The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-05-15
Trial and Acquittal of the Girl Who
Shot Gen. Trepoff.
Avenging the Insult Offered 10 n POHf-
cal Prisoner at the Risk of Her
Life-FulIer Details Of the
Excitement I'm St.
Petersburg.
Ist. Petersburg Cor. London Times.l

".
plicatlons and the eastern question have been
quite thrown to the background.
The incident which gave rise to 1.-The affair
Zasulitchr happened on the 18th of July of
last year. At that time considerable num-
Der of young people of both sexes accused of
revolutionary propaganda were confined in
one of the St Petersburg prisons. Some of
them were already condemned, and others
were awaiting trial On the morning of
July % General Trepof visited the prison
and found some OF the prisoners walking
about and talking with each other in the
inner court. This seemed to him an infrac-
ton of the prison rules, and he asked ex-
plantations. One of the prisoners, Bogolu-
boff, replied that he was already condemned,
and that he was
NOT INFRINGING ANY RULE
in talking to one who was not implicated in
the same affair as himself The answer APP
peared to the general impertipent and &C.
cordingly Bogolubof was ordered to the cell
for disciplinary punishment. On his way
thither he again met the project and this
time did not take off his cap. Irritated by
this want OF respect, the general raised his
hand, apparently with the intention Of
striking. Whether he really struck or not
is uncertain, but Bogoluboff's cap fell to the
ground, and suddenly loud expressions of
Indignation issued from the open windows
of the surrounding cells
ample of Bogoluboff, and accordingly ordered
him to be logged with birch twigs. The
order was executed in one of the corridors,
and gave rise to a new disturbance similar in
kind to the preceding one. From the prison
the excitement and Indignation soon spread
to the friends of the prisoners and from
them to the public generally.
Among the many who were indignant at
the so called "bashi bazoukism" OF the pre-
feet was Vera Zasulitch, daughter of an Off
Ger of the line. Though only about twenty
six years of age, she had already considerable
experience of police discipline In its mllder
forms. At the age of seventeen she had
been
ARRESTED ON SUSPICION
of being implicated in revolutionary designs,
and, after two years confinement had been
liberated without having been brought to
trial. a few days after her liberation she
was again arrested, and was despatched to
krestsi. She was told she must live there
under police supervision until further or
ders. This was in April. 1871. In June she
was allowed to 1--we in Tver with brother
in-law. who was kept there under police
supervision. Next year the brotherin-law
was suspected of having gwen prohibited
books to the seminarists, and was accordingly
transferred TO a small town further eastward.
Vera was brought TO st. Petersburg to be
questioned about the prohibited books, and
was then despatched to her brother-in-law's
new domicile. Toward the end of 1873 she
was transferred to Kharkoff, and remained
there till September. 1875, when she was at
last liberated.
How she formed the resolution of shooting
General Trepof may be best described in
her own words:
Having arrived in st. Petersburg |
heard about the incident in the prison from
various people. About Bogoluboff | heard
that he had been logged till he stopped
shrieking. AS l had myself experienced
long solitary confinement l could imagine
what a frightful impression the whole affair
must have produced on all the political
prisoners, not to speak OF those who had
been subjected to maltreatment. 1 know
by experience the morbidly excited, nervous
condition produced by solitary imprison-
ment, and the majority of prisoners in ques-
ton had been already confined more than
three years. Some of them had gone mad,
and others had committed suicide. What
cruelty it was to make them bear all that,
simply because one of them had not taken
off his cap when he met an official the Sec
Ond time. Such a thing ought not to pass
unnoticed. L waited to see whether some
one would take the matter in hand.
BUT ALL WERE SILENT,
and nothing prevented Trepoff or any other
influential official from repeating such ar
bitary acts. l determined. at the price of
my own ruin, to prove that human being
may not be insulted in that way with i'm
punIty. 1t is a terrible thing to raise ones
hand against fellow creature, but l could
find no other means. twas all the
same to me whether 1 killed or wounded the
project; and when fired at him 1 did not
aim at any particular place"
The case was tried by jury in the ordin-
airy way, and full publicity was secured by
sending tickets of admission to the leading
representatives of the press On the bench
behind the judges sat some OF the highest
dignitaries of the realm, among others the
imperial chancellor, prince Gortschakoff.
At IL o'clock the three judges-young men
in dark blue uniforms adorned with gold
lace-took their places on the BENCH with
the public prosecutor on the right hand and
the clerk of the court on the left, in uni
forms not easily distinguished from those of
the judges.
The Jury was duly inipaneled and the wit
nesses examined The prosecutor showed
good and sufficient reasons why the prisoner
should be condemned, while the counsel for
the defense showed good and sufficient rea-
sons why she should be acquitted. Then the
judge summed up, and the jury retired to
consider their verdict.
The accused admitted that she had danger
0usly wounded General TrepoH, and was
quite Indifferent as to whether she wounded
or killed him. The jury returned verdict
of mot guilty" and the public, on hearing
this decision, expressed their approval IN
wild, vociferous applause.
The case was in many respects a peculiar
one. In the first place there was strong
feeling OF indignation at the way in which
the prisoners had been treated, and espe-
cially at the way in which General Trepoff
had acted toward Bogoluboff. In no country
of the world. perhaps, is there
Such STRONG FEELING AGAINST CORPORAL
PUNISHMENT
of all kinds as In Russia. In the country
where 80 years ago the knout and the rod
played very prominent part in the judicial
and administrative institutions, a school boy
would now consider himself disgraced for
life if he were subjected TO little patri-
archial castigation with the birch. There
are instances on record of boys having COM
mitted suicide because their human dignity
had received an lndelible stain in that way.
When the counsel for the defense described
the gr0ans of Bogolubuff as 1.-THE groans of
Inundated, insulted human dignity his
,urords call al forth from the audience a burst