Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-10-20
Gold Thieves in Siberia.

GOl0 SCeallnS ID perhaps IAe Ano"s
prosperous bushes in Siberia. 1t can
hardly be called mere stealing, for it is
conducted on such a large scale, so
many men are engaged in it, it is so
we'll organized and pays so well, that it
fully deserves the name of an industry.
True, the industry is not recognized by
law; on the contrary, it is harshly pun
ished when discovered. Discovered?
But that is where all the difficulty lies.
It is not easy to discover a new. and UNI
known thing. but to discover what is
known to every gold miner, to every
proprietor of gold mines, to thousands
of secret gold agents, and to the Cars
authorities, is exceedingly difficult, if it
be possible at all. Here is zoe for an
other Columbus, but then he must be
ready for Columbus fate.
With the beginning of summer, when
the work in the gold mines becomes
lively secret agents appear in the woods
all around the pines. They get up their
camps and open their business, which
lasts till the end of the gold season. At
night a bright torch is seen on some
hill, and the gold miners understand
the signal. With their gold dust they
go to the camps in the wood, ard then
begins a lively trade. The miners get
vodka, provisions or clothes, but chiefly
vodka, and return to the mines. There
follows in the miners barracks an indie.
scribable frolic.
Now, is such a transaction a secret
one? Far from it. The guards were
aware of it, but they remained silent,
for they had their portion of the vodka
opO fhoi,. cb 70 of +ho co1loo L,>%v II
would be unjust, however, to say of the
officers that they, too, take part in this
retail business. No, no AS to the
w~holesale-well, we had better recollcct
that though speech may be silversilence
is golden.
The gold miners can not resist the
temptation to steal gold. Their wages
are ridiculously small. They get from
1926 to 800 for a season, which lasts
nearly halt a year. They are kept in
wretched barracks, destitute of every
sort of comfort. Their food is bad, even
in the moujiks' opinion. If one of them
wants something extra in the way of
provisions, tools, clothes, or vodka, he
may get it at the store of the gold mine
proprietor, the only store within reach
OF the laborers, and in that store the
goods are usually sold at treble the or
binary prices. During the working
season the miners remain in a state Of
slavery. They can be fined, logged,
and even imprisoned, by their employer
with impunity. In order to save their
wages they steal gold, and thus pro-
cure vodka and provisions.
The number of secret gold agents Is
legion, and they are excellently organ
lied. There are the militant agents,
armed to the teeth, who deal directly
with the miners. There are the pro-
t%ectors, the spies. the station keepers,
the postmen and the foreign agents.
They have their w secret routes
through the Cars empire, and speak
their own iargon. "Grits, "for instance,
means gold dust; ''to reap" means to
go for gold; 'to make pilgrimage to St.
Innocent" means to go to Irkutsk, in
order to give gold to Chinese merchants
for tea.
when the gold season opens the mill
tant gold agents start out in the woods
with a large amount of provisions, as if
going on legitimate business. The ST.
berian police and Administration are
too shrewd to interfere with these vol
unteer gold hunters. The agents stay
in the woods during the whole gold
season, and it is extremely dangerous to
visit their camps. The gold they get
they would not surrender even al the
risk OF their lives. They become regu-
lar desperadoes when interfered with.
At the close of the gold season the agents
carry their booty to the wholesale
dealers.
The Siberian gold brokers are to all
appearances perfect gentlemen. They
are not armed, and they do not tremble
for their lives or for their cold which
they keep in piles on their counters.
The authorities are on the best of terms
with them. The transportation of the
gold collected by the brokers is at
tended with danger. Formerly there
were only two gold markets. At Nijny-
Novgorod, during the fair, gold was
disposed OF to Russian merchants for
home use. But q far larger part of the
stolen gold went to Kovno, whence it
was carried abroad, principally to Prus-
sia, by Jews, who constitute a regular
'golden militia" During the last few
years two more markets have been
opened, or in Odessa, where the gold
Is brought by Jews, who exchange it
for tobacco on which no custom duty
has been paid, and for other Struggled
goods, and the other in Kiakhta, on
the Chinese-Siberian frontier, where the
gold is exchanged for tea. To carry the
gold over from Siberia to European
Russia is the most difficult task of all.
In this case customs, excise, or other
officers, or ladies of high standing, for
golden reasons, of course, join the
'golden militia"
How much gold is stolen from the
bowels of Siberia? Parties interested in
the business affirm that annually there
is disposed in this way gold worth at
least 10000, 900 roubles. Annually ST.
IBERIA produces about 100000 pounds of
gold: So it appears that considerable
portion of this precious metal goes
abroad without bringing any return to
the country. AS to the decentralization
produced by gold stealing, and dealing
in and transporting stolen gold, who
can estimate it at a money value?-Si-
berian Gazette.