The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-11-06
The Cruelty With Which the Nihilists
are Treated.

are Treated.
A SHORT account of the celebrated
casemates of the fortress of St. Peter
and St. Paul, in which the Nihilists are
confined Immediately after their arrest,
will, I have no doubt, be perused with
interest by our readers. The writer, a
St. Petersburg correspondent of the
London Telegraph obtained access to
the classmates by special order from
one of the Grand Dukes. whose name he
naturally suppresses. The sight of the
order when presented, was by no means
acceptable to the commandant of the
fortress, but as it was peremptory, he
had no alternative but to comply.
The classmates, 1T appears, are hol-
lowed out under the Neva, and directly
under the ramparts. Their only win
dow, little square hole, protected by
thick barred grating, rises but few
inches above the level of the river. A
staircase of about ten steps leads down
to them, and as the aid-de-camp who
acted as guide remarked, in a ocular
tone: "Many 60 down, but few come
up again" 1t would seem that the CHM
ate is not favorable to revolutionists. At
stated distances there are iron doors
opening into halls filled with sentinels,
who, with loaded rifle and fixed bayon-
ct, keep watch and ward over the I'M
happy tenants of the cells which open
upon them. The doors of the cells, also
>"f iron, are very low.
Z As for the tiny prisons, they are.very
narrow quarters, square, with stone
walls and floors, and fearfully damp,
the water constantly dropping about in
all directions. A chair, q table and a
pallet of white wood form the only fur
niture. One of the pallets was found to
be covered with bed of straw horribly
foul, but even this, poor luxury as it
was, must be considered an exception.
The prisoners, the writer learned, were
fed on soup made of sailed cabbage
and black bread. On grand occasions,
however, they were sometimes treated
to a bit of meat and tcharka, OF glass
full of brandy.
The visitor was allowed entrance to a
few of the cells. Their tenants were
pale; they rose as he entered, accord
ing to order, but regarded him with a
fixed look of despair. On some. of the
walls characters had been traced with a
pointed instrument. One of the phrases
ran thus
"My poor mother, you doubtless
know that your innocent son is buried
alive in this Vault
The guide interfered. and prevented
the writer from reading more. He was
shown the great cell in which was in
generated the Princess Tarskanova,
daughter of the Empress Elizabeth, who
fell victim to her rival, the Empress
Catharine H., grandmother of the
present Gar. This unhappy woman
persisted in the cell under the most
dramatic circumstances. The Neva,
swollen by the melted snow, suddenly
rose, and the rushing torrent, dashing
with overwhelming strength against
the tiny window, broke it and filed
the cell with water. The Princess was
drowned.
The cells of the great State criminals
are lined with mattresses, and rings of
iron are fixed in the walls, to which
many of them are bound when they are
not straight-waist-coated. The guide
llhOluhON OhO WllCOi,
things, that these unhappy men were
asked every quarter of an hour if they
were present. Whenever they failed to
reply they were barbarously punished.
He also states that in the wall of the
Emperor's room there is an invisible
door. communicating with an invisible
passage, very narrow, and leading to q
subterrranean gallery, followed out
under the Neva. The gallery leads to
the fortress, and in case of revolution
or of imminent peril, the Gar could
disappear in q few seconds from the
Winter Palace, and few minutes after
find himself in perfect safety in the
fortress of st. Peter and st. Paul, the
guns of which could in a short time re-
duce st. Petersburg to ruins.
The palace of the Gar Paul l., which
is now the Engineers School, was SINH
larly provided; but when the assassins
entered his room, he had not time to
flee, and was struck down at the very
moment when he was about to disap-
pear behind the secret door, which was
already open.