The Labor enquirer., 1883-03-31
The Dungeon.


norts Of political trials in the press are
,,or po, nermitted. Formerly the journals
w.. Nv hound toreproduce the cooked"
1ort published by the Official 3IesSen-
l ". Init now the government has per-
s so;rod that even such reports produce a
,,found impression Oh the public mind,
.bich is always favorable to the accused;
IA now its work is done in complete
J3rtness. By the law of September,
1881 the governor general and the gov
orrors of provinces are enabled to re-
,,,oot ,"that all those cases be heard in
camera which might produce a disturb
once of minds or disturb the public
noace. For preventing the divulgatiOn.I
aftbe speeches of the accused, or of such
facts as might compromise the govern
pent nobody is admitted to the court
not even members Of the ministry of JUS
+jce-only the wife or husband Of the ac-
cused always in custody ALSO, or the
father mother, or one of the children;
hut DO more than one relative for each
person accused" At the trial Of terror
ists, when ten people were condemned
10 death. the mother of Sukhanoff was
the one person who enjoyed this priviI-
eye Many cases are dispatched in such
q wav that nobody knows when the trials
take place Thus for instance, we re-
NAMED in ignorance Of the fate of an Of
1rer of the army, son Of the governor Of
the Jail of the St. Petersburg fortress,
who had been condemned to hard labor
for connection with revolutionistS, until
we learned it incidentally from an act of
accusation read at trial long while
posteriQr to his own. The public learns
from the Official Messenger that the Tsar
has commuted to hard labor for life
sentence of death pronounced on revou-
tionists; but nothing transpires either Of
the trial. or Of the crimes imputed to the
condemned. Nay, even the last con-
ISOLATION of those condemned to death,
the consolation Of dying publicly, is
taken away. Hanging will now be done
secretly within the walls Of the fortress,
in the presence Of none from the world
without. The reason is that when Rys-
~akutF WAS brought out to the gaIIows he
Slowed the crowd his mutiIated hands
and 7houted louder than the drums,
hat he had been tortured after trial.
His words ere heard by a group of lib
~4,s vho repudiating any sympathy
u..l tire tprrorist8, yet held it their duty
e.. publish the facts Of the case in a clan
.1.~tinr reclamation, and to call atten-
zion To this hagrant ottenSe against the
avs Of Humanity. Now nothing will be
known Of what happens in the Casemates
~. the fortress of Paul and Peter after
the trial and before the execution. At
least the government think 50, after hav-
.hg sent to hard labor the son Of a jaiIer
anl dozen soldiers accused Of letter
arriving between prisoners and their
friends in the town. But we know-and
have not the slightest hesitation in as
,ert.ng the tact-that at least twdreyO-
.utionists, Adrian MikhaiIotf and RysSa-
kotf, we're submitted to torture by elec-
trri.v.
In July, 1873, the life of the prisoners
/, the Kharkof prison had become SO
:n>uaportable that six of them resolved
~ s,arve themselves to death. For
yho.c week they refused to eat, and
when tive governor general ordered them
In he fed by injection, such scenes ensued
Is Obliged the prison authorities to aban-
don the iiea To seduce them back to
life nthaiaIIsm made them certain prom
ISIS as, for instance, to allow them
walking exercise and to take the sick out
Of !rans None of those promises were
kept and for five long years the suryiv-
"rS were kept to the mercy of such a
aJler as have described. A few months
@so first party of our friends detained
u &"e0,raI prisons were sent to the Kara
mines To make a total Of $50 political
Prisoners men and women, at these
-,avs they knew very we'll the fate
That Was deserved to them in Siberia,
~1t sui. tie day they left this hell was
considered b: all of them as happy day
~ 'de4ygraare. After the Central prison,
LARD labor in Siberia looked to them as
Paradise.
L may seem that the harshness of
''"'"-y confinement in such conditions