Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-01-25


In the whole history of criminal jurpsprudence
there hae never probably been anv shing eaual
70 the gigantic trial which was concluded at
Moscow, in Russia, on the 2lst Of November and
in which were arraigned 500 prisoners. upward
of 30 Of whom were convict ID and sentenced TO
cruel penalties. Among tae accused were per-
s s,s es avery s,, aOh IN fesray haired mn
some highly aecompp shed and progressing in
appearance. All cle prisoners were charged
with one OF the ravest offenses in the criminal
code says: "Tb.e person that counterfeits the
shall suffer eath.n
Notwithsf anding this rigorous provision, Rus
aa mas oeen flooded for many years past with
ven executed cOunterfeits Of the government
treasury notes. The prompt executionof several
VINO " ere caught in passing the spurious cur.
renc:y did not check the evil, and tor the last
t1rse years IL became 20 great that the minister
OF finance was almost in despair. Offers Of the
H.rgest rewards did net lead 70 the detection Of
Of the treasury notes did not do much good
either, for 20 vast is the extent Of the Russian
empire that it takes the imperial government
sn months 10 communicate itsdecrees tothe re-
hottest parts Of the country.
At length, in last July, an accident gave the
government the long looked for clue, which led
both sexes, banded together for the purpose Of
circulating the spurious currency, and which
extended from the black and frozen shores of the
White Sea to the Volga and the Black Sea. In
and women were arrested, but, after prelim-
mary examination, 2, 900 of them were discharged
and about 500 were held for trial. Among the
latter were six Frenchmen, of st. Petersburg,
who had been caught printing the counterfeit
notes, and comparatively large number of w0-
men. The prisoners were all conveyed 20 Mos
COW, where they were confined in the vast vault
underneath the Kremlin Palace. Criminal law
in Russia is barbarous at best, and the male
prisoners were herled together like many
hogs. They received the eoarsest Of fare, and
straw was their only couch. The women were
treated but little better.
On the 10Th Of October the trial was opened in
the large hall of the Kremlin, which holds nearly
$500 persons. The proceedings were protracted
establishing the guilt Of over one third Of the
accused. Two hundred and three of them were
found guilty, among them about fifty women.
Sentence of death was passed upon the six
French printers, and the other convicted parties
were condemned to hard labor in the gold mines
of the Ural Mountains for life, for ten years.
The doomed men and women burst into piercing
shrieks and howls; and well they might, for in
the case Of the former, the sentence included
barbarous fOgging and branding on the fore
head with a red-hot iron: while the women.
some Of whom were of refined descent, shud
dered at the idea of having to do the most men
tal work for life, or ten years at the station
houses, where the keepers Of the male prisoners
reside: In their despair, some of the unfortun-
atee threw themselves upon the ground. and
their piercing cries, mingled with the clanking
of their chains, produced truly horrible effect.
The excitement and frenzy of the condemned
grew from minute to minute more intense, and
the judges, in order to restore quietude, had to
call in the soldiers, who, with their knat schubs.
beat the prisoners right and left, and then
dragged them back to the vaults of the Kremlin.