The Osceola times., 1881-11-12
.r.nrerar. 1 e1cla,mea IN ecstasy, :.


talk, discuss, and quarrel with each
other. We will be jovisl company.
And began to talk to myself. Every
morning, on rising, used to shake one
hand with the other : "Good morn
ing, SIR" "How did You sleep last
uight?" And so on. Sometimes l
puarreled with myself bitterly. Once
my right self thus addressed my left
self: "Ivan Petiovitch, you are crazy"
"How dare you Insult meY 81 beg
pardon for the expression, but the fact
is that you don't behave as sane persons
do, and am ready TO prove IT." Then
long arguments and counter arguments.
Nv conversations amused me greatly.
But | did not know then that probably
that sort of amusement had brought
four of my friends to the insane asylum,
two to suicide, and three to death from
the galloping consumption.
However dreary and gloomy my life
was in the hotel of st. Peter and Paul, yet
there were some things, remembrance
Of which even now sends thrill to my
heart. For a half year conversed with
myself, and then-oh, great joyl-I be-
gan to converse with my comrades. i
had been transferred to another cell. In
the night, while lying quietly on my
cot, i heard rythmical tick-tick. The
idea that it was telegraphing flashed
through my brain. But, alas l did not
know how to read the telegraphic signs.
Yet greedily clave to the place whence
came that sound. l was afraid to miss
a single tick / infinitely enjoyed listen.
ing to that delicate rapping. l would
have given my right hand to have un-
derstood il. My head burned, my pulse
bounded; / lost appetite and sleep. i
had fever. For three days l strained
my mental power to its utmost capacity,
and at last solved the problem. The
trouble was that at first l had counted
the tappings and then transferred them
to alphabet herculean and useless
work since it was necessary only to
read alphabet along with rapping, and
when the latter is interrupted for a
moment you have the letter required;
For instance, a, b, c--then stop a, b.
0, d, and so on till O.; then stop,
a, b C, and so on till Bi q, b, C, tillr;
a; a, b, C, a. q, BIC, d, c. Now you have
"comrade." 1t is very simple. We
made great improvement in our teleg
raphy, abridging the words and substi-
tuting the letters nearest in the alpha.
bet for those far distant ones; for in.
stance, using always instead Of p, d
instead of (, and so on. Soon l was in
regular communication with all the
guests of our hotel, and my life was a
great deal easier My patient teacher
IN telegraphy was Vera Sassulitch.
The sepulchral silence of our hotel
was sometimes broken by the sobs and
shrieks of our lady friends, who were
submitted from time to time to an ig-
nominious search for articles forbid
den, such as money, paper, pencils,
and so on. Sometimes we heard curses
and q struggle in the cell of oonrade
who for some petty offence was being
forcibly dragged into the "coffin," as
We called little room made in the
stone wall, large enough to admit a
grown person, and filed with dirt aud
yermin. Once our hotel resounded
with a cheerful and general "Hurrahw
One OF our friends had been invited
by his mother, and in spite of the
presence of colonel of gendarmes,
she had succeeded in whispering 10 her
son that in France the empire had
fallen and the republic had been pro-
claimed This happy news was quickly
telegraphed throughout our hotel, and
the French republic was heartily cheered
from the bottom of the Cars Bastile.
We began to sing the "Marseillaise,
too, but the commandant of the fortress,
frightened out of his wits by our noise,
rushed with his soldiers into our cells
and interrupted our music. That was
the greatest holiday We had in the two
years.
At last we learned the charges against
us. The Procurour demanded in my
case fifteen years of hard labor in Sibe-
ria. Ours were the first and the last
political case tried by jury. The rea-
son was that on this trial f1lly three
quarters of all the accused tabout l20),
myself included, were acquitted. When
he heard the result, the late czar ex-
claimed in rage: mo more jury trials
for political criminals" And he kept
his word. At first he established
special court, composed OF senators;
lfterward came the military courts.
Once at liberty went to the Presi,
dent of the Academy and requested
him to admit me again to that institu-
tion. The general kindly informed me
In q whisper that the doors of all the
were forever shut against
me. | hurried to the Third Section.
II have been acquitted by the court,
md yet am under punishment. What
loes it meanY
"You shall hear from me-" said the
,hief of the Russian Inquisition, and he
left the room.
At midnight the bell rang, and the
Captain Of gendarmes came again to ar
rest me. That same night l was sent
away from st. Petersburg in the com.
pany Of two gendarmes. Five days we
travelled. At last we reached small
village in the woods of the Archangelsk
Province.
"Guard him we'll, if you don't care to
see Siberia" said one of the gendarmes
10 the village constable, and they left
me, alone, without any means of sub
sistence. l was starving, and shivering
from the severe cold. But my friends
came TO the rescue. Then for years j
disappeared among our great but suffer
ing people.
Russia is moving fast. In 1861 the
late czar was adored like god by his
people. In 1871 i saw him driving
without any escort, unaware that his
capital was swarming with nihilists
In 1881 the Gar Liberator and Reform
er was killed at MONDAY. And the new
ear, though in his manifesto he said
4 = A