The DeSmet leader. (DeSmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-06-23
VERA SASSULITCH.


woman murOereSS.
Vera Sassulitch was born in 1850, &C.
.ording to the apparently most trust
worthy authorities. and in. 1867 was shu.
up In q Lithuanian prison for the Offense
of being schoolmate Of the sister Of
Netchaief, the political conspirator.
Her imprisonment lasted two years, and
she had scarcely been liberated when
she was rearrested on an administrative
order of exile and hurried away from
her mothers house so rapidly that she
would have perished Of cold but for the
compassion Of gendarme who covered
her with his cloak. For some years she
was passed on from town to town as d
Suspect" until, having spent the best
years Of her life in prison, and victim
TO the insolence and brutality of the po-
lice, she had learned to pity those who
were similarly afflicted and to desire to
avenge them. In 1873 she learned of
the brutal ill-treatment Of pris-
oner, Bogoluboff, by Gen. Trepof, "pre-
feet of the town." at st. Petersburg.
and was exasperated on beholding Boz
goluof and companion walking to-
gether and c0nversing, rs. not being con-
victs but merely accused men detained
on suspicion, they had right to do. To
harsh question as to why this was al
lowed one Of the two volunteered an ex-
planation. ~ do not address you-to
your dungeon" shouted the general,
furiously. The two prisoners walked on.
quietly, when Trepoff, crying Hats off!'
aimed blow at Bogolubof. The pris-
oner's hat fell of, but Bogolubof picked
it up and put it on, whereupon the gen.
eral ordered him to be hogged. A ro-
mantle version made it seem that Vera
Sassulitch had been acquainted with Bo-
goluboH-had even been his mistress
but there was no truth in the story.
She read with indignation ofthe outrage
and waited some time to see If the gov
ernment would pay any attention to it.
When no action was taken she
resolved to do vengeance herself,
and on the 9th of February 1878, went
to The generals reception.room with a
petition. and when he stretched out his
hand to receive il shot him through the
body. She made no effort to escape and
said that she had fred upon the general
premeditately without caring whether
she killed him or merely wound
ed him, since in the latter
case her end would be obtained Of call.
lIlE W ulb DIG WIS
brought to trial in April, 1878, and de-
Tended by M. Alexandrof. The jury Sc
lected was composed of six members OF
the civil service, two merchants and a
nobleman, school inspector, student
and an artist, and it acquitted her
promptly amid the applause of the au-
dience, despite the evidence, her avowal
and the speeches of the Judge and the
prosecutor. The acquittal provoked O.
general outburst Of applause from the
press throughout Russia. On the Sd Of
July 1878, Vera Sassulitch appeared at
Geneva, where she was received in tri-
umph by Rochelfort and his friends.
She gave out that she had been rear
rested. but permitted t. escape. IL was
reported for some time that the Vera OF
Geneva was an impostor, and that the
Russian Charlotte Corday was really. in
Siberia, but finally all doubts as to her
idedtity ceased. In December, 1879,
she published statement to the effect
that her attempt on the generals life
had been made in pursuance of orders
from the revolutionary committee, and
that she had been designated by lot as
the avenger. In February 1880, her ar
rest was said to have been effected at
st. Petersburg, but the report proved
false, and she was repeatedly heard OF
thereafter at Geneva and Paris pushing
on the nihilist Propaganda, and active as
one of the editors OF the Narodina VOLTA,
q well-known nihilist review.