Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-04-09
THE CARS BAsTILE.
Pictures OF the Miserable I'm the Fert-
ress OF ~. Peter and NJ. Paul.
81. petersburg Letter.
Vie fortress of ST PAfAr an !


kline was so long confined, IS huge,
hideous and slabsided, and surmoun-
ted by thin and tapering splre that
looks like the end OF Brobdinsna-
gian syringe. The fortress IS in the
center of the city, and faces the I'M,
perial palace. During the day 1t is m
part a public thoro sghfare, and PEG
pie pass through a narrow detile of
gloomy and tortuous vaults, where
heavily armed sentineis march 10 and
fro, and stone slabs in inches hold
aloft burning tapers. Bat at night
fall all IS closed, and when darkness
covers the capital and the quayS OF
the Neva are all aglow with gasiights,
the prison here dedicated to ST. Peter
and ST. Paul remains shrouded in
gloom like some huge NAV, ever
ready to swallow up all that IS best
and noblest of the unhappy land
which it curses with its presence.
Round the fortress reigns a deep
silence; but four times in every hour
the big clock IN the syringe shaped
spire chimes psalm tune in praise OF
God and the czar No wonder that
alen who were taught in their child
/ hood that to disObey the potentate
was to dishonor. tie Creator should
have learned to detest the ore and
repudiate the other
If those hoary walls of the Russian
bastile could speak, what tales they
might tell Since its foundation the
/ fortress has been the chief political
prison of the empire. La past times
the inmates We're mostly court offend
ers on their wayIioSiberia or the scafS
/ fold. One of these was the wretched
| Alexis, son of Peter the SGreat, and
heir presumptiye TO the throne. Nisi-
/ tors are still shown the cell where,
/ after being put to the torture, he was
put to death by order of his father
But for Well-nigA 100 years there have
been neither palace plots nor coup
d 'etat, and from the beginning of the
century of 1925 the fortress prison was
closed. Then it opened to receive the
Dacemberists, the flower Of the Rus
sian nobility, who had tried, by OPP
posing the accession of Nicholas TO
/ the throne, TO overthrow autocracy
and establish IN its stead a conslitU-
/ tional regime. In his reign there was
little open discontent; he kept it
/ down, crushed it out OF sight but
even the strength OF despots must
yield to death, and the whirlwind he
sowed was reaped by his son. The
fortress is now filled with unfortun-
ates. During the last tweBty years
thousands have entered its gloomy
portals, aud as fast as they perish or
depart the great army Of miserables is
reinforced by fresh victims.
Most of them only remain for a
time, either pending their trial or un-
til they are removed to q central
prison or deported to Siberia. But
there are some whose fate is still more
terrible. There are prisoners who
have never been tried and never viii
be-men and women-who are kept
in prison generally for years, Otter
for life, simply by order of the Gar.
One is an ex'officer of the Imperial
Guard, by the name of Chevitch. Ii
is said that the late Emperor. who
was of an amorous disposition, made
the sister of Chevitch his mistress and
that the young officer stepped out of
the ranks at a review and cried TO the
tYrant, like Victor Hugo's Saint
Vallier;" Sire, you have done Ill. I
For this offense he was doomed TO q
lifelong Imprisonment in the Alexis
revelin, and IS now a raving maniac.
Wayfarers who pass by at midnight,
sometimes hear ms frlghtiul cries and
maniacal laughter, and then they
shudder and hasten away, for the
ground on which they tread is occurs
ed. In another casemate, dying OF
consumption, is woman whose iden-
tity is as great mystery as the imam
in the iron mask. Neither the Jail
@rs nor her fellow prisoners know
either her name or the nature Of her
crime. She is a number, and nothing
more. What a terrible tragedy must
be hidden in that woman's heart, if it
still beats
The classmates are cells five PAGES
long aud three wide, equal to about
seven and half feet by four and q
half feet-dens into which a little
! light struggles through q strongly
barred slit. The walls steam with
moisture. For furniture the inhabit4
ant has a straw mattress and a thin
quilt a jug, the image Of a saint, and
pail which serves for all purposes
and remains there day and night,
The air OF such q place, surely one Of
the dark places of the earth, besides
being cold and damp, must be un-
speakably foul. But even worse than
dampness aud fouluess and gloom is
the solitude TO which the prisoners
are condemned. for the fortress is or
gained on the strictest, cellular sys-
tenn. Every possible -precaution is
taken TO prevent them froE1 communi-
eating with each other. They never
meet, never speak to cacS, are not
even allowed to exchange word
with their iailers. A warden is for
hidden under severe penalties TO
answer a question, however meaning
less or innocent. To prevent hin
from obtaining favors or information,
either BY cajoilery or collision, the
turkeys are made to visit the cells ia
couples and to prevent prisoners from
communicating with each other hv