The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1877-01-27

The Adventures Of . huoetAM Omeer
Who Was Exiled 70 Siberta-The Story
OF His Crime, Escape and Experience
In Europe and America.
From the Kansas City Times.l
For several weeks past q gentleman
of distin0ae appearance has attracted
more than the ordinary attention &C.
corded to foreign visitors to this West.
ern country. He appeared to be re.
firing in manner, and his every act in.
Dictated the gentleman of culture and
refinement. He selected his eompan.
ions from the men of education, and in
his intercourse with the people of Kan.
sas City has endeavored, as much as
possible, to shun publicity and make
his way without attracting public no.
tice. But there is always q charm
about the true gentleman which att acts
and draws respect, no matter whether
he appears in rags or in most fashiona.
BILE attire. So it was with the central
object of this item. 1t is not necessary
to mention his name, nor is it necessa-
ry to center upon his identity further
than to state that he is q teacher
of languages in the Washington School
of this city. But his history is SO WOW
en- up with interest that a news-hunter
would be derelict in his duty did he fail
to make brief mention of the story.
The Captain Van Atowitz was an Of
ficer in the Russian army in the Crimea.
He was a gentleman of noble family,
residing in the province of Veronetz in
Southern Russia, and in the routine of
his duties was sent to Sebastopol and
there became attached to the staff of
the Prince Gortschakoff, and was on
regular staff duty when he fell into
trouble. The details of the trouble
which sent him into exile were not OBJ
tainable, but this much is known:
A brother officer, whose name was
not obtainable, committed breach of
discipline. A breach of discipline in
the Russian army is serious matter,
even in time of peace. This offending
officer, who was captain in the i'm
his INSTRUMENTATION and sentenced to
the mines of Siberia for life. To be
sent to the penal colonies of Russia is
a terrible fate, for it is like transport
ing man across q thousand miles of
snow or drifting sands and leav-
ing him there to live as best he
can without food or means to help him
self. But to be sent to that ice-bound
region and to be sentenced to work in
the subterranean mines of that inhos-
pitable region is fate worse than death.
So, when the offending officer received
his life sentence for an offense his broth
er officers did not deem serious, they
murmured and complained, and finally
ten or dozen of the officers of the I'M
perial Corps at Sebastapol determined
to assist their condemned companion to
escape. He escaped and made his way
to Galaty, in the province of Wallachia,
and from thence to COnstantinople,
whence he is supposed to have made
his way to England. Prince Gortscha-
koff had each and all of the ten or
twelve officers implicated in the escape
of the condemned captain arrested, and
they we're tried by court-martial, and
each received the same sentence as that
of the man they had assisted to escape
-banishment for life to Siberia and IL
years hard labor in the copper mines.
They were each stripped of their uni
forms and their property con6scated by
the crown, and sent as convicts to To-
blosk in Siberia, where they were held
for time prior to their final assign
ment to life labor. But, fortunately,
Captain Atowitz had grandfather who
was occupying very high position up
on the Russian bench-a sort of Su-
preme Judge-in one of the provinces.
This old gentleman had friends in ST.
IBERIA who assisted him in transferring
money to his doomed grandson, so that
it could be used to advantage. OF course
Judges in America can not be corrupted,
but Siberia is another country. So when
the exile received a notification at the
fortress of Marin to be ready to make
his escape when the opportunity offered,
he didnotforget the notification. The op-
pertunity was soon presented and all the
twelve condemned officers escaped.
Ten of the party were afterward recap
tured and shot, two of them escaped.
One of these is the Captain Atowitz now
in this city. The story of his escape is
material sufficient for volume. He
made his way southwark to the Ural
River and from thence across to the
Volga, and became domesticated for a
time among the Cossacks. In due time,
after many narrow escapes from iden-
LITIGATION and recapture, he made his
way to Germany and settled down to
make living. But the two tyrannical
autocrats had in force law which re-
quired the turning over or surrender of
all political refugees, so the Russian
officer was obliged to move on. He
came to America and entered the
United States service, and received q
commission in the It'll New York volun-
teers, and served during the war.
At the close of the war he went to
Rochester, N. Y, and went into bust
ness. 1t was there he met and became
acquainted with Prof. Greenwood, the
present Superintendent of the Public
Schools of Kansas City.
But desire to return to his native
land, and if possible recover a portion
of his confiscated estate, or its revenue,
induced him to return to Europe. He
went to Paris and there received some
assistance from his parents-his grand
mother came to reside in Paris; but as q
discovery of any good being rendered to
the escaped exile would result in the
confscation of his grandparents estate,
he was obliged to leave again. In all
this time he has labored assidiously for
q pardon; but the Car turns his face
against any overtures for pardon of an
escaped exile from Siberia. In despair
of obtaining pardon, the fugitive
exile returned to America, and few
months ago took up his abode in Kan
sas City. His former acquaintance with
profoooor EroonvoO6 Suporipton1or%