The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-06-20

themselves, this Is queer man
neither CANDLES nor smokes, he must
be Away thinking, and q man who does
that is dangerous But this was q
speech of poor exile. whose life was
lost because by reading and rejecting
he had learned the truths of morals and
politics and had unwisely uttered them
aloud. He had read Mill, Golden and
Herbert Spencer and longed for English
books, for though they had an English,
together with German and French,
dictionary in the hut they had no other
books printed in English and begged
me for the Bible or any other English
book in the navigation box, which, as
they were relics of the expedition, l
was obliged to refuse
The hut the exiles lived in was, it ap-
pears, miserable affair, built after the
manner of Yakutsk youpdtd, of rough
timber plastered with mud, containing
the usual outer and inner apartments,
kind of weather-por III 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 dark and dismal
appearance, and candles were burning
there at midday. The Government al
rows each exile monthly stipend of
twenty-five rubles (paper), about $3.50
in American coin. Out of this they
must feed, clothe and house themselves,
besides procuring fire-wood and service
| This is almost absolute restitution, for
in Siberia the pud. or forty pounds Rus
sian Qhirty-six pounds American), costs
five rubles. Sugar is worth ruble a
pound. Though venison, beef, horse
flesh and fuel are comparatively cheap,
all the other necessaries of life 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 SO irregular that
sometimes there is only one delivery in
six months, and only at odd intervals
during the winter when some Govern
ment official has occasion to 90 over the
road. No exile may send or receive any
sealed package. Everything of that ma
ture must be opened and read or exam
ined by the Cossack Commandant or
Chief of Police.
'.My coming" Melville writes, ''filled
them with the widest hopes, for here
tofore it had been considered as impos-
sible to effect an escape by the Arctic
Ocean as to cross living sea of fire,
and for them, doubtless, it would be, as
there was not seafaring man in their
number, nor one. suspect. who had
ever seen the rolling ocean. Yet before
L lett they told me that they intended
to make the attempt, and | ardently
hoped that it might be successful, for
here saw youth, intelligence and re-
tinement banished for life to an Arctic
desert, without companionship of books
or cultivated society, surrounded by
filthy and disgusting Yakutsk, who were
to certain extent their keepers-for
the natives are held strictly accounta-
BILE, under penalty of the dreaded knout
or of Imprisonment, for the escape of
an exile, since nobody could travel far
into the country without their knowl-
edge. ~ s-. l.. r..-. -.-... . ..'
The exiles told Melville that all they
asked and strove for was constitu-
tional form of government 'They
only wanted the privilege of being inn
prisoned and hanged, if needs were,
under Russian law and constitution,
and not driven like herd of cattle into
exile by the Chief of Police of some
small provincial town" .r #. %.
Leon" Melville continues. Sin his
character as interpreter, obtained for
himself and his companions the full
benefit of my recital to Kashafoffski of
the Jeannette's cruise and equipment.
our retreat, supplies, clothing and line
of march. The youngest exile had been
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 find 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-
struction of sextant, and soon had
navigation tables in course of prepara-
ton, using 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
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,
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
large village near its mouth within sight
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 is freight of thirteen exiles,
and when trey waded ashore it was
swamped and all their provisions
soaked. One of the fugitives was a
young woman. Some of the exiles,
frightened at the situation, straightway
gave themselves up to the authorities at
Oceansk, who soon captured the re-
mainder and sent them all into a
crueler captivity than ever. Leon was
sent to kolayma River. Others were
taken from the settlements and took up
their abode among the Yakutsk.'
Another exile whom Melville took an
interest in was Buali, who lived apart
from the others and fulfilled the duties
Che was a 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 than
that Of most men. He had been prac-
ticing physician in small town of Lit
tie Russia, had neither committed any
crime nor belonged to a secret society,
and he firmly believed that his only Of
Tense had been marrying young wom-
an he loved in neighboring village,
not KNOWING that he had a rival,