The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-02-20

The Alleged Suffering of Mill
I lists in the st. Peters
n burg Prison.
Two letters from nrisoners conf


ed in the jail of Peter and Paul at
st Petersburg were published few
days ago in London, and caused a
profound sensation. The contents
of the first was sent briefly by cable
to the United States. The second
document, of great length, though
written throughout with the prison
er's blood, has just been communi-
Gated by one of the most prominent
and influential Nihilist leaders. The
letter is description of the prison
life endured by the Nihilist con-
demned to hard labor and confined
in the TroubeJskei bastion. 1t is
headed by a quotation from st.
Luke, chapter ", verse II. The
writer commences by expatiating
en- the horror of the cell, its damp
walls, the little iron table, the bed,
consisting Of sack of straw, and
rug, "as thin as paper" the fetid
atmosphere, the narrow little win
dow, choked up with dust and dirt,
the foul pail on one side, the jug OF
bad water on the other And worse
than all, there are no books, no pa
per there is absolutely nothing to
do; nothing to relieve the complete
solitude and silence. In vain the
prisoner sends for the inspector,
who, in reply to his appeal, hands
him copy of the prison rules.
These, however, bear no signature,
an obscure copyist alone. testifes to
their authenticity, and there is no
mention of the decree, nor of its
date, by which the regulations were
established. The inspector states
that the present regime has been
in force for the last six years, and
the third section (secret police were
held responsible for the actual state
of affairs At the same time the
prisoner maintains that no one is
sent to this bastion except at the
express command of the Gar, and
that the condition of its inmates is
we'll known at court. The ilI-tre
ment which he proceeds to describe
he attributes to feelings Of personal
hatred against the Nihilist chiefs.
PRISON DISEASES.
A lengthy account is then given
of the prison diet, which is often
msuldy, sometimes in a state OF
putrifcation and never sufficient
Dysentery and scurvy soon ensue,
reducing the strongest to state OF
the greatest prostration. But there
is no difference of treatment in favor
of the sick. OF the two doctors at
tached to the prison the youngest
alone enters the cells, but he is
afraid to touch the patients, he dare
not feel their pulses, and the few
medicaments he ventures to pre-
scribe are usually eountermanded
by the senior surgeon. To the COM
plants of the prisoners he generally
answers that there is no remedy
possible. y'' '|..
Even those who become mad un-
der the stress of this fearful suffer
ing and solitude are not treated any
better. They are strapped down
and beaten with the knout. All
night their fierce yells resound
through the prison, and their num-
Der daily increasing, as is also that
of the suicides. The writer cannot
giveall tho names, but he mentions
Issaiev as having completely lost
his reason, and Nine. Terentiva, who
died in a mysterious manner. 1t is
said that she was outraged and then
poisoned, SO as to hide the crime,
the doctor certifying that the
chemist gave the poison by mistake;
but no inquiry has been instituted
or blame inflicted.
Another lady is now dying of
phthisic, contracted in this prison.
Some of the prisoners are kept IN
underground cells, where a. ray of
sunlight never enters, where often
sive water oozes through the walls
and fungus grows On all sides. Here
lived Kiviatkovski, Priessniakov
and Suchanov. before they were
hung. In these dungeons the rats
are the worse enemies, and yet it is
in one of these cells that Madame
Jakimova and her infant child are
now confined. Day and night this
lady has to watch and fight. There
is little or nothing that she can eat,
yet she has to feed her child, and,
| in spite of all, she has not lost
courage. a -fad fibI ,a obs p
ALLEGED TREATMENT OF THE con-
tal DEMNED.
The treatment is arranged so as
to .emasculater the prisoners. The
body is soon bent and deprived o.
its strength, the face puffed out, the
limbs tremble, and the eyes effected
by the gloom and the atmosphere
are so diseased that they can hardly
be opened. The prisoners being
, deprived of soap, their bodies are
soon covered with layers of dirt
Combs are also forbidden, and it is
fortunate that the males are shaved
But as tho women retain their hair
for years without it being eombed
or brushed, it often becomes matted
and painful. The men suffer in, this
J respect with their boards, which are
not cut off, nor are they even allow
ed to cut their nails. The only good
thing about the prison is the clothes
of the prisoners. These were Sc
lected fifty years ago for ordinary
criminals and are well suited to re.
sist the damp and cold The hope
that such suffering may be of use
to the cause alone enables the pris-
oners to keep heart. M
The writer feels convinced that
his prosecutors dare not despise the
prisoners. TThis, z be says" l"we fee
even in the depth of our prison, and
this we clearly perceive when we