The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1885-05-21
THE czAR,s eAsTILE.

THE CARS eAsTILE.
Horrors Of tho Fortress of ST. Peter snd
81. Paul.
fCor. San Francisco Chroniclel
But first Of all something about this
bastile of tho czar, this inferno Of des-
potism, building of terrible memories,
defiled by more horrors even than its
famous prototype which the populace Of
Paris, nearly a century ago, leveled
with the ground. 1t is huge, hideous,
and slab-sided, and surmountcd by
q thin and taperiEg spire that
looks like the end of q Brob-
dignagian syringe. The fortress is
in the center Of the city and faces
the imperial palace. During the day it
is in part q public thoroughfarc, and
people pass through narrow defilo Of
gloomy and tortuous vaults, where
heavily-armed scntinels march to and
fro, and stone saints in inches hold
aloft burning tapers. But at nightfall
all is closed, and when darkness covers
the capital and the quays Of the Neya
are all aglow with gas ghts the prison
here dedicated to st. Peter and st. Paul
remains shrouded in gloom. like some
huge nav, ever ready to swallaw up all
that is best and noblest of the unhappy
land which it curses with its presence
Round tho fortress reigns deep 81
lence; but four times in every hour the
big clock in the syringe-shaped chapel
spiro chimes psalm tune in praise of
God and the car.
The casemates are cells, five PAGES
long and three wide. equal to about
seven and half feet by four and half
feet-dens into which a little light
through a strongly barred
slit. The walls stream with moisture.
For furniture the inhabitant has q
straw mattress aud thin quilt, Jug,
the image of q saint, and pail which
serves for all purposes and remains
there day and night. The air of such a
place, surely one of the dark places of
the earth, besides being cold and damp,
must DO unspcakably foul. But even
worse than dampncss, and foul
ness, and gloom is the solitude
to which the prisoners are con.
demned, for tho fortress Is organized
on the strictest cellular system. Every
possible precaution Is taken to prevent
them from communicating with each
other. They never meet, never speak
to each other, are not even allowed to
exchange word with their jailcrs. A
warden is forbidden under severe
penalties to answer u question, however
meaningless or innocent. To prevent
him from obtaining fayors or informa-
ton, either BY cajoIery or collision, the
turnkeys are MADE to visit tho cells in
couples; and, to prevent prisoners from
communication with each other by
knocks on the walls, every alternate
cell is either altogether untcnanted or
occupied by 4 gendar.ne.
Once day the door is opened and the
wardens signify to the inhabitant by q
gesture that it is the hour for exercise.
Silently he rises from his little bed and
follows his custodians into narrow
yard, SO hemmed in by high walls as to
seem like tho bottom Of q we'll. Here
he PAGES to and fro for the allotted time,
like wild beast in a cage, and is then
led back to his den as silently as he was
brought out. The prison is full of peo-
pie, yet for every inhabitant of its case.
mates, its bastions, its ravelins,
and its curtains there is the
isolation of death. No books arc al
lowed in this dismal solitude. no,
even the Bible. If prisoner wants re-
ligious consolation he may look at his
saint and raise his thoughts heaven
ward, If he can. 1t is no wonder thai
men immured in these dark places some
times 60 mad. But in spite of over,
precaution prisoners do occasionally
contrive to communicate with theil
friends. A little money in Russia goes
. long way, and even turnkcys have
sometimes bowels. SO it comes to pas.
that news from the classmates does oc
cas.onally reach the outer world.
For clothing the prisoners have tho gra,
dress OF common malefactOrs. Instead
Of shoes and stockings, their feet ar,
wrapped in rags. Even in the depth o.
winter the cells are seldom warmed
never sufficiently; at least the fuel as
signed for the purpose is insufficient
and embezzled Mt that Hence the cells
are always damp. Water streams dowl
the walls and freezes in pools on tht
floor. So intense is the cold that wher
the director makes his rounds he never
takes of his fur cloak, and shiver,
even then. All that the prisoners hav,
to protect themselves from the terribl.
cold arc a common sha-,,-,-:,n coat ant
can. sulcn as worn BY the moui;ks
They pass most of their time in bed.
what else can tn y do, poor wretchos
ahd ovcn there they are well
nigh frozen to death, for be
sides being insu!liciently clad the,
are poorly fed. Tor breakfast. as TO
supper, they have jug OF warm waite
and a lunch OF black bread and butter
for dinner they are given a basin o
cabbage soup, cake of buckwhea
bread and pot of kwass, q sort Of bee
made of water mixed with black brea,
aud fermeAtcd. Twice week the
have pea soup instead Of cabbage soup
on Sundays the soup is accompanied b
morsel of meat. Nor is the food
scanty, though it be, good of its kind
the butter is generally rancid, the mea
putrid, and the bread-except The crus
so badly baked that when throwl
against the wall it sticks like mortar.
In summer the eprisoners arc little he,
ter of than in winter. 1t is during tn
warm months that It. Petersburg. hui
upon miasmatic marshes, dcyelopes a
its unhealthy qualities, and the hygieni
condition of the fortress, the gloom IN
dampness OF the cells, the bad and il
sufficient dietary, the depression arisin
from solitary confinement, intcnsif
every unfayorahle influence and send.
the lite Of prisoners not proternaturall
robust one long agony.
Imitation Amber.
iDamors.sts Monthly
i Of late an imitation Si amocr whit
cannot l., aistin sui,h.l from Il
genuine article by inspection, has MAJ
its appearance on the market. II "a
tains copal campaor, tnrpcMtine, al
4 s.,., II. al. .s,,tx,