Smyrna times., 1884-01-30

curses and blows, the whistling of tt
whips of the chiefs.
Inc prison, however, is cleared h,
and-by, as the parties of convicts sta,
TO continue their journey. When N
season and the state of the rivers ma,
NIT 1t, parties of 500 conyicts eacl
with women and children. leave III
Iomsk prison every week. and beri
their foot journey to Irkutsk an,
lransbaikalia. A track. marked al
along by poles to distinguish it fron
V"e surrounding plain, ploughed an,
rugged by the passage of thousands q
cars, covered with ruts that bro,l
uo"h the hardest wheels, runs tbrougI
the naked plain. In front. a row .
soldiers opens the march. Robin,
'hFm' heavily advance the hard-labo,
coiN'c'S with half-shaved heads. wear
ing gray clothes, With yellow diamonf
on the back, and open shoes worn ON,
oy the long journey and exhibitino tb,
tatters in which the wounded feet arc
wrapped. Each convict wears n chain
rlVeted to his ankles, its rings beino
'"lsted into rags-if the convict has
coiIec'ed enough of aims during his
Journey to pay the blacksmith for
rlVe'ihg 1t looser on his feet. The
chain goes up each foot and is suspend
eu TO girdle. Another chain closely
Ties both hands, and a third chain
Dlnds together six or eight convicts
Every ialse movement of any of the
pack is felt by all his chain-comnon-
IONS; the feebler is dragged forward hv
the stronger, and he must not ston.
the way--the etdpe-is long. and the
autumn day is short.
Soldiers accompany the party ON
ooth sldes' meditating perhaps the
order given at the departure :-"If one
OF them runs away, shoot him down
IL ne Is killed, five rubles of reward for
you' and dogs death 70 the dorl
IN the rear you discover a few cars
that are drawn by the small, attenuat-
ed' cat-llke peasants horses. They
are loaded with the bags of the CON
Vlct'' with the sick or dying, who are
fastened by ropes on the top ofthe load
Behind the cars hasten the wives of
the convlcts; few have found 81 free
corner on loaded car. and croucb
mere when unable TO move further.
whilst the great number march behind
me cars, leading their children bv tbo
lahds, or bearing them in their arms
dressed in rags, freezing under the
gusts OF the cold wind, cutting their
Utmost naked feet on the frozen rnts
low many of them repeat the words of
AVVakum's wife:-" These tortures. ab
lear how long will they last?" Tn
nc rear comes second detachment
II soldiers who drive with the huff
nds of their rifles those women who
top exhausted in the freezing mud of
ne road. The procession is closed bv
ne car OF the commander of the partv
Late III the afternoon, after having
overed some fifteen or twenty miles.
ne party reaches the etape where if
pendS the night and takes one davis
est each three days. The etaDes were
lostly built fifty years ago, and after
avlng resisted the inclemencies of the
Innate, and the passage of a hundred
iousand of convicts, they have become ,
ow rotten and foul from top to bottom.
ne old log-wood house refuses shelter ,,
'he chained travellers brought under i,
roof, and wind and snow freely
lter the interstices between its rotten
cams; heaps of snow are accumulat-
III the corners of the room. The
ape was built to shelter $50 convicts.
at being the average size of parties !
lrty years ago. Al. present the par
IS consist of $50 to 500 human BEINGS
III the 500 must lodge on the space '
calculated for $50.
ne stronger ones, or the aristocracv :.
hohS the convicts-the elder vagrants =
great murderers-cOver each square u
ch OF the platforms; the remainder =
at is, double the number of the form- :,
lie down on the rotten floor, cover ;,
with an inch of sticky filth, beneath -.
u between the platforms. What
comes of the rooms when the doors r
; Closed and the whole space filled :,
IN human beings who lie naked ON - "
slr nasty clothes impregnated with - -
Ter will be easily imagined. 9,
The etapes, however, are palaces -
zen compared with the half-etaDes - .
ere the parties spend only the - -
'nts. These buildings are still ,,
aller, and, as rule, still more dilapi- - -
ed, still more rotten and fouI a. a.
netlmes they are in such a state as ~ '"
compel the party to spend the cold ~
erlan nights in light barracks erect. NJ NJ
III the yard, and without fire. ASA g.
e the hdtf etGpe has no special COM Nv
tment for the women, and they ~
81 lodge in the room of the soldiers g.,
, Maximoff's "Siberia"). With the - -
gnation of our "all enduring" Rus W.
mothers, they squat down with -,
IT babies wrapped in rags, in some III
ner OF the room below the platforms 70
lose by the door, among the rifles tro
he escort.
10 wonder that, according to official tos
istics, out of the 1851 children less an
fifteen years old who were sent in b.
to Siberia with their parents ga f,t
small part surUired." "Tbe the
orIty," the GOIOs says, could not wo
port the great privations of the nil
KrapOtkinc in The ten
eteenth Century. sra
exI
ZAP YEAR PHILosopHY.-Cnn;d,. avn
alton for MarriageGble Girls.-Don,t vor
100 many at once. Don't do son
sPooning in public. ma
brother taffy and get him to bed is
re the chap calls. you have tho
objection to tobacco. sav On IN o,d