Arizona silver belt. [volume] (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.) 1878-19??, 1883-09-01
September. I, 1883.
In a Russian Cell.
prince Kapotkine in Nineteenth Centur,


Prince Kapotkine in Nineteenth Centur,l
There is not much light in them
The window, which is an embrasure
is nearly of the same size as the win.
dows in other prisons. But the cells
occupy the interior Enclosure of the
bastion-that is, the reduct-and the
high wall of the bastion faces the win.
dows of the cells at q distance of ff-
teen or twenty feet. Besides, the
walls Of the reduct, which have to re-
sist shells, are nearly Ave feet thick,
and the light is separated by double
frame with small apertures and by an
iron grating. Finally, everybody
knows that a st, Petersburg sky is
anything but bright. Dark they are;
still, it was in such cell--the bright
est of the whole building-that |
wrote my two volumes on the glacial
period, and taking advantage of
brighter summer days | prepared
there the maps that accompany the
work and made drawings. The lower
story is ever dark-even in summer.
The outer wall intercepts all the light,
and | remember that even during
bright days writing was very difficult.
In fact, it was possible only when the
suns rays were reflected by the upper
part of both walls.
The floor of the cells are covered
with painted felt, and the walls are
double, so to say; that is, they are COW
cred also with a felt, and at distance
of five inches from the wall there is
an iron wire hct, covered with rough
linen and with yellow painted paper.
This arrangement is made to prevent
the prisoners from speaking to one
another by means of taps ON the wall.
The silence in these felt-covered cells
is that of the grave. You never hear
Il sound, excepting that of the sentry
continually creeping like hunter
from one door to the other, to look
through the Judas into the cells.
You are never alone, as an eye is con-
tinually kept upon you, and still you
are always alone. If you address a
word to the warden who brings you
your dress for walking In the yard, if
you ask him what is the weather, he
never answers. The only human be-
ing with whom | exchanged a few
words every morning was the colonel,
who came to write down what |
wanted to buy-tobacco or paper. But
he never dared to enter into any con-
versation, as he himself was always
surveyed by some of the wardens.
The absolute, silence is interrupted
only by the bells of the clock, which
play every quarter of an hour Cos
pei ponrllui, each hour the canticle
koi slaven nash Gospoa Slcnye, and
each twelve hours a "God Save the
Gar" in addition to all this. The
cacophony of the discordant bells is
horrible during rapid changes of tenn
perature, and | do not wonder that
nervous persons consider these bells as
one Of the plaques of the fortress.
During the first year of my confne-
ment | walked half an hour or 40
minutes every day; but during the
second year we were nearly sixty on
the bastion; and as there is but ono
yard for walking, and the darkness,
under the Goth degree of latitude,
comes at 1 p. m, In the winter, we
walked but twenty minutes every
uther day IN the summer, and twenty
minutes twice week in the winter.
| must add, also, that owing to the
heavy white smoke discharged by the
chimney of the mint, which dominates
the yard, this walk was constantly
poisoned during the east winds, |
could not support on such occasions
the continual coughing of the soldiers,
exposed all day to these gases, and
asked to be brought back to my cell.