Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-05-17
A RUSSIAN HEROINE.
THE TRIAL AND Ac0UITTdL of TIE
GIRL WHO SHOT GEN. TREPOFF.
Avenging the Insult Offered to . Political
Prisoner at the Risk Of Her Life---Fuller
Details of tho Excitement in St. Peters
burg.
London Times.l

The trial was held on Friday, and since that
time the political complications and the
Eastern question have been thrown into the
background.
The incident which gave rise to s:the af-
fair Zasulitch'' happened on the 25th of July
of last year. At that time considerable
number of young people of both sexes ac-
cused of revolutionary propaganda were con-
fined in one of the st. Petersburg PRISONS
Some of them were already condemned, and
Others were awaiting their trial. On the
morning of July % Gen. Trepof visited the
prison and found some of the prisoners
walking about talking with each other in
the inner court. This seemed to him an in
fraction of the prison rules, and he asked ex-
plantations. One of the prisoners, Bogo-
luboff, replied that he was already con-
demned, and that he was not infringing any
rule in talking to one who was not implicated
in the same affair as himself. The answer
appeared to the general impertinent, and &C.
cordingly Bogoluboff was ordered to tho cell
for disciplinary punishment. On his way
thither he again met the project, and this
time did not take of his cap. Initiated by
this want of respect, the general raised his
hand apparently with the intention of strik-
ing. Whether he really struck or not is I'M
certain, but Bogoluboff's cap fell to tho
ground, and suddenly loud expressions of
indignations issued from the open swindows
of the surrounding cells.
Gen. Trepof resolved to make an example
of Bogolubof, and, accordingly, ordered him
to be logged with birch twigs. The order
was executed in one of the corridors, and
gave raise to 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
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 II she had been ar
rested on suspicion of being implicated in
revolutionary designs, and, after two years.
confinement had been liberated without hav-
ing 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 their under police supervision
until further orders. This was in April,
1871. In June she was allowed to live in
Tver with brother-in law, who was kept
there under police supervision. Next year
the brother-in-law was suspected of having
given prohibited books to the Seminarists,
and was accordingly transferred to a small
town further eastward. Vera was brought
prohibited books, and was then despatched
to her brother-in-law's new domicile. To-
ward the end of 1873 she was transferred to
Kharkof, and remained there till September,
1875, when she was at last liberated.
How she formed the resolution of shoot
ing Gen. 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 Bogolubof heard that he
had been fogged till he stopped shrieking.
AS I had myself experienced long solitary
confinement could imagine what fright
full impression the whole affair must have
produced on all the political prisoners, not
to speak Of those who had been subjected to
maltreatment. know by experienced the
morbidly excited, nervous condition pro-
duced by solitary imprisonment and the ma
jority of prisoners in question had been al
ready confined more than three years. Some
of them had gone mad and others had COM
mitted 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 second time. Such thing
ought not to pass unnoticed. 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 arbitrary acts.
determined, at the price of my own ruin.
to prove that human being may not be
insulted in that way with impunity. It is q
terrible thing to raise ones hand against
fellow creature, but could find no other
means. It was all the same to me
| whether killed or wounded the prefect
and, when I fred at him did not aim at
any particular place.
The case was tried by a jury in the ordi-
nary 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 II o'clock the three judges-youne
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 uniforms not easily distinguished from
! those of the judges.
The jury was duly impaneled and the wit
nesses examined. The prosecutor shovel
good and sufficient reasons why the prisone
should be condemned, while the counsel TO
the defence showed good and sufficient rea
son why she should be acquitted. Then tn
judge summed up, and the jury retired +
consider their verdict.
The accused admitted that she had dan
gerously wounded Gen. Trepoff, and wa
quite Indifferent as to whether she Wounds
or killed him, the jury returned verdict Q
ssNot guilty. and the public, on hearing thi
decision, expressed their approval in wild
vociferous applause.
The case was in many respects peculia
one. In the first place there was stron
feeling of indignation at the way in whic
the prisoners had been treated, and especia
~ at the way in which Gen. Trepof had &C
ed toward Bogoluboff. In no country of Il
world, perhaps, is there such q strong fee
ing against corporal punishment of all kint
as in Russia. In the country where thir
years ago the knout and the rod played
: very prominent part in the Judicial and .
l ministrative institutions, school boy won
: now consider himself disgraced for life If
+ we're subjected to a little patriarchal casie
J. ton with the birch. There are instanc
9 on record of boys having committed suici
because their human dignity had receiy
!. an iadelible stain in that way. When I