Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1881-01-07
4 TELL-TALE REBEL,
The Revelations Alleged 70 Have heen
Made by n Nihilist Prisoner.

arrested On his WAY W hoSCON. III AItS
possession the police found about eighty
bounds of dynamite. He was al once
carried to prison and kept in solitary
confinement. At first he stoutly refuS-
ed tosay anything about his connection
with the revolutionary party. But six
months Of the political prison destroy
cd his physical health and produced 4
strange change in his mind. Tn May,
II, 1880, he made the following remark
able deposition in his own handwrit-
ing"
MY name is Gregory Goldenberg.
am ~ years old, Jew, and OF the He
brew religion. | studied in the klelf
gymnasium. depended on the revolu-
tionary fund. In 1878 | was arrested
and examined on suspicion OF being
implicated in the murder of the state
attorney, kotliavevsky. ! was not
tried, but by administra tive order |
was exiled to the province of Archan-
geisk, whence soon made my escape.
lam a socialist, and belong to the ter
rorist wing of the Russian revolution
arv party. Webegan the struggle for
political rights in order to change the
existing political system, and to pre-
parc new system which would admit
the free and normal development of
social ideas. We employed the follow
ing means: Agitation among the edu
Gated classes and in the army in every
possible form; political murders in
cases when they replace free speech
and free press, undermine the pres
tige of the present system of govern
ment or rid the revolutionary party Of
dangerous and powerful enemies In
order to prove my faith by deeds, and
in order to call the attention Of the
public and the government to the fact
that the students ofthe kharkotf uni
vcrsty were cruelty and lawlessly pun
shed by the Cossacks' whips 10y order
ofthc Prince Krapotkin; also tothe hor-
rible tortureS perretratod ON the poht-
ical prisoner, Fomin, by order Of the
same Prince krapotkin; also to the
fact that the students of ST. Poterhurg
university and those of the Medco-
Chirurgical academy had been whip
ped by the CoSsacks by order Of Gen.
Zurotf; also to the falsehood of the re-
ports Of Prince krapotkin on the
Kharkotf political troubles all these
reasons, on February 9, 1879, shot
and killed Prince Krapotkin This,
my deed, confess in order to free the
innocent persons who are now in
prison for that crime.
Since then We have seen long series
Of both joyful and sad events An Mt
TEMPT on the Cars life, the Moscow
explosion, the Winter palace explosion,
the humiliation Of the two secret Jour
mails, the organs of the different wings
Of the revolutionary party, executions,
suicides among the revolutionists, mum
herless arrests and punishments, the
establishment of the supreme execu-
tive commission, the attempt Oh the
life Of Gen. Melkot1-all these and the
like facts force us to think Of our past,
present and future. Solitary combine
merit, like every evil in the world, has
its good side. In cell man can
think independently, without preiudic-
es. being free from the influence of I'LL
the current events. | have analysed
in ms mind over and over again all
that has been done by the socialist
party, and particularly Ivy the wing Of
the terrorsts; that hard and bloody
way which we have pursued; those eX-
ertions, sutferings and tortures, falling
not only upon the socialists, but on all
the educated youths of our country;
and / have come to a very sad conclu-
sion, that nothing has yet been ac-
complished either for the country, for
the people, or for the young-nothing.
And this IN spite of a dreadful struggle
III which men and women perish with
out end in the cells of the political pris-
onS, in the far distant Siberia, and
Saghalien, and on the gibbet. firmly
believe that the terrorists set out on
wrong way that caDnot bring them to
their noble aims which are the enjoy
mcnt of natural human rights, politi-
cal freedom, free development, educa-
ton, and life in general have found
out that the political murders not only
have not brought better order of
things, but just the contrary; they have
compelled the government to resort to
extreme measures, and SO we have had
the unhappiness and shame of seeing
over twenty executions in a short peri
Cd OF time. The political murders
called forth chat dreadful and Aide
stroying reaction, which, like 4 night.
mare. oppresses the whole country and
paraly2es the efforts Of the popular
party tnarodniki) to arouse the peo-
Die. The terroristS ought not to have
resorted to such a dangerous means rs
political executions. They ought to
nave known that the government could
and would resort to the same means.
The governments prosecutions and OK
ecutions developed in u. morbid APP
petite for the blood ef the Cars func-
tionaries, and forced Us 70 adopt the
gloomy principle Of terrorism; but the
government, III it, turn. adopted the
dreadful policy Of revenge, and filed
up all the prisons with the educated
youths, keeping them III narrow cells
during the best years Of their lives.
The governments terrorism has had .
demoralizing influence on many youths
even of our own number. and somc of
them, in order to save their lives and
freedom, have betrayed their comrades,
a We saw in the series Of political pro-
eesscs during 1879,
These are the sad conclusions which
| have come after mature considera-
ton. or course | could keep my
thoughts 70 myself could lead men