDS" AMONG EXILES
San Francisco News Call
July 2, 1923

Information regarding several alleged "reds" among the over 500 Russian exiles, who arrived here last night on the USAT Merritt from Manila by way of Vladivostok, was turned over to immigration authorities today by Fred Esola, head of the local Department of Justice office.

Persons whose records must undergo close inspection before they are permitted to land on American shores are those who are suspected of having spread Bolshevist propaganda among the passengers during the months at sea.  Some of them are said to have disguised their feelings, but are suspected of being agents working for the current Russian government, sent here for the purpose of carrying out that government's designs.

SLEUTHS BOARD TRANSPORT

Department of Justice agents were said to have boarded the USAT Merritt for the purpose of interrogating some of the "reds. " Esola would make no comment on the situation today beyond admitting that relevant information had been turned over to the immigration authorities on Angel Island recently.  Those suspect individuals will be deported.
 
With their arrival, the forlorn company of men and women, each one of whom has a harrowing story of hardship and suffering to tell, ended eight months of wandering.   When in Manila , many passengers sought haven after China and Japan had shut the doors to them.  Nearly all of the men were soldiers, sailors, or officers in the various Russian armies and navies.

They are the remnant of the "white" armies - those of Denikine, Yudenich, Kolchak, and others - who had fought in the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, until last fall, in the vain hope of overthrowing the soviet government.  Their last refuge in Russia was at Vladivostok. When the Japanese withdrew their troops from that Siberian port last October the red troops of the Far Eastern Republic moved in. There was no place left for the remaining "whites" to go. It was literally a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. They chose the sea.

There were 7,000 in total when this modern Odyssey began.  They swarmed aboard boats belonging to Russian navy in Vladivostok harbor, and in addition commandeered over twenty vessels of the Russian volunteer fleet.

BARRED BY JAPAN

The fleet headed for Japan, but the Japanese authorities refused to receive the refugees.  Additionally, docking at multiple ports in China was denied. However, some of the refugees were permitted to enter China.  Several ships were lost in storms and hundreds of passengers drowned. The Russian Volunteer Fleet, a commercial organization, regained possession of its commandeered vessels. Only a fraction of the "fleet" and its distressed human cargo managed to reach reached Manila where the United States army took charge.  Jobs were found for several hundred and the remainder were detained until a way could be found to redirect them away from Russia, because sending them back to Siberia would have meant execution for most of them.

UNITED STATES OFFERS AID

Major General Leonard Wood appealed to Washington, DC.  The War Department made an appropriation of $34,000 to care for the refugees, and offered the USAT Merritt to bring them to the United States.  Of the 526 passengers aboard the USAT Merritt, work has been found in the United States for all but 150 adults; according to Captain H. L. Fuller, who is responsible for the group.  The group is temporarily quartered at Fort McDowell, Angel Island. They will be permitted to land as rapidly as the immigration authorities are satisfied that each one has a job and thus will not become a public charge.
   
Most of them have had only military training, and there are scores who have never been compelled to work at any job, including menial tasks, but they all seem anxious to qualify for admission to the country.

PRINCE IN PARTY

Passengers span many different social classes.  There is for instance, Prince Alexis Chegodaieff of Russian nobility who was a cadet in the Kolchak army.  The prince announced upon his arrival that he was ready to take a job picking prunes in the Santa Clara Valley.  A position has been found for him there and for a number of others.

Then there is Captain Timothy Taracousio, who was an aviator in the czarist army and who fought against the Bolsheviks.  He was wounded in France during World War One and was decorated for bravery.  Before the civil war in Russia, Captain Taracousio was a man of great means.  His wide estate in one of Russian provinces was measure by the square mile.  On board the boat, he shared photographs of his former palatial home. It is now used as a peasant community by the soviets and Captain Taracusio's former valet is manager of the estate under government control.  The captain is willing to take a job at anything, from driving a truck to teaching Russian.

Lieutenant General Peter Heieskanin, who was chief of engineers in the Kolchak army, is in a similar predicament.   He hopes, like Prince Chegodaieff, to make a little money, picking prunes and possibly teaching Russian.  Once Heieskanin was a professor of physics in a Russian military academy.