The Lockhart Case (1918) - Part II

First Affidavit from Aleksandr Vladimirovich Fride

“Aleksandr Vladimirovich Fride, age 34, a former lieutenant-colonel, at the present time serving in the Administration of the Chief of Military Communications (Maliy Znemenskiy Alley, Mazinga School). I have been employed there since June 6. Prior to this, I had requested permission to take up a post since April and waited for an opening, which was offered to me the same month. I receive 600 roubles in salary. The papers, which my mother threw in the lavatory, contain information from various places in Russia. I collected this information like a journalist and for this, I had to supply this information by postal dispatch. A certain Johnston, who was departing from Moscow, entrusted me to collect all the materials, which were addressed to him and sent to my apartment. I became acquainted with this above-mentioned gentleman during a divorce case about two months ago. He left around two weeks ago for short amount of time, I do not where. Since his departure, I have received three letters, two of them written by the same hand – one apparently from the south, the other from the north. The papers, which my mother wanted to throw into the lavatory, are originals of letters sent to me and dropped in a box outside. Regarding compensation, Johnston and I had a conversation, but nothing concrete was determined and it was put off to the future. I met with him on Kuznetskiy bridge and he has been to our apartment three times. As for appearance, Johnston is older than I am and referred to himself as a commercial agent or attache. I was supposed to send a report to a prearranged address on Sheremetievskiy Alley and to another address on Myasnitskaya [Street]. I do not remember the addresses. The addresses were written on a small note and kept in my writing desk. I wanted to send [the report] today, in fact, but due to the search I was unable to to do so. I was to send it in duplicate to the addresses indicated to me. On the envelope, I was to mark down three code letters. I do not remember what letters these were. I intended to type the report and then send the letters either by courier or by myself. He, Johnston, assured me that this document would be received by someone among the Allies, specifically, the Americans.

My brother is employed by an economic association of officers and occupies a position as a bookkeeper or an accountant. My older sister went to find flour, while Maria was absent from Moscow for a short period of time. She also went to find flour and brought back bread. I think my sister Maria was gone for around two weeks and I do not where where she went. My relations with my sisters are good, but with my brother are cooler. I am married with no children but it has already been five years since my wife and I have stopped living together. (As evidence [during] questioning I was provided a copy of report No. 17). I acknowledge that it was sent off by my sister Maria. I confirm that report No. 1 … is not fictitious and that this report is authentic and that I did not send anything more than this. I know Zagryazhskiy well. He is a colleague employed in the same profession I had been engaged in earlier, in other words, he is a jurist. Zagryazhskiy Aleksandr Andreevich resides on Uspenskiy Alley. I do not remember at which address or apartment.

2/IX – [19]18.

A. Fride

Copy collated (signed)”

During further questioning, A. V. Fride was forced to confess under the weight of evidence, that he had met with a certain Kalamatiano, in addition to the American, Johnston. He further admitted that he was in the service of the Americans at the same time he was employed by the Soviet authorities, and that he was in receipt of definite recompense.

Second Affidavit from Aleksandr Vladimirovich Fride

“Subsequent to my previous testimony, I can report that, in addition to Johnston, I know one other American gentleman, Kalamatiano. I know neither his first name, patronymic nor address.

We met on the street. Packets were sent to several addresses, since it was told to me that the packets could be lost and therefore it was necessary to send them through several individuals. The report concerning Petrograd, seized in this case, was obtained for me by Solyus, who went to Petrograd and provided me this information on my request. My sister does not deny having received money, most likely, as a nurse. Whether she received money as an informant providing information, I know nothing about this. My sister's trip to Vladikavkaz was arranged by Smith, the American Consul. They arranged this through Mr. Kalamatiano. After meeting Kalamatiano on the street, he visited my apartment and was introduced to my sister. I do not know Mr. Khvalynskiy. The name Malinko, apparently, Nikolai, I know. I am acquainted with him, but from where and under what circumstances we became acquainted, I do not know.

I know Mr. Potemkin. I became acquainted with him several years ago during a trip, before I entered the academy. I knew little of his family. He used to visit me in Moscow. He was at my apartment three or four times last month. It seems he did not tell me about the calamities and dire straits his family faced. I know Ostroslovskaya. She is a neighbour of ours and has absolutely never been to our apartment. I have spoken about where I am employed and earn my income, and have not concealed that I am acquainted with Americans. We know the name Otten and have sent packets to this address. In the Gimels writing desk there is a note which indicates where a packet was to be sent. I do not remember the address. Regarding the address on Milyutinskiy Alley, I affirm that I sent a packet there. I neither remember nor knew the name of the addressee. The packet was to be handed over to the director. I do not know the address Maliy Lubyanka. Financial consideration did not play any part in my case.

A. Fride

4/IX – [19]18.”

Third Affidavit from Aleksandr Vladimirovich Fride

“My acquaintance and collaborative activity with Mr. Kalamatiano started from the month of May. I received 500 roubles a month the first 2 or 3 months, then 750 and on one occasion received 1 thousand roubles. My tasks included informing him about the domestic, economic and political side of life. He also requested that I pay attention to everything describing the activity of the Germans in Russia. The material to be used for this consisted of rumours and conversations taking place and circulating among all layers of the population. This material was not to be critiqued, but merely reproduced absent those elements which were clearly ridiculous.

I invited A. A. Zagryazhskiy in view of the fact that Kalamatiano wanted exceptional individuals among his associates; individuals having a known social character and whom one could trust. Since this work involved obtaining information for friendly powers, and not hostile ones, I did not perceive it as being either illegal or even improper, and therefore invited Zagryazhskiy to participate in it. The question for both myself and for him was not the material reward, but that the work was not improper in regards Soviet power.

Before departing, Kalamatiano gave me 50 thousand roubles in 50 one thousand rouble notes for safekeeping. I placed the notes in my shaving kit behind the mirror (hidden) in the cover of this kit. When my room was being search, I was not there and they would not allow me to enter it. When they apparently reached the shaving kit, they called for me and asked how to open the mirror. I stated that I did not know. They asked me to move away and said they would break open the cover by force. Immediately after this, I heard the sound of breaking glass. I do not know whether the 50 thous. has been indicated in the records and I was not questioned about during the preceding interrogations. I promised Aleksei Potyomkin that I would arrange a position for him and was supposed to discuss this with Kalamatiano. I did, in fact, discuss Potyomkin with Kalamatiano.

Kalamatiano gave me Otten's address (3 Sheremetievskiy Alley). He gave me three address at that time. The second address was on Milyutinskiy Alley, I do not remember the street number, and the word Sonbon (monastery) was written. The third address was the American Consulate.

Solyus went to Petrograd, and upon his return he handed me the report, which I was to rewrite and then forward with additional information to the addresses indicated above.

I issued Kalamatiano an identity passes numbered 15594 and 10780. The latter, moreover, was signed by me, but was not registered. The assistant's signature on it was made by me.

It was known to me that Kalamatiano had traveled to Belebey. He said, that he would possibly meet with the American Consul. The first two pages were written by Fride in his own hand.

A. Fride

19/IX – [19]18.

Examined (signed)”

After the arrest of her brother and sister, M. V. Fride changed her initial testimony, in which she denied everything. She began to confess that she had been to Otten's apartment on several occasions – not just the one time. She also confessed that she had carried letters to the French gymnasium on Milyutinskiy Alley and handed them over to the directors of this school, that she had carried letters to a certain Smit [Smith] on Vagankovskiy Alley, as well as to the American Consulate for Pull, the American Consul General in Moscow. On one occasion, she was also sent to Vladivkavkaz with a packet, for which she received 600 roub. from Smith.

Affidavit from Maria Vladimirovna Fride

“I, Maria Vladimirovna Fride, have lived in Moscow permanently from the age of eight. At the present time, I am 31 years old. On July 30, old style, I left Moscow for Vladikavkaz, intending to visit a friend of mine, but it was not possible get through. Thus, I turned back at Astrakhan and returned to Moscow. I had no acquaintances in Astrakhan, and I lived at the Armenian seminary. I stayed in Astrakhan for a week and a half. In the detachment [the Armenian Seminary - skoblin], I became acquainted with Sheveleva Evgenia Arturovna, Doctor Melkumyanets and other individuals from the detachment, the names of whom I do not remember. Upon departing, Sheveleva entrusted me with a letter to give to her sister. I used to work at the clinic Dowager House, which is closed at present. I assert that the letter, which was entrusted to me, was given to me by an unknown individual. The letter was sealed and without an address on the envelope. I memorized the address [obviously given verbally – skoblin] and delivered it to the address, where I was also arrested.

I have two brothers: Aleksandr Vladimirovich and Mikhail Vladimirovich Fride. We all live together at No. 12 Durasovskiy Alley, apartment No. 2. Our sister, who is 42 years old, lives with us. At the present time, she has left for the Aleks [Aleksandrovskiy] railway. She works at the Aleks [Aleksandrovskiy] railway station as a typist. I, myself, am employed at the 5^th Women's Gymnasium. My brother Alek Vlad [Aleksandr Vladimirovich] works for the staff in charge of the transfer of forces and entered service there around three months ago. Mikh Vl [Mikhail Vladimirovich] works for an economic society of former officers and is a member of the board. I am not and have not been a member of any political party. When the hospital [the Dowager clinic – skoblin] was eliminated, I received around 750 roub.. The remainder, I received at the Gymnasium at a rate of 150 roub. a month for three months with an additional 1000 roub. for four months [250 roubles per month - skoblin]. Upon leaving, I had 2000 roubles in my purse in order to meet expenses. [Maria Vladimirovna Fride is apparently being questioned regarding the origin and purpose of 2000 roubles found on her person upon being arrested - skoblin]

1/IX – [19]18.”

“Supplementary to the previous testimony, I declare that the name Johnston is not known to me and I do not know any foreigners at all. I delivered two packets to the address indicated on Sheremteivskiy Alley. The first time was several days ago and the second time at the Sheremetievskiy address was during my arrest. I also delivered these same envelopes to another address. I saw the gentleman, Smit, at his apartment on Vagan'kov Alley, in Znamenka [district - skoblin], a corner building, top floor. A second address, where I delivered packets, was to the American Consulate at No. 4 or No. 6 Chernysh. [Chernyshevskogo - skoblin] Alley. I handed them to Mr. Pull personally.

There was one occasion in which I went to the French Gymnasium on Maliy Lubyanka with a packet. I gave the packet to the head mistress. I do not know her name. Pozdnyak and Zagryazhskiy would drop by to see us and my older brother. I have known them for two years. During my trip, I was supposed to deliver a packet to Vladikavkaz, addressed to the American Consul. Since I was unable to get through, however, I gave the packet to the Vice-Consul, Mr. Bari [Burri – skoblin], on Petrovskaya Street in Tsaritsyn. I carried a packet [text is ambiguous whether this was the same packet destined for Vladikavkaz or a different packet – skoblin] from the Vice-Consul and gave it to the Americ[an] Cons[ul], Smith, in Moscow. Payment for the delivery amounted to a free trip with a detachment of the Armen[ian] Nation[al] Committee and 600 roub. which I received from Mr. Smith at the beginning of August upon delivery of the packet.

M. Fride

2/IX – [19]18.

Copy verified (signed)”

The testimony provided by M. and A. Fride led to the arrest of Solyus Pavel Maksimovich and Aleksandr Andreevich Zagryazhskiy, a former major-general and landowner, who was employed at the Tsentroplenbezh [Central Committee for POWs and Refugees – skoblin].

Aleksandr Klavdievich Khvalynskiy and Aleksandr Vasilievich Potyomkin were also detained as a result of an ambush set at the Fride apartment. Measures were also taken to search for Kalamatiano-Serpovskiy and a search was conducted at the residence of the head mistress of the French Gymnasium, Zh. Morenz, which was located in the Gymnasium on Milyutinskiy Alley. During the search of this apartment, a cipher code and coded letters were discovered sewn into the fabric of the chairs and the couches as well as in the suits belonging Lorenz's husband – the French citizen, Henrik Vertamont. Thirty nine dynamite percussion caps were also discovered as well as 28,000 roubles, of which 16 thousand were discovered in Vertamont's walking stick along with a large number of general staff maps (Murmansk, Odessa, Kiev and areas occupied by the Czechoslovaks).Vertamont himself had time to escape and was not detained.

Affidavit from Commissar Val'ter

“On 1 September 1918, I – as a commissar of the VChK - conducted a search of the apartment of the French citizen Henrik Vertamont at No. 18 Milyutinskiy Alley, according to order No. 6371.

During the search, I discovered various sorts of papers, a cipher, coded letters and telegrams (in French) – almost all of them sewn into the fabric of the chairs and couches and also in suits. Gun-cotton was also discovered in 3 jars located under some coffee with a weight of 4 pounds 25 zolotniks each [1 Russian pound = 409.5 grams, 1 zolotnik = 4.26 grams – skoblin]. One tin container weighing 5 pounds 73 zolotniks also had 39 dynamite percussion caps.

Citizen Vertamont himself was not arrested, in view of the fact that he was not at home nor did he appear.

Commissar Val'ter”

On 18 September 1918, Ksenophont [sic – Xenophon] Dmitrievich Kalamatiano was arrested during an ambush at the former American General Consulate. He had been residing at apartment No. 5, belonging to Ekaterina Sergeevna Kozhina at 8 Tolstovskiy Alley, under the passport of Sergei Nikolaevich Serpovskiy. In Kalamatiano's walking stick were found receipts and a cipher code, which served as a basis for uncovering the entire counter-revolutionary espionage organization of the Anglo-French-American imperialists, which was created with the goal of destroying Workers-Peasants' power in Russia. Many receipts concerning the payments given to his spies were found in the walking stick. Two of these receipts are printed below:

Examples of the receipts concerning the payment of Kalamatiano's spies.

“Received payment of a thousand roubles from No. 15 for up to and including August 23. No. 5, 20/VIII”.

“Received 1500 roub. (one thousand five hundred) from No. 15 on August 20. No. 31”.

The receipts do not indicate the either the first or last name of the persons receiving payment, nor do they mention from whom it was received. Numbers appeared instead of names.

Kalamatiano, at first, attempted to justify himself by every means possible, but eventually – under the weight of the evidence – he was forced to decipher the coded letters found in his walking cane. After this, it became clear that a counter-revolutionary organization of the Anglo-French imperialists was enveloping the whole of Russia, including those areas under German occupation.

Record of the Testimony provided by Ksenofont [sic] Kalamatiano, aka Serpovskiy

“Regarding the receipt notes and reports found in my walking cane, I may testify as follows:

The receipts, in which numbers sign as having received money from a number 15, these are receipts from informants, who have provided me with information of an economic and political nature.

Number 15 – this is I

Number 8 concealed Ivanov Leonid Alekseevich in Minsk

Number 9 – Nikibroraki, 26 Tyomniy Alley, apt. 16 or 14

Number 10 – Potyomkin Al. Vas. (Smolensk)

Number 11 – Khvalynskiy – 600 r. a month

Numbers 12, 13, and 14 all ceased operations

Number 16 – Kazakov – Crimea

Number 18 – Skvortsov – Khar'kov

Number 20 – Angin – Vinnitsa (Moscow, 28 Tyopliy Alley, apt. 16 or 18)

Number 21 – Moller – Odessa

Number 22 – Florinskiy

Number 24 – Zagryazhskiy

Number 26 – Solyus – 600 r. a month

Number 5 – Fride Aleksandr Vladimirovich

Number 4 – Zbatskiy Boris Somolonovich

Fride was recently receiving a thousand roubles a month. I gave him a reserve of 50,000 for payments. I gave Zagryazhskiy 20,000 for safekeeping. Solyus made one trip to Bryansk and was supposed to go to Petrozavodsk.

Number 17 – Gashtenberg – Rostov

Number 1 – Karpov – Kiev

All of these persons were to furnish information concerning the state of affairs in the region to which they were assigned, such as: the political mood of the population, which parties are conducting agitation against Soviet power, the state of transport, attitude of the population towards the Allies and the Germans, the general economic situation and so on. A sample list of questions regarding the Ukraine were found upon my person and are available in this case.

18-19/IX – [19]18.

I have provided the foregoing testimony in order to establish the fact that the individuals, whom I have indicated, carried out no active operations or agitation on my instructions against the local Soviet authorities in Russia.

K. D. Kalamatiano”

In addition to deciphering the documents and names of the spies, which were concealed by numbers, Kalamatiano also deciphered coded words, which served for the transmission of espionage telegrams.

Code words which were used by Kalamatiano's agents

Austro-Hungarians – Metallurgical industry

Austro-Slavs – Food situation

Germans – Sugar industry

German forces – Sugar factories

Numerical identification of forces – Number of pounds of sugar, syrup, candy and their prices (for example, No. 331 and 71 – 331 p. [pood] at 71 r.[roubles])

Mobilization of Russians for the Germans – Bank operation

Enlisting – deposits

quantity – sum of deposits

Percent of foreign-born in German forces – Falsification of sugar

Morale of forces – Situation and condition of sugar industry

Transfer from the front – Emigration of foreigners to the Ukraine

Desertion – Emigration from Ukraine

Officers – NCOs – 1. engineers 2. workers

Opinion of officers and German soldiers – Attitude of engineers and workers to the situation of industry (metallurgical or sugar)

Artillery units of the slavs, their number – Manufactured goods and their prices

The testimony provided by Kalamatiano and the documents found on his person gave the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission the opportunity to arrest Leonid Aleksandrovich Ivanov, Evgenii Mikhailovich Golitsyn, Dmitrii Aleksandrovich Ishevskiy and Pyotr Dmitrevich Politkovskiy. The former American Consul, William Kemberg-Higgs [Camber-Higgs – skoblin] was also arrested.

Kalamatiano's testimony forced Zagryazhskiy, who had been arrested in an ambush at Fride's apartment on September 2, to confess that he had been in contact with Kalamatiano and Fride and had received payment of 750 roubles for his services as well as 20,000 roubles for the paying intelligence agents, which had been denoted by numbers. During a subsequent search conducted at Zagryazhskiy's apartment at 6 Bol'shaya Usmenskaya on September 20, 20,000 roubles were in fact discovered. Before this, Zaryazhskiy, of course, had claimed that Fride had never spoken to him about his activities with the Americans.

Kalamatiano's testimony also led to the confession of the retired Moscow customs official, Pavel Maksimovich Solyus, who had been arrested in an ambush at A. V. Fride's apartment on September 5. Prior this, Solyus had completely denied any involvement with the counter-revolutionary organization of Kalamatiano-Lockhart & Co. After he was presented with the intelligence report he had compiled concerning the state of affairs in Sestroretsk, Petrograd and Petrozavodsk, which E. Fride had tried to destroy in the lavatory during a search, Solyus changed his initial testimony. Solyus started to claim that the “note” found at the Fride apartment was the only one and that he had compiled it from the comments made by various persons, as he had not been to those places himself for which he was providing information. It was only during questioning on September 19, when Solyus' identification number was already known (26 – from Kalamatiano's agent numbering system), that he confessed that he had traveled to Petrograd on Fride's instructions, for which he received an advance of 500 roubles.

Further testimony, established connections, and materials found with Kalamatiano opened up the counter-revolutionary organization more and more. It turns out that many of those who had been arrested during the first days of September were to be found among Kalamatiano's list of agents and among the receipts found on Kalamatiano concerning payments were their receipts as well. Thus, those persons whom Fride and Zagryazhskiy had carefully concealed, being experienced counter-revolutionaries, were given up by Kalamatiano.

Kalamatiano's arrest significantly advanced the the investigation and further unraveling of the Lockhart case.

In addition to the disclosure of all of his agents, an ambushed conducted at Kalamatiano's conspiratorial apartment at 8 Tolstovskiy Alley, where he lived under the name Serpovskiy, netted an individual, who presented papers in the name of a Czech citizen, Aleksei Aloisivich Lingart. It subsequently turned out that this individual was not whom he claimed to be. Under questioning, he stated that he was not Lingart, but Josef Josefovich Pshenichko – a Czech. The investigation was unable to establish whether he was indeed Pshenichko, or whether he was concealing his identity under this name as well. In presenting documents identifying himself as Lingart, Pshenichko explained that he had had all his documents proving his identity stolen while on a tram and that consequently, he – Pshenichko – asked one of his close acquaintances to lend him his identification card on a temporary basis. He explained his appearance at Kalamatiano's (Serpovskiy's) apartment by stating he had sought shelter. A search of Pshenichko's suitcase subsequently turned up notes indicating he was a member of the counter-revolutionary organization, and had been in contact with Kalamatiano in the latter's capacity as the chief agent of the American-Anglo-French imperialists, who had supported the Czechoslovak uprising. As a result of an investigation, it was established Pshenichko had hidden himself at the apartment of the Czechs, Yaroslav Vyacheslavovich Shmenets and Stanislav Fomich Jellinek, at 30 Novoslobodskaya Street.

The retired major-general, Politkovskiy Pyotr Dmitrievich, who was employed at the Consumers' Association of Sergeevsk district in Kursk, was also arrested, thanks to a letter discovered during a search of Kalamatiano's residence. The letter, which led to his arrest, contained the following:

“Dear Konstantin Dmitrievich.

I send you my sincere thanks for your kind memory and attention and that you allowed me the possibility to become acquainted with the agreeable Aleksandr Vasilievich, who it also turns out was a comrade of mine from school. Unfortunately, I was unable to render much assistance for him, although I have sent him to two or three persons, who – in my opinion – may be useful. I ask once more today, what information you require, and – if successful – I will gather it and write you. I wish you all the best, respectfully yours

P. Politkovskiy

Kursk, 18 Pochtovaya St.

12 May 1918.”

As a result of Kalamatiano's testimony, it was discerned that the “agreeable Aleksandr Vasilievich”, about whom Politkovskiy wrote, was the brother of Aleksei Vasilievich Potyomkin, who was under arrest, and that he was employed by Kalamatiano as an intelligence agent.

Politkovskiy confessed during questioning, that he had in fact sent Aleksandr Vasilievich Potyomkin to several persons in order to obtain information concerning exports and imports, but he denied any knowledge of counter-revolutionary espionage activity.

On September 7, Kemberg-Khiggs [hereafter, Camber-Higgs – skoblin], a British national, was arrested. His office at 2 Teatral'niy Thoroughfare constituted a rendezvous point for Kalamatiano's counter-revolutionary espionage organization. From the testimony provided by Potyomkin and Golitsyn, it was obvious that Camber-Higgs office had been specifically indicated to them as a place of meeting and receiving duties.

Ol'ga Dmitrievna Starzhevskaya and Maksim Vasileivich Trester were also discovered to be persons, who had assisted Reilly in his espionage activities.

Starzhevskaya worked at the Organization Department of the VTsIK [All-Russian Central Executive Committee] as a typist. Arrested on September 12, she testified that she knew Reilly as Konstantin Pavlovich Massino and discovered his real name only recently.

While being questioned on September 14, Starzhevskaya testified that she would see Reilly at her apartment, or meet with him somewhere in a public garden or at the restaurant Praga. Reilly suggested she rent an apartment on Malaya Bronaya and he arrived at this apartment for the first time on September 3. Before renting this apartment, Reilly looked it over and left his passport for the registration. He took his passport with him upon departing on 3-4 September. Starzhevskaya also admitted that Reilly gave her 20,000 roub. for furnishing the apartment.

Another one of Reilly's officials was Maksim Vasilievich Trester – the director of a motor unit of the Moscow Military District. Trester drove Reilly in automobile No. 1199 of the Moscow Military District motor depot and lent him 15,000 roubles on receipt.

The receipt, according to which Reilly had received the 15,000 roubles from Tester, stated:

“Copy in translation:

Moscow, 6 July 1918.

Sidney G. Reilly 120, Broadway

New York, Nor. Amer. Unit. St.

Received from M. V. Trester 15,000 roub. (fifteen thousand roub.), for which I request that either he or his representative be paid 1500 dollars (fifteen....dollars).

Sidney G. Reilly”

As is obvious from the receipt, Trester was one of those “wealthy people”, whom Reilly spoke about to Berzin, who would lend him money for subverting unit commanders and for assisting counter-revolutionary activities in general .This money was to be returned to them abroad.

One must also add a few remarks concerning the arrest of Lockhart himself, the ambush at the former American Consulate (Chernyshevskiy Alley), where the American Consul General, Pull, the French General Consul, Grenard and many others (French, British and American officers) hid out, as well as the discovery of a letter written by the French citizen Rene Marchand to the President of the French Republic.

During the night of August 31 – September 1, Cheka officials showed up at apartment No. 24, 19 Khlebniy Alley.

This apartment had already been placed under strict observation from the beginning of the Lockhart case as suspicious persons and persons already established as being active members of the counter-revolutionary espionage organization of Lockhart, Pull, Grenard and Co. would constantly visit this apartment. There was no doubt that Lockhart's apartment was the headquarters of this espionage organization. At Lockhart's apartment were found several British persons and the Russian national, Baroness Benkendorff. Lockhart did not give his name to the Cheka officials and did not protest his arrest as a British diplomatic representative.

Thus, all persons found in his apartment, including Lockhart himself, were conveyed to the Cheka.

When it became clear during questioning, that one of the arrested persons was the British diplomatic representative Lockhart, the latter was told, that he may not be questioned. But in view of the fact that there was serious evidence against him regarding his participation in counter-revolutionary activity against Soviet Russia, he was told that he could hear the charges against him and provide explanations if he wished. Lockhart agreed.

After hearing the account of his conversation with comrade Berzin and the other facts of the plot and being presented with the authorization he had given to the captain of the Lettish Rifles, Krish Kronkal, Lockhart finally admitted that everything was true, but that he had not acted on his own initiative but on a suggestion made by his own government.

The suggestion was made that Lockhart make a declaration on paper, but he declined, averring that he was a diplomatic official of the government of Great Britain and that he did not possess the official right to make a declaration. He stated, therefore, that first of all he had to speak with his counsel, the Dutch Consul, and that all future discussion with the Cheka would go through him. After making this statement, Lockhart was released.

Several days later, Lockhart approached the Deputy Peoples Commissar for Foreign Affairs, comrade Karakhan, requesting a meeting with me, and inquired whether I would agree to talk with him on a non-official basis, simply man to man. Agreement was given and a time was set for the meeting. Before conversing, however, Lockhart demanded a gentleman's agreement that the conversation that would take place between us would remain secret.

I gave him my word, that our conversation would remain secret, unless he were to engage in a slanderous campaign against Soviet Russia, as was being done by all the other agents of international capital through the aegis of the yellow press of their countries.

During those days, which followed upon the elimination of the Lockhart plot, news was received that the representative of Soviet power in Great Britain, comrade Litvinov, had been arrested in London. Litivinov had been arrested without the presentation of any charges. He had not been engaged in military conspiracies. He had not arranged for the murder of leaders of the British bourgeois state and had not planned to arrest the British parliament, as Lockhart's agents had done in Soviet Russia. Nevertheless, he was arrested.

It became necessary to respond to such a move on the part of the British imperialists by a similar action. Lockhart was arrested once more and steps were taken to arrest the other diplomatic conspirators against Soviet power, such as the French Consul General Grenard and the American Consul, Pull.

I repeat, that, in addition to that already known from comrade Berzin, that provided by external observation, and those materials which had been seized in this case, it had also become known to Cheka that a meeting had taken place at the residence of the American Consul General, Pull, on August 25. It was also known that this meeting discussed the issue of how to maintain espionage activity after the diplomatic representatives of the imperialist Entente had departed. However, the arrest of Grenard, Pull, Lavergne and the many other French and British officers guilty in this plot was no easy matter. After Litvinov had been arrested in London, the American diplomats contrived to hide themselves in the American Consulate located on Chernyshevskiy Alley. In order to prevent themselves being taken from there, the Norwegian flag was raised over the building. The representatives of neutral Norway took it upon themselves to defend those who were conspiring against Soviet Russia. Negotiations commenced for the extradition of Grenard, Lavergne, Pull and others from the protection of extraterritoriality, but the Norwegian Consulate flatly refused. The building was then surrounded on all side by Cheka agents and no one was allowed out without a careful scrutiny of documents, while entry into the Consulate was categorically forbidden. The cordon around the Consulate continued for around two weeks, until an offer arrived from the Entente to exchange the convicted conspirators, including Lockhart himself and several other citizens of the Entente, for Bolsheviks located in Britain, France and America. The offer was accepted by the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and those Entente officials, who had been placed under a cordon and subject to extradition, were sent to the train station for Petrograd, Finland and beyond.

Both the former chief of the British Mission, P. B. Lockhart, and the former French Consul General, Grenard, were among those manifest conspirators connected to the case who were released.

A search conducted at the Arbat, where Grenard, Lavergne and several other officials from the French Mission and some well-known French citizens lived, yielded an unexpected discovery in the form of a letter from Rene Marchand to the French President. (This letter will be presented in its entirety below).

Despite all the measures taken regarding the arrest of all persons connected to the Lockhart plot, many of them nevertheless succeeded in escaping. This included Sidney Reilly, as the chief representative of British imperialism – the “troika”, which was supposed to continue the subversive counter-revolutionary affair of the Entente consulates after the latter's departure. Vertamont, the representative of the French Consulate and member of the mentioned “troika” also fled. These Entente spies managed to flee primarily due to the energetic assistance rendered by the representatives of other capitalist countries, which had officially declared themselves neutral.

A Tale of Political-Economic Intrigue

The conspirators of international capitalism, who had been caught at the scene of the crime, were quite dismayed, but not one of the criminals, who passed through the Cheka, presented a more pitiable spectacle of cowardice than that of Lockhart, the representative of Great Britain – the sovereign of half the world. Prior to his arrest, Lockhart would proclaim from every housetop that he was conducting a campaign for the recognition of Soviet power. Many liberal and radical-minded foreigners, such as Raymond Robins, trusted Lockhart to be sincere, and cloaked by this trust, Lockhart conducted his secret activities. But then, suddenly, he was caught and caught red-handed, and there was no possibility of extricating himself, even if he had all the power in the world. And like a wretched coward, Lockhart protested, that he had not acted on his own volition, but on suggestions made to him from his government, and besides, a number of British missions – military, transport and so on – had been active. He, of course, was merely the the representative of the political mission.

In private conversations with myself and the Deputy Peoples' Commissar of Foreign Affairs, comrade Karakhan, Lockhart did not hide or deny that he had met with comrade Berzin, and did not deny that he had met with Grenard and had a meeting with the American Consul, Pull. In private conversations, Lockhart was a wretched individual, several times even taking up a pen in order to write down everything that had transpired, to write the whole truth about Berzin, and about his government. But being the pathetic careerist that he was, he stood like a mule caught between two bales of hay, drawn to the one side by British and world imperialism, and to the other by new burgeoning world. And each time he spoke about this new burgeoning world, about its victories, and about his – Lockhart's – abnormal situation – even in that world in which he served, that is, the capitalist world, Lockhart would seize a pen in order to set down the whole truth. Then, after a few minutes had passed, the wretched donkey would be drawn once more to other bale of hay, and toss the pen away.

Once, after visiting Lockhart in the Kremlin, Karakhan told me that Lockhart had already begun to write his testimony. Several days passed by, however and Lockhart, still not finished, had torn up what he had written: he remained mired in his old world. He tossed out the idea, that if he were to disclose the whole truth concerning his government, about that shameful role, which his government had played in Soviet Russia while waving the banner of saving Russia, then – after the victory of the proletariat – his career path would be open in his own country.

Soon, however, his government made attempts to free him and have him returned to England in exchange for supporters and officials of Soviet Russia, whom England would return to Russia.

But here, in Soviet Russia, there remained the evidence against the British imperialists and their agents. This evidence was supported by the wealth of material which was found on Kalamatiano, Fride and the other arrested plotters. This evidence was of such weight that it was impossible to deny the existence of an illegal organization on the part of the Entente – even in the absence of comrade Berzin's testimony.

Kalamatiano could not conceal the fact that the codes and letters of a conspiratorial nature, found in his walking stick, were connected with the known organization. Receipts concerning the payment of monies, cited above, as well as the papers, on which Kalamatiano recorded 32 agents by number, attest to the fact that Kalamatiano's organization had an entire complement of collaborators and – I repeat – it was impossible to deny the existence of this illegal organization. While being questioned a second time, Kalamatiano suddenly regained his memory and began to develop a new idea – that while his organization did indeed exist, it was of a purely political and economic nature. We present below Kalamatiano's own testimony concerning his activities in Soviet Russia and about the origins of his political-economic organization.