The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-03-01
MRn-HuntinR.

Sorry, indeed, even where death does
not come to put an end to his existence, Is
the lot OF the convict who has succeeded In
escaping from tho mines OF Eastern Siberia.
Without resources of any kind, he must
beg or rob his way back to Russia. The
alternative cf seeking employment Is one
which often has disastrous consequences.
The convict Of the lowest type regards the
Siberian colonlst as al inferior, and has a
saying which describes him as 'tblind for
three days after BIRTH" But tho oolonist
has his revenge. he works the superci-
llous convict like beast of burden, and
gives him as little rest and as little food as
possible. When wages are demanded the
colonist has IN original way of satisfying
his laborer. The money is paid without
demur. but, before the convict can get
clear, he falls dead, killed by bullet
from the gun OF his cruel employer. This
method OF payment ls sometimes carried
out on largo scale. 1t is adopted IN the
case of vagabond laborers who, having
finished their autumn work in the fields,
return to the neighboring village to be
paid or. The wages are Forthcoming, and
the laborers allowed to depart with their
hardly-earned money. But they have no
sooner gone than the peasant farmer as
eembles his neighbors, and, having provi-
de them with horses and firearms, the
VIII lie party sallles forth in pursuit of the
va ;abonds. The retiring laborers are
sp ,edily overtaken; most are killed on the
SPOT, all are robbed, the recovered money
beng divided between the farmer and his
confederates. The only respect shown for
authority ls the prevalent habit, when
robbery has been the motive of slaughter,
of conceallng the dead.
The murdered convicts are usually cut
and nntiated, and the remains buried in
out-of-the-way places. This hunting of
''hunchbacks, " az the escaped convicts are
often called in derislon, has gone On for
years, entering so deeply into the habits of
the people that it has escaped the attention
of few travellers through Eastern Siberia.
"Where are the men2' was asked Of
woman left IN charge of small village
adjoining the highway. "Gone after the
hunchbacks, was the reply. Such is the
prevailing decentralization in this respect
that boys have been heard to ask their
fathers to Kill vagabonds in order that they
may see ''how the fellow will roll on his
hump" In some of the Governments it
Is certain death for convict escaped, or
still under supervision, to be caught re-
turning from the NINE. Occasionally the
soldiers initiate the colonists in their cx-
ploitation of the vagabond. The Cossack,
as well as the ordinary colonlst, covets
cheap labor, and is in the habit of reward
ing with an ounce or two OF lead the con-
vict who declines to pass from one conCiI.
ti0n of bond slavery to another.
During the colonization of the Traus-
baikal region the hunting uf vagabonds was
one of the common diversions of the new
ly-arrlved settlers. From Tomsk to Chit
there is d locality that has rendered itself
notorious for the pursuit on large scale
of escaped convicts, In the Tomsk Go
verment itself whole villages are described
as living solely by the robbery Of vaga-
bonds. The river Karasan has been so
filled with the bodies of murdered con-
YlcJs as TO become putrid. Near Flngul
open woods are known as favorite ground
for the sla, ghter. The whole of the dis
trlct is full of the memories anu traditions
OF Siberian man hunting. Heroes OF the
sport are still alive. O., Bitkoy, Romanoy,
and zavoroLa were each expert III different
ways. Romanoy, tor instance, gained
celebrity Ill the village OF Fingul, where
nc was IN the habit of lying in ambush
close to the highway, and shooting down
every vagabond who passed. In the
autumn evenings Bllkoy used to pick off
stragglers along tho banks of the river
Augar. During subsequent sport along
the Blryus there were individual Siberians
who boasted that they had brought down
as many as sixty, and IN some cases ninety
vagabonds