The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-06-19

manner OF q akutSk yQ16f2ntds, OF rough
timber plastered with mud, containing
the usual outer and inner apartments,
kind of weather-poF ID and kitchen
which contained their fireplace and
cooking apparatus. In the inner apart
ment, where they lived, they kept their
books, bedding and clothes. Russian
illustrated papers were pasted on the
walls, but the ceiling was so low that
the room. presented a dark and dismal
appearance, and candles were burning
there 1t midday. The Governnent al
rows each exile a monthly stipend of
twenty-five rubles (paper), about 1925
in American coin. Out of this they
must feed, clothe and house themselves,
hesides procuring fire-wood and service.
This is almost absolute restitution, for
in Siberia the pud, or forty pounds Rus
sian (thirty-siX pounds American), costs
five rubles. Sugar is worth a ruble
pound. Though venison, beef horse
flesh and fuel are comparatively cheap,
all the other necessaries of lie are ex-
travagantly dear. Some of the exiles
had rich relatives who sent them mon
ey, but not more than three hundred
rubles- could be sent at one time, and
the mail service is 50 irregular that
sometimes there is only one delivery in
six months, and only at odd intervals
during the winter when some Governs
ment official has occasion to go over the
road. No exile may send or receive any
| sealed package. Everything ofthat ma
ture must be opened and read or exam
ined by the Cossaek Commandant or
Chief of Police.
T. "Mycoming," Melville writes, 'sfilled
them with the widest hopes, for here
/ tofore il had been considered as impos-
sible to effect an escape by the Arctic
Z Ocean as to cross q living sea of fire,
| and for them, doubtless, it would be, as
] there was not a sea.aring man in their
! number, nor one, l suspect, who had
ever seen the rolling ocean. Yet before
/ l lett they told me that they intended
| to make the attempt, and l ardently
4 hoped thatit might be successful, for
here / saw youth, intelligence aud re-
/ iinement banished for life to an Arctic
| desert, without companionship of books
or cultivated society, Surrounded by
J filthy and Disgusting Yakutsk, who were
! to certain extent their keepers-fOr
| the natives are held strictly accounta-
1 bic, under penalty of the dreaded knout
\ or of imprisonment, for the escape of
I an exile, since nobody could travel far
into the country without their knoWl-
edge.
The exiles told Melville that all, they
asked and strove for was a constiti-
tiOnal form of government. They
| only wanted the privilege of being i'm
I prisoned and hanged, if needs were,
] under a Russian law and constitution,
and not driven ike a herd of cattle into
exile by the Chief of Police of some
small provincial town.
Leon" Melville continues, sin his
character rs interpreter, obtained for
himself and his companions the full
/ benefit Of my recital to KasharOffski OF
the Jeannette's cruise and equipment,
our retreat, supplies. clothing and line
of march. The youngest exile had been
a student at the 'Ecole Polytechnique,
and seemed to be physicist in general OF
the party. He gazed fondly on my sex
tant, for with it he could lind his way
across the ocean. They had watches
and compasses, but no means of deter
mining latitude or longitude. So this
earnest young Nihilist began the con-
structiOn4 of n sextant, and soon had
navigation tables in course of prepare
ton, using n Russian almanac TO find
the suns declination. 1t was their. in
tention to build a boat on the Yara
River, near VerkeranSk, and attempt a
journey of a thousand miles to the
4 coast and then another of two thousand
miles along the coast of Siberia to the
Eastern Cape or Behring Straits.
Il learned afterward, to my regret
i that they had attempted to carry out
their bold project, but without success
They eluded their purSuers and sue
ceeded, after many difficulties, in work
ing their way down the Yara, past 3
large village near its mouth within sigh
of the sea. They might then have &C
cOmplished their escape with compare
tive ease, but the rolling waves terrified
them and washed into their boat over
laden with its freight of thirteen exiles
and when they waded ashore it wa
swamped and all their provisions
soaked. One of the fugitives was
young woman. Some of the eXiles
Heightened at the situation, straightwa,
gave themselves up to the authorities a
Occansk. who soon captured the re
mainder and sent them all into
crueler captivity than ever. Leon wa
sent to Kolayma River. Others wer,
taken from the settlements and took uI
their abode among the Yakutsk."
Il Another exile whom Melville took al
interest in was Buali, who lived apar
, from the others and fulfilled the dutie
I The was doctor) Of the post surgeon
who had gone blind from cataract
Dr. Buali had been very kind in his at
, tentions to Danenhower and Leach
His life held more of sorrow in it thar
; that OF most men. He had been a prac
ticing physician IN small town of Lit
I tie Russia, had neither committed an
crime nor belonged to a secret society
and he firmly believed that his only of
Tense had been marrying young won
an he loved in a neighbOring village
, not knowing that he had a rival.
The story of his capture and of hi
/ residence in VerkeranSk was Translates
to me, with tears in his eyes, by Leon
. his friend and companion in misery. ]
seems that for week he had been a
/ tending the little daughter of the chief o
police in his native town, who at lengt
r so far recovered that he erased he
name from his visiting list. But on
) morning he was surprised to see tn
f Cossack of the chief of police, VIII
f came to tell him that his masters chill
was worse. Would the doctor com
| at onceP" Buah, not supposing tn
case a serious one, replied that he woul
2 call there after breakfast.
? But the Cossack Insisted that
. should come at once, and so he bad
4 him wait until he got his OVercoat
Q Here again the Cossack iuterposed, say
1 ing that the chiefs house was but
= short distance away and that breakfas
Y would be served for him there. Bua
5 supposed that the child must be serious
f ly i'll and FASTENED off at once; but tn
r COssack said they must first go to hi
y masters office. Buali was surprised
. but, not dreaming that anything wa
e. wrong, followed the Cossack to the DC
n lice Office. The chief met him in tn
4 vestibule and told him that he was
1 prisoner. "A batch of exiles, - said th
+ heartless wretch, care ready to stal
T for Siberia tomorrow; you will accom-
4 panv them" Buali laughed-it was