Revolt Rumors

Long contradictory despatches came daily from Sofia throughout the past week. They told a tale of arrests, shootings, more bombings, discoveries of incriminating Communist documents. There was an unbelievable amount of exaggeration which made the situation so hypertrophied that it looked like a veritable reign of terror, instituted by the Tsankoff Government. Indeed, Foreign Commissar Georg Tchitcherin, sitting at his desk in Moscow, was horrified to hear of the excesses committed at the orders of Premier Tsankoff and his Ministers.

When the uncertain veil had lifted a little, it was affirmed that, although many arrests had been made, the number did not reach the tens of thousands reported and that many prisoners had been released after interrogation. The large number of summary killings reported was considerably reduced. Alost, not all, had taken place when suspects had resisted arrest by armed force.

Early rumors were lent much force when a group of British Laborites in Bulgaria denounced the Tsankoff Government for its tyranny; but it subsequently appeared that they had never been in a position to judge accurately the situation. The strong-armed revolt which opened the eyes of the world two weeks ago (TIME, Apr. 27) had of necessity been put down by strong-armed methods.

An appeal by the Bulgarian Government to the Council of Ambassadors at Paris, the representatives of the Allied and Associated powers, for more troops to handle the situation was met by permission to increase the Army by 7,000 men.