Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-05-11
ONE OF RUSSIA'S HEROlNEs.



AyENGING THE INSULT OFFERED TO PoLIT-
ICAL PRISONER AT THE RISK OF HER HIFE-
FULLER DETAILS OF THE EXCITEMENT IN
ST. PETERSBURG.
IFr' IN the London Times
ST. PETERSBURG, April 16.-AH the world
here is at present talking about the trial of Vera
Zasulitch, the young person who about two
months ago, made an attempt on the life of
Gen. Trepof, the Project of the city. The
trial was held on Friday, and since that time
the political complications and the Eastern
question have been quite thrown into the back
ground.
The incident which give rise to '.the affair
ZaSulltch' happened on the 18th of July of last
| year. At that time considerable number of
young people of both sexes accused of revOlu-
tlOnary propaganda were confined in one of
were already condemned, and others were
awaiting their trial. On the morning of July
3 Gen; IrepOff visited the prison and found
ing with each other in the inner court. This
seemed to him an infraction of the prison
rules, and he asked explanations. One OF the
ready condemned, and that he was not infring-
ing any rule in talking to one who was not i'm
pllcated in the same affair as himself. The
answer ans to the general
cell for disciplinary punishment. On his way
thlther he again met the Project, and this time
did not take OF his cap Irritated by this want
emily with the intention of striking. Whether he
really struck or not is uncertain, but Bogolu-
poffs cap fell to the ground, and suddenly loud
expressions of Indignation issued from the
open windows of the surrounding cells.
Gen. TrepOff resolved to make an example
be ahd ordered S Nun
executed in one of the corridors, and gave rise
to new disturbance similar in kind to the
preceding one: From the prison the excite
ment and Indignation soon spread to the
friends OF the prisoner, and from them to the
public generally.
Among the many who were indignant at the
so-caLled "Bash Bazoukism" of the Project
was Vera Zasulitch, daughter of an officer of the
line Though only about 26 years of age, she
had already considerable experience of police
discipline In its milder forms. At the age of
Il she has 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 ar
rested, and was dispatched to KrestS She
was told she must live there under police su-
perVlslOn until further orders. This was in
APRIL ISL. In June she was allowed to live i'm
Tver with a brother-in- law, who was kept there
under police supervision. Next year the broth
er-in-aw was suspected of having given pro-
hibited books to the Seminarists, and was &C.
cOrdingly transferred to a small town further
eastward; Vera was brought to st. Peters
burg to be questioned about the prohibited
books, and was then despatched to her broth
r-ln-laW'S new dOmicile. Toward the end of
1913 she was transferred to kharkof, and re-
NAMED there I'LL September, 1875, when she
How she formed the resolution of shooting
words:
Having arrived in st. Petersburg I heard
about the inc dent in prison from various PEG
pie. About BOgOubOff | heard that he had
been logged Till he stopped Shrieking. AS
ment could Imagine what a frightfu impress
sion the whole affair must have produced on
all the political prisoners. not to speak of those
who had been subjected to maltreatment. /
know by experience the mOrbidly excited. merry
Gus condition produced by solitary imprisOn-
ment, and the majority of prisoners in ques
ton mad 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 0fflclal the second time. Such a thing
ought not TO pass unnOticed. waited to see
whether some one would take the matter in
hand, but al were silent, and nothing pre-
vented TrepOff or any other influential Official
from repeating such arbitrary acts. / deter
mined, at the price of my own ruin to prove
that a human being may not be insulted in
thing to raise ones hand against fellow
creature, but l Could find no other means
nj. 1t was all the same to me whether l
killed or wounded the Project; and when |
fired at him l did not aim at any particular
place"
The case was tried by Jury in the ordinary
ing tickets of admission to the leading repre-
sentatlyes Of the press. On the bench behind
the judges, sat some Of the highest digni-
tarleS OF the realm, among others the Imperial
Chancellor, Prince GOrtdhakOff.
At II O'Clock the three Judges-young men
in dark blue uniforms adorned with gold
ace-.took their places on the bench, with the
Public Prose cutor on the right hand and the
Clerk Of the Court on the left, in uniforms
not easily distinguished from those of the
Judges.
The jury as duly lmpannelled and the wit
resseS exam ined. Tue Prosecutor showed
good and sufficient reasons why the prisoner
should be &C ndemned, while the counsel for
he defence showed good and sufficient reason
why she should be acquitted. Then the Judge
summed sunni up, and the jury retired to consider
The accused admitted that she had danper-
ously wounded Gen: TrepOff, and was quite
Indifferent as to whether she wounded or killed
him. The jury returned a verdict of Mot
guilty" and the public, on hearing this deci
sion, expressed their approval in wild, yOcifer
Gus applause.
The case was in many respects a peculiar
one In the first place there was strong feel
ing of indignation at the way in which the
prisoners had been treated, and especially at
the way in which Gen. TrepOff had acted to-
ward BogolHtbOn. In no country of the world,
corporal punishment of all kinds as in Russia
In the country where thirty years ago the
knout and the rod played very prominent
buttons, school boy would now consider him
self disgraced for life if he were subjected to a
little patriarchal castigatOn with the birch
Ah1iN oh iOCOiu VI having
committed suicide because their human dig.
nifty had received an indelible stain in that
way. When the counsel for the defence de-
Scribed the grOanS of BOgOluboff as 1.-The
grOanS of Inundated, insulted human dig
Dity," his words called forth from the audience
burst OF applause.
In the second place, the appearance and
bearing OF the prisoner, and some of the bio
graphical details which TRANSFERRED, won for
her the sympathy of the audience Modest
and unpietentiouS in manner and attire and
Without any Straining after theatrical effect
she Iepled frankly and respectfully to all the
questions which were put to her. Without
ever having been condemned by court of
law, she had spent the best years of her life in
prison or under police supervision, and had
idea, for she had never seen the man whom
she determined to avenge. In vain the Public
Prosecutor pointed out TO the Jury that these
considerations should have little or no weight
with them; that they were not called UPON to
Judge Gen. TrepOn OF the prison authorities:
that the prisoner had been herself guilty. of
the arbitrary, illegal conduct which she con
demned in others. EXhnrtationS of this kind
had very little influence on the Jury or the
public. For both the question at issue was
whether glaring administrative abuses should
be excused or condemned, and the verdict was
universally regarded as public reprimand to
a highplaced official who had overStepped the
limits of his authority.
SOLAR PHENOMENA.-The very best photo
graphs oil the sun ever yet seen have been
taken at the Observatory, MeudOn, near Paris
by Mr.. .lanSSen; aud copies on glass, twelve
inches In diameter, are now placed in the
nandS OF some OF our scientific societies They