Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1873-02-03
/ REGIMENT DE CRIMINALS.


Il Big Gang Of Counteyteiters, Male
and Female
In the whole history of criminal ju-
risprudence there has probably never
been anything equal to the gigantic tri- !
al which was concluded at Moscow, in
Russia, on the 2lst of November, and
in which were arraigned 500 prisoners,
upwards of 200 of whom were convicted
and sentenced to cruel penalties. Among
the accused were persons of every sta
ton in life, gray-haired, men and youths,
men and women; among the latter, some
highly accomplished and prepossessing
in appearance. All the prisoners were
charged with one of the gravest offences
in the criminal code of Russia-that of
counterfeiting. That code says: "The
person that counterfeits the coin or cur
rency of the Imperial Government shall
suffer DEATH
Notwithstanding this rigorous provis-
ion, Russia has been flooded for many
years past with we'll executed counter
feits Of the Government treasury notes.
The prompt execution of several who were
caught in passing the spurious currency
did not check the evil, and for the last
three years it became so great that the
minister of finance was almost in despair.
Offers of the largest rewards did not lead
to the detection of the guilty PARTIES
Changes in the appearance-of the treas
ury notes did not do much good either,
+ for so vast is the extent of the Russian
empire that it takes the Imperial Gov
eminent six months to communicate its
DEGREES to the remotest parts of the coun-
try.
At length, in last July. an accident
gave the government the long looked for
clue, which led to the discovery of an
association of criminals of both sexes,
banded together for the purpose of cir
culating the spurious currency, and
which extended from the black and fro
zen shores of the White Sea to the Vol
ga and Black sea In the course of the
following two months 5000 men and wo
men were arrested but, after a prelim-
mary examination, $500 of them were
discharged and about five hundred of
them were held for trial. Among the
latter were six Frenchmen of st. Peters
burg, who had been caught printing the
counterfeit notes. and comparatively
) large number of women. The prisoners
were all conveyed to Moscow where they
were confined in the vast vault under
meath the Kremlin Palace Criminal
law in Russia is barbarous at best, and
e the male prisoners were herded together
like as many hogs. They received the
e coarsest of fare and straw was their on.
" couch. The women were treated but
/ little better.
4 On the Goth of October the trial was
), opened in the large hall of the Kremlin
t which holds nearly 5000 persons. The
e proceedings were protracted for a month
$ and the prosecution succeeded in estab
q fishing the guilt of over one-third of the
n accused Two hundred and three O
n them were found guilty among then
i about fifty women. Sentence of death
{ was passed upon the six printers, anc
:. the other convicted parties were con
n demned to hard labor IN the gold mine
= of the Ural Mountains for life, or for tel
n years. The doomed men and womel
n burst into piercing shrieks and bowls
i and well they might, for in the case o
e the former, the sentence included bar
e barous fogging, and branding on tn
d forehead with red-hot iron; while tn
d women, some of whom were of refine,
y descent, shuddered at the idea of havin,
e to do the most mental work for life, o
e for ten years at the station-houses. wher
s. the keepers of the male prisoners reside
t In their despair, some of the unfortu
g mates threw themselves on the ground
and their piercing cries mingled wit
l. the clanking of their chains, produced
: truly horrible effect. The excitemen
n and frenzy of the condemned grew fror
g minute to minute more intense, and tn
< judges, in order to restore quietude, ha
to call in the soldiers, who, with thei
r knatschubs, beat the prisoners right an
d left, and then dragged them back to tn
n vaults of the Kremlin.
How SHE NIGHT Do IT.-A youp
L I