The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-06-09
cESAR'S VICTIMS!
Buried Alive, or Ten Years In
Siberia.

4 little book by a Russian author
with An unpr1nouncable name, Is max
Ing ante a sensation In the world. |,
,n norts To be the narrative of ten year:
IMPRISONMENT suffered by a Russian
NobIeman, who kept a daily record oil
hi. experiences. We have not space
far ANYTHING like a review of the dread
fuI scenes he described but from an
article in Appieton's Journal We take
the following extract. After stating
that a the prisoners wear chains, day
and night, he pictures them keeping up
hope even under the most hope ess cir
c~uG.stances.
They know full we'll that they must
snend the rest of their life in chains
and in prison till death sets them free
Yet they count the days when they
will no longer he chained to the wall
for. if this punishment were to be end
less. could they bear it without dying
Of despair Or going m.d!'
The most repulsive feature of the
prison discipline of the entire Russian
penal code WAS the frequent resort to
tiogging. The most trivial as we'll a.
the gravest otfenses were punished IN
this barbarnus mole, and a day seldom
passed It The prison In which some IN
fortunate wretch did not have TO un
dergo it. sometimes In his fits OF
passion, the Major would burst into
the barracks in the middle of the
night; and woe betide the unhappy
convict who was found sleeping on his
left side or on his back, He was Sc
verely logged the next day Cor having
disobe, ed the Majors orders to sleep
on mis- right side. For different often
SIS a VARYING number of strokes were
assigned. The full number" for
murder and similar crimes) was four
thousand. As u rule, W. are told,
the convict can REAL 1000 or even
fifteen hundred, strokes, without
serious injury; but, if he i. sentenced
to two or three thousand stokes, OF
more the sentence is divided into two
OF three parts of 4 THOUSAND strokes.
each. The d ctor is always at hama
10 arrest tine hogging when It becomes
iangerou. to life; and the sufferer l.
then sent To the hospital until ms back
is suficie tly healed. when he is tai ell
out to undergo tae rest of his sentence
Ia numerous cases. h~Owevet, ;he nerv
Gus sislcm is shattered by the terrific
ordeal. and the sevrrer fipggings are
apt To result either in death or in IA
wrecked constitution. One such har
rowing case. which fell under his
observation, is narrated in detail bN
author. A famous robber, named Or
.alf. had been caught at last, cOnvicf
ed Of humorous crimes, and senteced
to The full number of strokes (fouI
thousand. When lie had received one
half of the strokes. the doctor. seeing
that the man WAS half dead. stepped
the and sent him to til,
prison hospital. 1t was nj Int when
they brought INN in, and the candles
had been lighted in the ward. Ohof
vas almost unconscious. ueathly pale:
his coal-black hair was all knotted anG
tangled. HIS back presented a telriblt
aspect 4; it was swollen anil OF a deel
Iiyid color. The corvicts tended bin
carefully all through the night, apply
lag cool congresses to his bruised back
turning him on his side when he want
ed to move, and giving him medicine.
lncN COulu uGl 4 pCCu "alC
full and tender il he had been their o "
brother. The next day he recovered
consciousness, aud to my great aston
ishment was able to take u few turn s
up and down the ward" 1t seems that
he had feared that he would die undtr
the iutiction, and wa, quite jubilaut
that he had got successfully through
half his punishment. and was anxious
To get we'll as O q as possible, SO as t"
be able TO get through with the rest;
for he had planned an escape on the
road to Nertchinsk, whittier he was
afterward to be sent. He left the hos
pitul long before his back was well,
and two days afterward was brought
back to it to die IN the same bed b.
nd occupied during his previous stay
there.
IA Is stated by our author-and can
easily he believed-that few men ooh
forward to Il cir punishment calmly
not even those who have been repeat
eddy logged before. 1T seems as if
at such times an involuntary and in
viucible sensation Of physical terror
took possession of the whele being of
the delinquent and psralyzed all bis
Iuculties, as the fearful hour approach
et, the condemned wretci,rs woulu
commit some aggravated crime. or do
themselves severe bodily injury, merely
To postpone for a time the agoniZing
ordeal. One young soldier, whom our
author knew, dreaded his punishment
SO much that on the eve of the fatal
uav he swallowed a tumbler of brandy
mixed with snuff Tlis brought on
violent vomiting and h9morrhage, and
he was taken in "A state of perfect I'm
consciousness to the hospital, which he
never left again. ln the course OF a
few days symptoms of consumption de
clared themselves, and he died six
months later in the prime of life.
Strange to say. however, the same
men who dreaded the very thought of
punishment bore their sutferings he
roicalIy. II seldom heard them groan
or complain, not even on the irst night
after the logging; but them" he adds
significantly, "our common people are
used to pain, and know how to bear
it," Most of those wis had under
gone the infection avoided any refer
encu to it afterwurd; but those who
could be induced 10 mention it decrib
ed the sensation as of a burning char
acter. The pain is intense" said
one, land | felt at the same time as if
back was beng roasted over a
large fire
Revolving AS the punishment is at
best, it is aggravated in many Cases
by tue deliberate and mocking cruelty
of the officers who infict it. Among
I he nrison officials WAS a certain Lien