Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-06-13
Taxes and Torture in Russia.

practice of 4" Enforcing Taxes by Tort
ure,@ which is supplied from St.
Petersburg by a writer on "Contem-
porary Life and Thought in Russia. :"
It is to be found in the number of the
Contemporary ReUiea0, aud is written
by a manifestly friendly hand:
"Another curious case has this week
been brought before the Court of Ria
zan. A commissary of rural police,
named PoPof, was charged with abuse
of his power, andwith inflicting torture
on the peasants for arrears in the pay
ment of taxes. The fact of either q
chief or an agent of the Government
being brought to account for his be-
havior toward those below him occurs
so rarely in Russia that it cannot pass
unnoticed. 1t marks an important
step in the advance of justice and civil
ization among us, and is the best guar
sntee for the future. The abuse of
which Popof was found guilty is one
very common in our villages, though
it does not often take the extreme
character of torture. When corporal
punishment was abolished throughout
the Empire, being, it was supposed.
erased from the penal code, the legis-
lators could not persuade themselves to
stamp it completely out. but relegated
it to a corner, where it continued to
exist. The corner was furnished by
the rural lf-government conferred on
the peasants after their emancipation.
The opinion that ignorant people pos
sess an intuitive knowledge of justice,
better than that of the upper classes
who are spoiled by civilization, is still
prevalent in some circles. The iber-
ated peasants were supposed to know
how best to distribute the land, and
apportion the taxes between the mem
bers of the community, and also how
generally to do justice. They had their
special executive administrators and
their own courts, which were chosen
by themselves. These Judges are not
obliged to possess any education, not
even the first elements of spelling,
much less acquaintancewith the common
law; their conscience and common
sense are their only guides. 1t was
thought necessary to leave to these
courts the privilege of corporal punish
ment, as being the penalty most famil-
lar to the class, and the easiest for the
officials to apply. True, the power
was not conferred without some restric-
tons being added. The number of
blows to be given, as well as the limita-
tions bearing on the age and sex of the
culprit, were fixed by law; old men and
women not being liable to this punish
ment. But everybody knows that such
qualifying provisions are dead letter,
unless there is some one expressly ap-
pointed to watch the enforcing of them.
The Judges and the Bailiffs went on
f1ogging whoever they liked, and
giving as many blows as they
Thought fit, without being sub
jected to any interference in
the matter. Though the corporal pun
ishment was intended exclusively for
breaches of the penal code, it was soon
applied in cases of arrears in the pay
ment of taxes and dues. The village is
collectively responsible for the total of
the taxes imposed on it, and the Bail
ifs found that fogging was the best
means for collecting the required sums.
The Commissaries of Police in their
turn, not having the right of infiicting
this penalty, referred cases to the rural
Judges, asking them to order it, and it
seems they hardly ever met with a re-
fusal. Thus, while real criminals were
exempted from the most degrading
punishment, poor peasants were sub
jected to it at the arbitrary will of the
police and the rural Judges, for not
having the amount of ready money
asked from them. The evidence went
to show that the accused, Popof, being
gifted by nature with a peculiar feroci-
ty, took lively pleasure in such scenes.
He passed the sentence on individuals
who were clearly exempted by law in
consideration of their age or illness,
and in the carrying out of the SEN
tences he transformed the chastisement
into a real torture. Some of the de-
tails were nearly Incredible. By his
orders the rods were heated in an oven
to make them more flexible, and were
sprinkled with salt, or else rubbed with
wet rag dipped in salt water. The
blows, instead of following quickly,
one after another, were given with long
intervals between (fOr instance, it was
said, quarter of an hour), beside be-
ing inflicted with such violence that
the sufferer often lost his senses. Dur
ing the whole time of the punishment
the unhappy prisoner, having on only
a shirt, was lying on the floor, in an
room with several degrees of
frost in the air, while the Commissarv
was leisurely walking to and fro wrap
ped in furs, and inhumanly rejoicing
at his victims sufferings. The eniov-
ment Popof derived from indulging in
this cruelty was so great that he never
accepted any palliations or excuses on
behalf of those who were condemned
to undergo the punishment. Even
when the Commune, pitying some old
or sick man, deposited for him the sum
he was owing, the Commissary took the
money, but declared that the man
would be punished all the same for not
paying it earlier. All these allegations
were proved by eye-witnesses. The
verdict was against the accused, and
be was condemned to three months i'm
prisonment in a fortress. This penal
ty may Justly be considered very leni-
ent for such crime; but the trial it
self is a novelty, and will be a warning
10 other functionaries. Pal Mall Ga
gette.
A PAPER in Central Massachusetts
prints q PEACEFUL of advertisements Of
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