The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-05 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN KNOUT.

At a given signal the sufferer has to advance, with a
slow step, between the rows of soldiers, each of whom,
in turn, must apply a vigorous blow on his back ; the
pain he endures might, perhaps, suggest to him the idea
of passing as quickly as possible through the double row
of executioners, in order to lessen the number and the
force of the blows which hack his flesh to pieces ; but
he calculates without Russian justice. The two non-
commissioned officers retreat slowly, step by step, in
order to afford every one time to perform his task.
They drag the unhappy wretch forward, or push him
back, by driving the points of the bayonets into his
breast. Every blow must tell ; it must enter his back
and cause the blood to gush out. No pity : every one
must do his duty. As I have said in another part of
this work, the Illuscovite soldier is a machine which is
not allowed to possess any individual ' feeling • and woe
betide his own shoulders if he manifests the' least hesi-
tation, ;or he will on the spot, receive from twenty-five
to a hundred blows, according to the caprice of the gene-
ral who has the honour of commanding the 6,000 execu-
tioners. The Russian Government is scrupulous in the
most trifling details. It insists on everything being done
with precision. But with such men as it has at its dis-
posal it cannot trust to chance, and, therefore, it has
rehearsals to execute a human being just as it exercises
its troops previous to a review. A few hours before the
time appointed for the punishment, a truss of bay or
straw, placed upon a chariot, is driven along the ranks.
The sufferer advanced up to the nine hundredth and
third stroke ; he did not utter a single cry, or prefer a
single complaint; the only thing which betrayed his agony
from time to time was a convulsive shudder. The foam
then began to form upon his lips, and the blood to start
from his nose. After fourteen hundred strokes, his face,
which had long before begun to turn blue, assumed
suddenly a greenish hue ; his eyes became haggard and
almost started out of their sockets, from which large
blood-coloured tears trickled down and stained his
cheeks. He was gasping and gradually sinking. The
officer who accompanied me ordered the ranks to open,
and I approached the body. The skin was literally
ploughed up, and had, so to say, disappeared. The
flesh was hacked to pieces, and almost reduced to a state
of jelly ; long stripes hung down the prisoner's sides
like so many thongs, while other pieces remained fas-
tened and glued to the sticks of the executioners. The
muscels, too, were torn to shreds. No mortal tongue
can ever convey a just idea of the sight. The command-
ant caused the cart which had brought the prisoner to
be drivel up. He was laid in it on his stomach, and,
although he was completely insensible, the punishment
was continued upon the corpse, until the surgeon ap-
pointed by the Government, who had followed the exe-
cution step by step, gave orders for it to be suspended.
He did not do this, however, until there was hardly the
slightest breath of life left in the sufferer's body.
When, the execution was stopped, two thousand six
hundred and nineteen strokes had cut the body to pieces.
IlAt, in Russia, the fact of striking a corpse is not
cruel enough, and would not -inspire a nation of slaves
With a sufficient amount of terror. A man must revive
before he undergoes the remainder of his punishment.
The unhappy wretch was taken to the hospital, where,
as is the custom in these cases, he was placed in a bath
of water saturated with salt, and then treated with the
greatest care and solicitude, until a complete cure was
effected, so that he could bear the rest of the sentence.
In all instances, and at all times, the penal laws of Rus-
sia are stamped with atrocious barbarity. It was seven
months before he was cured and his health re-established ;
and, at the expiration of this period be was solemnly
taken back to the place of execution, and forced once
more to run the gauntlet, in order to receive his full '
amount of 6,000 strokes. He died at the commence-
of seond.punishment.,-,4erntaitrecLogny.