News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-10-04
A RUSSIAN INQUISITION.
BARBARITIES INFLICTED UPON 70
LITICNI. PRISONERS.


LITICNL PRISONERS.
A Country In Which lIcn are NOT AIIowc'
to have Opinions Different from tn,
| states Church.
| The following letter from a pOlitica
prisoner in Siberia will be found inter
esting. not only as coming from such {
source, but as containing facts not gen,
| orally known. The writer studied the
| English language while in exile, ant
without any opportunity for practice ac
quired such proficiency that his lette1
loses none of its interest from being pre-
scented exactly as he wrote it:
CAUSES OF REVOLUTION.
Foreigners have such vague notions
about Russia that they are as vet unable
to understand the very reasons an6
character of the revolutionary tendcn
cies which prevail to such an extent IN
! that vast country. l viii tell here ono
/ fact which viii show you clearly the
/ character of the Russian Government.
''In 1866, soon after the execution OF
| KaraxOzoff, young wOrkIngman, sitting
in IN inn where two or three persons
were present, was foolish enough to say
Of the Gar, you see he hanged now Il
man who was perhaps much better than
he himself Immediately he was az
rested and brought to St. Petersburg,
where they put him in the well known
prison of SITS. Peter and Paul. Then
without any trial, merely by the order
of the Gar, he was sent to be impris-
l e .l.,l1
! There are in Russia two mOuasterieS
which have prisons for political OF relig
ious WrCS-p cHSCtuS-the monastery
called SOlOvetzkee, on an island i'll the
White Sea, and the monastery of Sooz-
dali. The chiefs of the these prisons
are the holy fathers-the abbots them
selves. The young man was locked up
in a small room. Once he committed
some insignificant offence against the
rules of the prison. Then the Abbot
submitted the prisoner to such a pun
ishment as the civilized world has not
heard of since the times of the InqUisi-
ton. 1t Is to make the world know this
punishment that decided to write this
letter.
A BARBARoUs CoNTRIvANCE.
''The Abbot ordered a box to be
brought into the room of the prisoner
lust rs high and wide rs the prisoner
himself. On the inside of the box We're
fixed on every point strong, large iron
nails. The prisoner was put into this
box and locked up. He could not turn
himself, he could not move at all, be
cause everywhere he would meet the
iron nails. He remained iii the box two
days. Finally he could not bear any
longer this torture, and said to the guard
he wanted to see the Abbot. The latter
came. DO you wish, said the prisoner,
'to kill me? ] cannot bear any longer
this torture. | swear to you that if
you not will release me instantly
from this box / will kill YOU Only
then the Abbot released him. But no
sooner had the prisoner left the box
than he fell and tainted on the floor.
His feet were so swollen they could not
bear him.
''The holy fathers of the monastery
use also several other kinds of torture.
For instance, they put upon a prisoner
iron letters of 800 pounds weight, and
keep him thus during some days. Only
Il man of great physical power can,
all change the position of his body as
while sleeping he might desire.
''Such are these monastery prisons in
which they keep for many long years,
without any legal trial, innocent people
who dare have their own opinions
about religion different from those of
the States Church. remember plenty
of other facts of the same kind. Where,
for instance, is the well known revolu-
ZIONIST, Naitshaeft, sentenced III 1871 to
twenty years, Imprisonment mt hard Ia
Dor? Nobody knows exactly, but there
ire persistent rmors that he is kept in
one of the fortresses chained to the wall
and fettercd with irons of 120 pounds
weight.
\ LIVING DEATH.
''Where is the political criminal
Tomccn. sentenced in 1879 by the Mar
-ial Court toimprisonment for life? No
body knows, but they say, and it Is prob
ably true, that he is kept in one of the
Siberian prisons namely, at Tobolsk-
and that there are two special guards to
watch him, who receive a greater pay
mcut for this honor.
"Why were the three newly condemned
rcvolutionists, Sheeriaef1, Teechonoff
and Gcssi Goldman, not sent to the ST.
hrrian prisons as the law commands, but
are kept in Slusselborg, this Russian
Bastilica? Because IN the Siberian
prisons they would not die so soon.
"What right has the Government, in
spite of the laws it created itself, to keep
as it does, since more than ten years, in
a pihful small village, Villnisk, 500
miles from Yakoutsk, the celebrated
Russian writer Tchcrnecshef1ski, author
of Remarks Upon john Stuart Mills
Political Economy as well as many
other excellent books? BY the Russian
law Tchcrneeshefisld has long since the
right of going Throughout all Siberia, but
the government keeps him forcibly at
NIlnisk. Eight gendmmes and Cos
sacks, sent from Yakoutsk for this
special purpose, are always watching
BIN. He must live and sleep in the
prison; only in the daytime he has the
right to go into the village. But to him |
the most terrible punishment is that it |
Is forbidden to him forever to write any,
thing for publication. But the man is |
full of life and energy; he cannot help |
writing; hc must write and he does. He |
NiltSH ltiNtS upon lCtNtS, ne covers !
piles of paper and thcn-he puts them |
INTO the fire Can you imagine this ?
Is it not like the fortunes of Tantalus? |
'Aud, after all these facts give to the |
'elder only Il TOO Insufficient notion of |
what is IN the fact the present govern |
meIt in Russia. But with such Il
government Will the European statesmen
make treaties to give UP those noble !
Russians who have courage and self
sacrifice enough to protest against such
?"
As the writer is still prisoner in the
hands of the Russian authorities he does
not wish his name to be published, and |
so also with the name of the young |
workman first mentioned in this letter. |
who was imprisoned III the monastery Of |
5oozdall for three years and cxiicd to |
Dne of the northern provinces of Russia |
II Europe for fourteen years. He was
released i'll 1881, and all this punishment |
inflicted without trial
Chima'S Strength.
The military Of China consists of fine |