Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1882-07-20
STORY OF RUSSIAN DISCIPLINE

nlng waiie smoking a cigar with one
OF my old friends, who has eeen, read
ami travelled great deal. was told
OF an incident JnaJ occurred some forty
years ago at Novgorod, quite as SIMS.
ter as that hich occurred at Smargon.
The colonel OF a certain Russian regi-
ment ferociously tyrannicAl and many
say merciless toward his soldiers, was
in the habit of treating his human
flock ike q pack of brutes. He disoi-
ph.nd nth the knout; sentencing men
20 WL.pplngs for having one button in
suiti slenIly polished; whipping non-
commissioned officer for one stain on
his cloak; striking veterans of Borod-
ina In the face for saluting too slowly,
sending poor wretches TO Siberia for
only making too tree an answer. Iu
short during the lapse of years this
colonel had made himself 30 detesLed
by his men that he reaped a frightful
vengeance from seeds of hatred he had
Bown.
One morning during parade he sud-
denly saw file off from the regiment a
company of soldiers, bearing instead
of muskets those long rods which cut
deeply into the flesh az every blow.
Nevertheless he had given no orders
There was no soldier to chastise.
-"Who IL that for?" he demanded.
A grenadier advanced from the
ranks and replied with terrible cool.
ness:
-"For thee !"
The entire regiment, non com mis-.
stoned officers and soldiers, were in the
plot. The whole regiment was present
at the terrible spectacle. The colonel
was seized and his uniform torn off.
He was tied down in q wheelbarrow
and wheeled up and down before the
ranks of the grenadiers, armed with
rods, all of whom insulted and struck
him.
The officers who attempted to aid
their colonel were Immediately seized
and bayonets pointed at their threats.
Some were taken away /; others CARROT |
cd. Only one soldier attempted to take |
part with them. Then a sergeant, still |
pallid from the effects of his last whip. |
ping with the knout, put his musket to
the soldiers temple and blew his brains |
out.
And all the regiment saw its colonel /
pass under the rods.
When it was all over they opened a |
kiln oven. The colonel was flung into
1t, all bleeding together with the officers
who had obeyed him. And when the
furnace was we'll fed, the soldiers heat
ID 1t slowly, s!Owly--until at last that
nideous, heavy ana revolving smell OF
burning flesh arose in the air, which
,he savages of the Russian frontier in
laled some days ago at Jewish ceme-
cry at Smargon.
An imperial courier bore to the Gear
he news of the mutiny. Nicholas
listened, became white, but said moth
ng except to order four batteries of
artillery to NovgorOd. Ten days after
white haired and gray mustached
najor general, accompanied by a sim
yle aide-de-camp, knocked at the door
Of the barracks which the soldiers had
never left since the murder OF their
;hiet.
The general gazed coldly upon those
,ale men; all neatly and faultlessly
who gave him the military
alute.
Not one reaproach-not one useless
word. He said to them.
AT o'clock Tomorrow morning
his regiment will assemblein undress
without arms at the Tartar camp, upon
he Little Square. Order of the
)zar."
Not one voice replied. But the next
ay upon the narrow square, all in
anks without arms, in their long gray
pats, the sergeants at their usual
'osts, all the mutinous soldiers were
here, in lines regular as If adjusted to
string, with double line of lance
caring Cossacks before and behind.
hen all at once, from every far spire,
II the great bells began to toll. The
iossaok horsemen withdrew. Only
be unarmed infantry remained upon
be square, with folded arms, waiting. Z
hen there came long low roll Of q
runs, and with 1t from all the avenues q
'ading into the square came volleys Of 4
rape like iren-hal. 8
Then nothing was heard awhile but
he thunder Of the cannon in that city, t
therwise silent as a cemetery, when Q
len, women and children kneeliDg be-
IRE their holy images, were praying 4
" the soldiers they were shooting t
own in the square. And during an d
lterval in the cannonade, hymn roll y
| up from the square; for the soldiers o
ere dying with the prayers of their o
1ildhood upon their lips. The cannon r.
numbered for hours. Then all was sill. IL
1T. Powder and iron rested for awhile. Il
he canoneers entered the So uare and 81
,coiled at the sight of those ranks of
ZEN mown down like wheat. From
nder the dead they pulled out few
ill breathing victims, able to live o.
while. O,
"What shall be done with them, Gen tt
al,-shall we put them in the hospi. il
j 2" tt
-"Put them under the knout p'-Le q