Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1847-02-27

bfr'ess dangers and suflerings, such az he would
not have supposed it possible to endure and live,
he reached the borders of the White Sea, then
st. Petersburg, and last escaping from that ci.
ty ne succeeded in psssing the frontier Of Rus.
sin. lie arrived in Paris the I'D or Oc,uber.
after an absencS of yeers, and eight months,
during which time hc ira, ersed more than IL,
WW miles on foot. Daring his stay in Siberia
he was able to communicate with different NO.
litical exles; he convcrsed also with the inba.
b'ants OF the country, and even with persons
connected with the Russian Government ; and
the following are among the facts which he oh.
tained from the mouths of the bes, informed
persons. and the most reliable eve. witnesses.
The number of Polish Exilcs in Siberia exceeds
5OOM Many of them are employed at hard
labor in tke different establishments; the most
are colonized upon the lands belonging 10 the
Administrator Of Eriies. The following is
the fate OF some of these exiles:
Col. Pierre Wyeoski, chief of the insurrec.
,ion Of the Doth Of November, 1880. who wac
wounded and taken prisoner during the attack
on Warsaw, in 1881, was condemned in 1884
TO hard labor and transported 10 the mines of
Ner.ceinsk, situated in Eastern Siberia, on the
confines Of China. There he found a number
of his compatriots condemned to the same fate
short time after his arrival. they concerted a
plan OF escape, and ca ned over q Russian pea
enn a,hn t, th.,r, tn a. sb,.
side OF a river, and serve them as guide. In
the nigh, time. at the moment agreed upon, all
the exiles assembled on the hanks of,he stream +;
the peasant conducted them TO small deserted
island, and, under pretence of seeing if they
were observed. he left them and went to de.
nounce them to the superintendent. Betrayed
and surrounded. The cxiles, after vain struggle,
were re.taken and thrown into prison. Pierre
Wysoski, the hero Of 80 many battles, was con-
demned TO receive 1900 blows. lie submitted
to hs punishment with the frmncss Of martyr,
and being sent, after he had recovered from,
their effects, to the fortress Of Akaiui, situated
farther TO the East, to labor upon the :orti6ca
tions, he performed his task with activity, spoke
to no one. and after the expiration of the day
shut himselfup in his cabin.
Another attempt TO escape was followed by
even more cruel consequences. The Able ST.
eracinski, a native of Ukraine. was head Of a
convent Of Dasil.ens, at Owrnez, in Wulhynio
an order that devote themselves to the educa
tion ofyou,h. Accused Of having taken part In
thr insurrection of 1881, he was deprived OF hi.
sacerdotal rank, and sent as a common soljie,
in a regiment OF Cossacks to Siberia, to guard
the frontier between Russia. and the tribes o
Independent Tsr,ary. Son after he vas made
instructor in military school, in a regimen,
at Omsk. There he met with humber N
Poles, and formed with them the plan of pene
trating to Taschkent, snd Of reaching, through
the Tartar country. the English possessions ir
the north Of India. IIs communicated thi,
captain who had served under Napoleon, ant
one Of the Legion of Honor. This old soldier
an insurgent in 1881. had hren condemned Il
serve for life, as common soldier, in battalion
of Siberian infantry. Several others were soou
after received into their confidence. But three
Polish soldiers in the same battalion. when
drunk. betrayed their secret before Coz. Grave
commanda,t ofthe Fott ofOmsk. Immediate
ly more than tour hundred Poles were pu, unde,
arrest. This occurred in 1884 Their tria
lasted three years. At length, judgment was
rendered, and it received the sanct on OF the
Emperor by il, Sieracn.k Gorski, aud four o
those accused with them, were Condemned te
seven thousand Jlops, and in case they surV
we'd this punishment, TO perpetual bard labor
the other, to the number Of more than two hun
drsd, were condemned to receive from five hun
drpd to three thousand blows. The execution
OF the sentence took place at OmsS. Genera
Galafayef was sent express from ST. Pe,ers
burg to attend 10 il. On The appu:nted day tw,
battalons, Of . thousand men each. were sen
~ the spot All the other Poles were sen, on
of The way. These soldiers were TO ,nii,ci th'
blows. Each OF the instruments used to iniiIc
the blows were as large as the bore OF a musket
| Each victim, naked III the waist, wss led four
teen times through the ranks, solder On eacl
side striking at the same time, and both coun
ted as bu, one blow. The Able Sieracinski re
fused the Strengthening beverage that was Of
fered hin, and wen, to meet his butchers chauu
ting the Miserere mel Deus. He tell be'or
he had received thousand blows; he was the
seized, tied 10 litfet, and carried 10 recei'
the rest Of his bloody hagela,ion. tls endure
four thousand more blows, when he expired
two thousand blows were inflicted upon HE lif