Sharp County record., 1885-04-23

army, now under sentence of penal
seryitude for life-is brought out. He
is utterly unconscious and seemingly
dead, and it is only after various RENE
dies have been applied that he is able,
towards evening, to continue his jour
ney.
VICTIMS OF RUSSIAN PRISONS.
Another, if possible, still more un-
fortunate, is Paul Yellow, young man
hardly twenty-seven years old, tall of
stature and once of powerful physique.
Twelve months in the fortress have re-
duced him to shadow of his former
self. He is bent double, and one of his
legs being paralyzed, he is unable to
walk. He is, besides, terribly afflicted
with scurvy, and his ghastly face is
smeared with the blood which oozes
continually from his mouth and gums.
His destination and that of Tatiana
Lebedeyna is Kars, but it is hardly pos
sible that either of them can reach that
place alive. latina Lebedevna, like
| Fomin, is under sentence of hard labor
for her natural life--a life, however,
which in the nature of things can not
last much longer; a few hours, or, at
most few days. She is literally eaten
up with scurvy. Her gums have disap-
peared and part of the jawbones are
stripped of their flesh. Her face is that
of a skeleton and her frail body is torn
with a consumptiye cough. Only this
cough and her large, dark and still
brilliant black eyes show that she yet
lives. Such are the results of confine-
ment in the fortress of st. Peter and st.
Paul, prison in the center of Russian
civilization, and on which the Car, who
is nothing if not religious, has continu-
allv his eye What, then, must be the
horrors perpetrated in other and re-
mote priSons-for instance, iii the tort
ress of Schlusseburg, situated on the
shores of the Silent Sea and lately
transformed into a vast political
prison?
HOW REFORMERS ARE TREATED.
The lot of the reformers who were
sentenced during the re On Of AIeXan-
der H. is in no respect more tolerable
than that of the revolutionists who are
now in bonds. use the term reform
ers advisedly, for they are men who
sought to attain their ends by pacific
means-by writing and speaking. They
neither took part in any revolutionary
movement nor were their hands stained
with one drop of blood. They were
the predecessors of the party OF action
and the terrorists of the Popular
Will" But the Government, as if they
desired to force everybody who is IN
any way dissatisfied with the existing
state of things to join the reyo iutlonalry
ranks, treats all alike, and deals the
same measure to the mildest reformers
as to the widest terrorists. Many OF
the men sentenced for sedition in the
last reign are confined in the prison OF
Novo Belgorod, and their life is de-
scribed in the number of the VeStnaE
which | have already mentioned. The
system pursued in this prison is strictly
cellular, the cells being almost the
double of those of st. Peter and st.
Paul-little chambers five PAGES long
and two and a half wide; fnrniture-a
wooden bed, a small table, a three
legged stool and the eternal and odor-
ferrous pail In these holes, men whose
sole offense is devotion to their coun-
try are doomed to pass long years OF
their lives. Here Plotn.kof and sew
eral others, sentenced at the same time,
were incarcerated for ten years. Mlsch-
kline, more fortunate, was kept only
eight years. TO describe the manifold
terrors of this inferno, as set forth IN
this prisoners letter, would take up too
much space | must leave out and
compress; but the following are the
essential parts of his account. They
state how terrible are the effect OF soil
tary conference.-the cOrruptible mas
ters, absence of any sort OF manual or
mental occupation, and the irritating
attention of the jailors render the lives
of the victims one long torment, and
produce y very epidemic of insanity.
MADMEN IN LIVING TOMBS.
The great clock of the prison has
struck the hour of midnight and the in
habitants of the last corridor OF the
Belgorod Prison, overcome by long
day of sad thought and enforced Idle,
ness, are buried in feverish and ttful
slumber-all save one, who is pacing to
and fro in his cell like wild beast and
uttering incoherent cries and muttered
exclamations. A sound of rhythmical
snoring in the corridor shows that the
warden on duty is also indulging in
slumber. One o'clock strikes, then two
o'clock, and as the reverberation dies
away, terrific uproar is heard in Cell
4. The inmate is kicking with all his
strength at the door and yelling at the
top Of his voice. "Open! open! you
villains. am the Emperor of Russia.
Siberia has elected ne her King and |
have been recognized as Sovereign
Lord of all the land. Open, you scoun-
drels! Open, l say!' The warden