Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-11-21
SAVED II @

SAVED FROM SIBERIA.
Narrow Escape of n French Bookseller
An Innoccnt Man in Prison For Seven
Months-Put Over the Border.
The present Government of Russia
seems to hate knowledge as much as a
certain gentleman is said to hate holy
water. Save in a few privileged papers
of Moscow and st. Petersburg, nothing
can be published hat has not been seen
and sanctioned by Il censor, and ever
these, if they print any thing the Min
istrs dislikes, are exposed to pains and
penalties without end. The depart
ment may warn them three times, the
third entallin9, ipso iacto, suppression;
or the Minister may throttle an offend
ING print TO death by taxing away it's
authorization to receive advertisements,
or by forbidding its sale in the streets.
A daily paper without advertisements
and whose circulation is limited to
regular subscribers may be regarded as
in articulo mort 5, and in this way
many Russian papers have been done
to death. CoUntry-that is to say,
provlncial-papers a not come out
until all their proofs have passed the
ordea! of censorship. Imagine what it
must be to conduct q daily journal un-
der such conditions, especially when
the authorities. out Of pure deviltry,
may and sometimes do, order an UNI
happy editor to send his proofs, not to
the local censor, but to the censor of a
town a few hundred miles away. The
S are ,ust rs capricious about
books. They authorised the publica-
ton OF the first volume OF Lecky's '.His-
tory of Rationalism' and tabooed the
second, and they lay an interdict on
such books us Hobbies .'Leviathan,"
Haeckel's History of the Creation"
and Noltaire Essay on Morals" In
these circumstances, as may readily be
supposed. booksellers and publ hers
have no easy time of it. They are re-
corded as dealers in dangerous wares.
The police appear 10 think that looks
are charged with dynamite, and that
those who write, make and sell them
are enemies OF the throne and the altar.
Nearly every Russian writer OF distinc-
ton has either died in prison OF been
forced into exile, and how the mere
vending OF literature may get q man
into trouble, the strange story which |
am about to tell will show. This sto-
ry, | may add, is strictly true. 1t was
given to me only a few days ago in
writing by a distinguished Russian ex-
lie. who had ii direct from the narrator
and victim.
A DANGEROUS TRADE
Three years ago, or, to be exact, in
August, 1881, NJ. kervclli. a French
cit. en-, albeit lie had resided IN Russia
from his youth upwards, opened a book
store at " arkotf, Il OF the principal
cities OF the empire "a city, too, which
disputes with hictf and Odessa the
honor Of being considered the intellect
ual capital OF the South. The French
mans enterprise created a slight scnsa-
ton, for in a Russian town the starting
of a new bookstore is always somewhat
of an event. A man may start a gro
Gerry store q wine shop or q restaurant
censc, which is granted rs a matter of
coulse; but when a man asks leave to
purvey food for The mind it is quite
another affair. Then the police put on
their considering caps. make all sorts
OF inquiries and ask the applicant no
end of questions, ii the answers be
satls actory and he is liberal in the mat
tt Of bribes, he may get the required
permission, but, as the sequel will show.
he always remains at the mercy
of the police. In the whole of Russia
there are only five or six houses viii il
hold u regular license for the sale OF
books. All the rest are simply toll
Grated and hold a most provisional per
mission, which it is alwavs in the power
of the administration to revoke without
assigning Il reason. Under such condi-
lions rs this bookselling in Russia, as
may naturally be supposed, is neither
a tourishlng nor a popular business.
There are not many people who will
put money into a trade that may at any
N be ruined by Il p~oliceman's
caprice or the stroke OF Il Minister'S
pen. Hence, as | have said, NJ. ker-
vclli boldness rather startled the good
folks OF karkoit. and dare say. know-
ing the ways of their beloved Govern
mcnt, they wondered how his venture
wou d end.
, THE STORE SUCCEEDS.
For a while he did wonderfully we'll.
All the rev books published at st.
Petersburg We're found on his shelves.
Foreign books that could previously be
obtained only through one Of the large
houses at the capital. Nj. kervelli pro-
cured direct from Paris, and was
thus c abled TO supply his customers
both on better terms and more
promptly than they had thought pos
sible. All this brought Inn both Gus
tom and reputation. He became furn-
Usher 10 the ! University, his store was
freuue0seG b all the readers o. the