Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1881-01-08

OK his arrival the prisoner is driven
straight to the police ward. where he
is inspected by the Ispravnik. a police
officer who is absolute lord and master
of the district. This representative
of the Government requires of him to
answer the following questions: His
name? How old? Married or single?
Where from? Address of parents, or
relations. or friends? Answers to all
which are entered in the books. A
solemn written promise is then exacted
of him that he will not give lessons of
any kind, or try to teach any one; that
every letter he writes viii 20 through
the Ispravnik' hands, and that he will
follow no occupation except shoemak-
ing, carpentering. or field-labor. He is
then told he is free! but at the same
time is solemnly warned that should he
attempt to pass the limits of the town
he shall be shot down like dog rather
than be allowed to escape, and should
he be taken alive shall be sent off to
Eastern Siberia without further formal
ity than that of the Ispravnik' personal
order.
The poor fellow takes up his little
bundle. and, fully realizing that he has
now hidden farewell to the culture and
material comfort of his past life, he
group of exiles, all pale and emaciated.
are there to greet him, take him to
some of their miserable lodgings. and
feverishly demand news from home.
The newcomer gaLes on them as one
in dream; some are melancholy mad,
others nervously irritable, and the re-
mainder have evidently tried to find
solace in drink. They live in commune
Ties of twos and threes, have food, a
scanty provision of clothes, money, and
books in common, and consider it their
sacred duty to help each other in every
emergency, without distinction of sex,
rank, or age. The noble by birth get
sixteen shillings month from Govern
ment for their maintenance. and COM
moners only ten. although many
of them are married, and sent
into exile with young families. Daily
gendarme visits their lodgings, in
spects the premises when and how he
pleases, and now and then makes some
mysterious entry in his notebook.
Should any of their number carry a
warm dinner. a pair of newly-mended
boots. or a change Of linen to some
passing exile lodged for the moment in
the police ward. it is just rs likely as
not marked against him as a crime. 1t
is crime to come and see friend off,
or accompany him little on the way.
In fact, should the Ispravnik feel out of
sorts-the effect of cards or drink
vents his bad temper on the exiles;
and as cards and drink are the favorite
amusements in these dreary regions.
crimes are marked down against the
exiles in astonishing numbers, and a
report Of them sent regularly to the
Governor of the Province.
Winter lasts eight months, a period
during which the surrounding country
presents the appearance of a noiseless,
lifeless, frozen marsh-no roads. no
communication with the outer world,
no means of escape. In course of time
almost every individual exile is attacked
bv nervous commissions, followed by
prolonged apathy and prostration. They
begin to quarrel. and even TO hate each
other. Some Of them contrive to forge
false passports, and by miracle. as it
were. make their escape. but the great
majority of these victims of the Third
Section either 60 mad. commit suicide
or die of delirium tremens. Their his
tory. when the time comes for it TO be
studied and published. viii disclose
terrible tale of human suffering and adj
ministerial evils and shortcomings not
likely 10 find their equivalent in the
contemporary history of any other Eu.
ropean State.-London Standard