The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-10-01
THE DAILY STAR
In RUSSIAN PRISONS TWENTY
FIVE YEARS.
The Curious Adventures of NipOr-
kiu->ent TO Prison at the Age OF
Seventeen.

prlved OF all CIVIL rlgnts. Liz ChaiSo
was breaking into house with intent to
steal. On the trial the fact was brought
out that Niporkin at different times had
spent over twenty-five years In prison.
His own story was as follows
He had not received proper school
ing, his parents being very poor. When
his father died he WAS onl ly fourteen
years old. His mother sent him at once
to a tobacco factory. AT seventeen he
was employed by his brother and cousin,
who were dealers in hardware. Soon his
cousin got into trouble, being accused of
buying stolen goods. He persuaded young
Niporkin to take the crime on himself,
telling him he would surely be excused
by the court, being only seventeen years
old. The guilty cousin was saved by this
arrangement, but young Niporkin went
to prison for three years.
When his term expired he was sent far
away from st. Petersburg to the town Of
Glazoff, in the province of Viatka, and
put under indefinite police surveillance.
He was then twenty years old. II loved
dearly" he says, "a girl who divided
with me my griefs and my pleasures.
Our wedding day was already appointed;
but the fates decided otherwise. My
iancee fell sick and died of yellow fever.
Soon after | was informed that my
mother had also died. These sudden ca
hmities drove me to despair. / could
not stand an idle life in Glazof, and ran
away" He was seized, brought back to
Glazof, and put in prison on suspicion Of
having set fire to a house that was
burned down ju at the time he left the
town. He was kept in prison for four
years, waiting for his trial. Then he was
acquitted of the arson, but for running
away he was sentenced to seven days
imprisonment in police station.
Being set free again, he could not find
any employment, for everybody stunned
him. Hunger" he says, "forced me to
seek the company of persons of whom
nothing good can be said' But he could
not long stand the infectious atmosphere
of the thieves life. Again be ran away,
this time with another ex-prisoner under
surveillance at Glazoff. ave did not
long enjoy our freedom" he says. "Soon
we were arrested in the province of
Perm. In order not to go back to Glazof,
a place hated by me, declared that |
did not recollect where | had been con-
fined, and assumed the name of Grunin,
in honor of my deceased bride, Grunia." "
He was put in prison and kept there for
three years. At last he was sentenced to
hard labor for eight years in Siberia, and
aB ("begly"-"esca ped'') was branded
on his right hand. "For three years." he
says, 81 worked in the mines. Hard work
it was; still | did not complain; | ever
felt myself happy when comparing my
situation with what it had been in
Glazof. But my evil fate did not cease
TO pursue me even there. My companion
ran away to Glazof, and, when arrested
told of my whereabouts. | was taken
back to Glazof in chains. My com
panion proved to be a desperate Grim
inal, and was too glad to ascribe to me
some of his dark deeds which | did moi
know about"
This time Niporkin was kept in prison
for nine years, waiting his trial. At last
in 1869, the court deprived him of al
rights and sentenced him to hard labo
for two years. "Obediently," he says
"like sheep, applied my hands anev
to hard labor. Unhappily, the cour
could not deprive me of human under
standing; | felt keenly that the prisol
was not the right place for me. Fo
what crime | was sentenced | did no
know then, and don't know now. Fo
two years crawled in the cells of th
central prison of simbirsk, associatin
with men whose character differed yer
little, if any, from that of demons. Th
prison life was unbearable to me. Their
heard the means of an unfathomabl
despair; here words of awful blasphem
and cursing; in another quarter the Col
victs talked complacently of crime
the mere hearing of which tor
my heart to pieces. Still, eve
in that dismal den, ] fe
sometimes a blssful peace. The melal
choly songs sang by one of our fello
criminals had wonderful power to sto
suddenly all the hellish tumult of til
prison, to melt the hardest hearts, and
penetrate to our very souls"
When his term expired Niporkin WI
>eN back to Glazofr He ran ava
again, was again brought back, and agai
ran away. "At last" he said, '1n lS7
Twas sent to a remote place inhabited
Samoieds; there in the wild forest
strolled half naked, freezing and star
ing. doubt if at that time cou
have been distinguished from the wi
beasts which lived in the same plac
But these were happier than |. Th'
were not starving as was. Of cour
] ran away"
Then he was transferred to nj
place, and put under police surveillan'
but he left it liz search of his sisters, W
had to transmit to him the part of
property bequeathed to him by I
ceased sister. "It would have been b
ter for me, " he said, mot to see them. |
der different pretenses they took fro
me everything, and when / was reduc
to pauperism and fell sick, they SIM
put me out of doors. Then RENE
bered my cousin, who practiced law a
was rich. On my knees, with tears