Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-07-02
A NihiIiSt'S Adventures

Alexander Seminoff, highly educat-
ed Russian. who has been living in
Cincinnati a short time, and has attract
ed the attention of scholars, gives the
following account of himself:
MY pseudonym is Charles Frank.
Nv Russian name is Alexander Sem
inoff In 1876 | was one of the edi-
tors of a secret Nihilist paper, and hav-
ing been convicted of treason, | was
sent to Siberia for an unlimited num-
Der of years. Nihilism, you may be
aware, is spread all over the Russian
empire, and the peculiar secrecy of its
principles and workings is mainly ow-
ing the fact that only ten may join to-
gether to form band Each band Of
ten knows nothing whatever about an
other band of ten. Each band works
separately. We do not know even
outside our band who is Nihilist or
who is not After editing a Nihilistic
paper for two years, / was betrayed to
the police by one of my associates, and
was surprised one night in bed and
taken to the prison in Odessa, after hav-
ing been cruelty scourged After an
eight months examination, | was SELL
fenced to three years hard labor in
Siberia, and to exile as a colonist in
the extreme north of the country.
"In June, 1876, was separated, ac-
cording to the legal form sanctioned by
the clergy of Russia, from wife and
children, and with head shaved on one
side and twenty eight pounds of iron
attached to me, | was sent with Othe
alleged criminals to the central prison
in Moscow. The journey lasted four
teen months, and during that time the
knout was used freely on the prisoners.
Our destination was Nertschinsk, and
on arriving we were assigned to differ
ent gold mines. In the mines | work
ed from o'clock in the morning until
9 at night. The allowance of food per
day is two and a half pounds of black
bread, half baked and hardly palatable,
and bowl of soup, with small guam
tity of meat. Morning and evening
cup of tea is allowed. | endured my
suffering for two and a half years.
Then | completely broke down, and
the doctor of the district declared that
| was unfit for work The rest of my
sentence was remitted, and | was i'm
mediately assigned to my place in the
colony. 1t was in one of the primitive
forests of the north, where wolves,
bears and reindeer dwell. In 1881, to-
ward the end Of May, resolved with
four companions, to escape without
money or weapons, and with only a
knife and teakettle. We took the di-
rection toward the Caspian Sea, through
forests and an almost impossible coun-
try. We had no shoes on our feet,
and kept ourselves alive on fish, game
and mushrooms. In the Tauskian
country we separated and with only
one companion, Marsilli Murainnoff, |
went on. / soon lost him, and then
pursued my journey alone. At length
| arrived at Astrabad and Teheran, in
Persia, where | received assistance.
My hair had grown over my shoul-
ders, my beard extended to my chest,
had neither shirt nor shoes, and my
face was sunburnt almost to black
color. An English telegraph operator
took charge Of me. He had me wash
ed and gave me clean clothing | next
went through Turkey and thence to
Switzerland, where | was arrested and
kept in prison for four months. Again
| | was arrested in Hesse Darmstadt
and served term Of five months. l
then resolved to find peace in England
or the United States. | met Mr.. Brad
laugh in London, and at his request re-
mained at his house for four days.
Through his kindness received means
enough to take me to the United States
| arrived in New York in January last,
and have been in Cincinnati a few days
only | want to go to Chicago, where
| understand great many Russians
| raside -