The Commander-in-Chief, General Diederlchs, and his wife were engrossed in Christian and unchristian mysticism. During the day services were held according to the Church ritual, while at night occult mysteries were a passion.
All decisions were taken only after consultations with "spirits" and media. The Zardetsky group was particularly active round Kolchak. Mediumistic and occult seances were arranged, sorcery performances, even shamanism was not neglected when some Mongolian Ostyak from the shores of the Arctic Ocean arrived and enacted his comedies. About the middle of 1919, two officers, who alleged to have come from Deniken, joined this group. One was Captain Timofeyev, and the other Captain Matkowski.
I remembered the first from the Russo-Japanese War, and I did my best to frustrate his schemes at Omsk. As a young officer in Charbin, he, with his detachment, attacked a peaceful Chinese village, robbed and killed off the richer inhabitants, and decamped with the booty. He was court-martialled, deprived of his commission, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
It was the same Tiniofeyev who arrived in Omsk as captain, with many high decorations adorning his breast.
The two came with letters of introduction, but their real mission was very different from what it purported to be. They gave it out to be occultists able to sum-
