Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-04-30
Torture in Russia.

London telegraph
The horrible 1nf1ictiOn Of the knout was
abolished by Imperial ukase long ago, AMI, 50
far as the public at large have any personal
knowledge on the subject. dogging as a pun
ishrnent is at present unknown In Russian
prisons and in the army ana navy. The Do.
lice knock the people about sometimes, and
the CossackS make free use Of their long
thonged whips In dispensing crowd; bIlt
there Is, In this vast empire no more judicial
fiageilation than there is judicial torture The
extinction OF the last named relic of uncouCh
times should be borne In mind by those VINO
are are accustomed unthinklngly to stigmatize
the Russians as "barbariana" It is undeni-
able that torture was, until the accession OF
the lamented Al exaDder H., common and
tacitly recognized method of extorting confess
not about TO indorse all the more or less night
mare stories which have been told of ladies of
rank being taken by night to the Ministry OF
Police in Count Orloff's time, and of their being
let down through trapdoors and being chas-
tised by invisible uctors in the su bterraneau
Deneatn; out 1t Is patent and notorious that,
In the reign OF the Car Nicholas, persons I'M
tionary plots were systematically and-irre-
Spectlvely OF rank or SeX-cruelly tortured
either by merciless and periodically repeated
sc0urglbg, or by what was known as the "red
herring torture which consisted In feeding
the miserable victims on sailed fish and deny
Ing them water to drink until they would con
selves or others.
may remark once for all that during nv
recent stay In ST Petersburg did hear a ru.
NOR that Mile. SOFIA PeroVskafa had been
practically put to the torture by means OF re-
peated galvanic shocks; but there were no
means OF positively verifying this statement
any more than there were any means OF au.
thenticatlDg story Of directly Opposite a.
ture, to the effect that Mile. Peroyskaia had
two elegantly furnished rooms and q lady'S-
maid allotted to her In the fortress. The
strongest guarantee OF the disappearance OF
torture from Russian judicial practice is III At
trials now take place In public; for prisoners
who had been "Gehennaed'-tou use the graphic
expression Of Louis XI.-would scarcely hest
tate. 20 soon as they we're placed In the dock
to make loud and indignant protests against
the outrage5 to which they had been subjected
In jail. may add that the other day, when [
was in St Petersburg, there was general
astonlshment at the completeness and ap-
parent spontaneity OF the avowals already re-
ported to have been made by Se1a Perovskaia.
Two theories on this head were current-1rsr,
tnat the female head and front OF the ass ASST
NATION plot mad Thrown up the sponge" SO
soon as ever she was arrested-and she
seemed almost to have courted capture-ahd
disdained to conceal the prominent part, which
she had taken In the murder; and next, that
She had fallen into the trap laid for her by q
Willy Juge d'tnStructi0n, who at her first exami-
nation Is said TO have confronted her with q
sham confession purp0rting to have been
made BY Jeliabon. This ruse had been a.
ready successfully practised Ia the case OF the
Nlnlllst Goldenoerg, who Is reported by some
10 have died In prison, but by others Is de.
ciared to be alive and fiourishing in the United
states. Russia Is above all others, the
country OF the Uncertain.