The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-09-02

Bour Th0usand MoIes On Foot : Succes
ehss Hns Only Oae Parallel.

shas Has Osly Oae Parallel.
Taeneva Correspondence London Hews.l
M. Mokrievitch is about thirty-three
years old. He is the son OF country
gentleman and highly educated. In
1873 he joined secret political society,
and for six years was actively engaged
in what he calls the revolutionary pro-
paganda in Southern Russia. Although
constantly tracked by the emissaries OF
the Third Section, it was not until 1879
that he fell into their hands. In Janu-
ary of that year he was in Kief, con-
Quoting a secret printing Office, which
one day during his absence was entered
by the police. Three of Mohrievitch's
companions, Brandtner, Ossinsky and
third who died without disclosing. his
name, drew their revolvers and made
vigorous resistance, but were finally
captured, and Mokrievitch was taken
the next day. All four were tried by
court martial. Brandtner, Ossinsky and
the unknown were hanged, and Mokrie-
witch was sentenced to fourteen years
penal servitude in Siberia. In June fol-
lowing he and some other state convicts
were sent to the central Jail of Mtzensk,
whence early in July they set out on
their long journey for Gust Kara, where
they had to undergo their sentences.
They travelled part of the way via Mini
Novgorod by railway, steamboat and on
horseback. The remainder of the jour
ney, ,450 miles, had to be done on foot
and in chains. They marched at the
rate of about fifteen miles day, the
night being passed in so-called etdpes,
small houses swarming with vermin and
unspeakably filthy, where all classes OF
prisoners of both sexes were compelled
to sleep buddled together on bare floors.
Between Krasnoyarsk and Irkoutsk nj.
Mokrievitch and two of his companions,
Izbitzkey and Orlotf, changed names
and dresses with three ordinary convicts
who were under sentence of perpetual
exile. This, M. Mokrievitch assures
me, is q very common expedient, and
can be effected at cost OF few
rubles.
His destination was now that of the
peasant whose name he had taken,
settlement in the province OF Irkoutsk.
Izbitzkey and Orloff got away before
reaching Irkoutsk, probabably by the
connivance of the guard. Orlof was
recaptured. Izbitzkey has never been
heard of since, and is supposed to have
persisted of hunger or been devoured by
wolves in the trackless forests OF Eastern
Siberia. On November 10Th, 1879, a
few days after leaving Irkoutsk for Bala-
ganask-his final destinatiOn-M. Mo-
krievitch also gave his escort the slip.
As soon as his flight was discovered a
number of Bouryats, half savage Mon
gol horsemen, as keen as sleuth hounds
and as cunning as red Indians, were
sent after him, but he succeeded In
evading their pursuit and reaching
Irkoutsk. TO avoid recapture, which,
had he gone west, would have been
almost certain, he made off toward the
Chinese frontier, and after walk Of
700 miles in the depth of Siberian
winter, he doubled back in the direc-
ton of European Russia, which he
reached after journey of 1000 miles,
performed mostly on foot. He under
went terrible hardships and met with
many adventures. Without the frequent
aid and generous hospitality of the
country people, who are noted for their
kindness to fugitive convicts, he could
not possibly have made good his escape,
and lest he should expose those who
helped him to the vengence of the Rus
sian Government, he does not desire to
make publicly known the exact direc-
ton which he took. NJ Mokrievitch's
journey across Russia, though not uDat-
tended with difficulty and risk, was
child's play compared with his walk
through Siberia. Furnished by his
friends with false papers, he succeeded
i'll getting safely out of the country, and
reached Switzerland. Except Wiotrow-
sky in the last century, NJ. Debagorio
Mokrievitch is the only state prisoner
condemned to hard labor that ever es-
capped from Siberia. Lapatia, who es-
capped from Irkoutsk, was an unconvicted
exile, and Bakounine, an involuntry set
tier on the Amoor, was taken away by
an American merchant ship.