American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1878-01-19
RUSSIAN "JUSTICE."
A Wholesale Arraignment in st. Peters
burg-Four Years in Prison Before Being
Brought to Trial

Though people speak and think chief
ly about the war and the way in whicl
it is conducted, they do not entirely
neglect other spheres of activity, il
some of which there is likewise cause
for dissatisfaction. A good deal of at
tention, for instdnce, is being devoted
to great political trial which is at pres
ent going on before a special tribunal
created for affairs of the kind. OF this
matter mean to speak at some length
as soon as judgment is pronounced
For the moment suffice it to say that
nearly two hundred persons are accused
Ofrevolutionary propaganda land that in
all probability considerable number Of
them will be condemned. 1t can not be
said that the Russians have much SYM
pathy with revolutionary agitation at
any time, and especially when the coun-
try is struggling with foreign enemies
but the judicial and extra-iudicial ad-
ministration have conducted this affair
in such way that very many people
blame the authorities and sympathize
with the accused. The investigation
was begun and arrests were made four
years ago, and it is only now that the
accused have been brought to
trial. In the interval some of them
have died, others have contracted
chronic diseases, and several of them,
it is said, have become insane. The
whole number of arrests amounted,
am assured, to nearly a thousand; but
large number were liberated after a
shorter or longer period of confinement,
and others were transported without
trial to small provincial towns and
placed there under police supervision.
The trial was delayed so long because
| the official who conducted the inYesti-
CATION wished to prove that those who
had taken part in the propaganda be-
longed to a great secret society, and he
zealOusly stroVe to bring to justice all
the members of this supposed associa-
ton. The advantages to be gained from
this method of procedure can not easily
be explained, but the evil results are
only too patent. If the accused had
been tried at once in little groups, the
whole thing would have passed off with
out attracting much attention, but treat
ed as it has been it has become public
scandal. The attempt to prove that all
the accused belonged to great secret
society had evidently broken down; for
they have been divided into groups,
each of which is being tried separately.
Seeing this, not only the accused and
their friends, but also the public gen
orally, ask why these uafortunates have
been kept in prison for three or four
years when they might have been tried
at once. In important details as well
as in the general plan of the prosecution
the authorities have made serious mis-
takes. A young girl, for instance, was
arrested because she had learned some
facts from letter of acertain Debogory.
A man of that name was among the
accused, and the authorities at
once leaped to the conclusion that the
young person in question had been
in correspondence with members of the
supposed secret society. When she had
been in prison for two or three years it
was accidentally discovered that the
writer of the letter was not the Debogory
who had been arrested, but a newspa-
per correspondent of the same name,
and that the letter appeared in one of
the daily papers. Investigators into
crime are, of course, liable to error like
ordinary mortals; but many people
think that as the prosecution was con-
Quoted so very leisurely, more care
might have been taken to avoid such
mistakes. Other incidents, in which no
informal injustice was committed, have
made a painful impression on pub
lie opinion. A young doctor,
who had been compromised
four years ago, but had been allowed to
remain at liberty on condition of ap-
pearing when summoned, was recalled
from the army, where he had distin-
guished himself, and was placed in the
dock. Still more sympathy has been
awakened by the case of a young girl
who was likewise arrested some years
ago and was likewise liberated on bail
When she had probably forgotten all
about having read revolutionary
pamphlets and talked sedition, if she
was ever guilty of such things, and
when she was already married wom-
an with two young children, she was
again arrested and placed among the
accused. Besides all this, more than
once disagreeable scenes have occurred
in Court. The other day, for instance,
a prisoner made some disrespectful
remarks, and gendarme, with
more zeal than discretion, tried to stop
this disorder by putting his hand on the
speakers mouth A scuff1e ensued
the sentries rushed forward with drawn
swords; a cry was raised that the pris-
oner was being murdered; the counsel
protested loudly; several of the female
prisoners tainted, and one of them had
fit of Mysteries. The incident was
not reported by the newspapers, but it
soon became generally known, and has
been much commented on. The fall of
Plevna will, however, of course, with
draw public attention for time from
these subjects of serious importance, and
make people forget for a little all COM
plants and dissatisfaction.
A YOUNG man attended one of the
Murphy meetings in Troy, NY with his
fiancee, and was induced by her to sign
the pledge. A COMPANION in the an