Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1885-11-04
Rassian Political Prisoners.

The common criminals live and
work together ; minds and hands are
Nike occupied; they have the solsco Of
congeniAl society, and beyond the loss
q liberty have little TO complain about.
But their political c~onfrareA are
doomed to complete Rotation. Each
man lives : lonesome life in his little
cell. Even outside he is still solitary,
Tor. In order that the prisoners may
. ~ little Of each other as possible.
they are made to take their walks at
different times, and in three different
Yards Attempts to exchange words
with fellow-captives, casually encoun-
tered, are strictly forbidden and Sc
vercly punished. No exclamation may
be utt4red, no voice raised in this tomb
ofthe living. Nevertheless, some half
dozen common m~alefactors are confined
In - many cells OF the thirty which the
houses contain. They are, OF course,
the greatest sconndrels OF the whole
collection - parricides undef sem
tence Of hard labor for life; professional
brigands, and wretchesgEho have MUIR
dered whole families. Yet ever these
monsters Of crime are treated more hu-
manly than the politicals. They are
free ell the day long. and allowed to
work in the society Of their compan-
ions, and only shut up in their cells
during the night. They are neither
tortured, watched, nor hindered from
communicating with their fellows.
Henious a. are their crimes, their yoke
y casy,and their burden lightend even.
There are cages at the back OF the cab
inets d'aisance, and SO dark and so
narrow that they look, without exagge-
ration, like cofins-cofins, moreover,
that for q man Of middle height would
be far too small. Prisoners cannot
stand upright in them, and after o few
days in this fetid hole sven q strong
il seized with giddiness, is unable
to stand, and seems to have passed
through o serious illness. The person
Immediately above the Director is the
Governor OF the province. For some
infraction Of the rules the Di-
rector ordered a political prisoner af-
fected with consumption. and who had
finished his probation time, to be put
in irons. Lxssperated by this cruelty,
Vi Hto COAuYouAOAS Ahu tIl0 hu-
to inform the Director that they
would complain to the Governor of his
brutal and unjust conduct, giving all
The facts, etc. The Director could not
stop . letter to his superior, but he
could punish the prisoners for writing
4 So he deprived them of books, for
babe several to 60 out for exercise, and
shortened the exercise time OF others.
Finally he had the skylights in the cell
doors. used for the purpose OF ventila-
tson, closed and nailed down. When
oeI'akow, whe was i'll, said he could
brea4he, the Director expressed tine
wish that h. might choke a quickly as
possible. Bnt most interesting OF all
was the decision of the Governor.
While admitting thai the Director had
no right to put a p~risoser. Who lad
served his probation time, IN irons. he
nevertheless ordered him, tsoether.
all tho other prisoners who had
the petition, to be manacled, Oh
the ground that they had insulted the
Director by their COMPLAINT, and gave
them each, further, from one to three
days in the black hole. -Stepniak, in
"Russia Under the Tzars,D