The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1885-03-13
THE CARS BASTILE.
Description OF the Horrors OF Q
Great Russian Prison
Dying In soiitude-The Miserabies In the
Esrtr~ss ~ 81 Peter and 81.
PauI-An Outragsoos
system

Recently there appeared In the Jour
nal de- Genere \ communication from
its St. Petersburg correspondent. in
which il was mentioned that one Of the
clandestine papers which are still occa-
sionally circulated in Russia had pub
lished startling and most fearful let
ter. purporting to be written BY ian in
habitsnt Of the czsematcs." describing
the horrors which prisoners awaiting
transportation TO Siberia undergo in the
fortress Of 81 Peter and ST. Paul Ii
viii b. remembered that Prince Krap-
otkie was confined in one Of these case
mates. But he had been neither tried
nor sentenced. and BY favor Of the
Gar. and in order that be might con-
tinue his literary labors. be enjoyed in
duigsnces that were granted to no other
prisoner. Yet he suffered terribly. and
he will never. let him live as long A. he
may. recover from the effects Of his long
incarceration in that frightful dungeon.
But il . nohleman high in rank and fav-
orcd by the sovereign suffered % much.
what must have been the fate u the
friendleSs and obscures Let the s.in-
habitant II the casemates tell
But first az al something about this
bastile of the Car. this inferno Of des-
potism- a building u terrible memories.
deiiled By more horrors even than its
famous prototype which the populace
of Paris. nearly century ago. levelcd
with the grourd. II j. huge. hideous
and slab-sidesi. and surmounted bv a
thin and tapcring spire that looks like
the end II = Brobiincnagian syringe
The fortress j. in the center II the city
and faces the imperial palace During
the day il y in part public thorough
far. and people pass through narrow
defiie Of gloomy and tortuous vaults.
wh~re heayily-armed sentinels march to
and a. aud >. onc saints in inches hold
aloft burning tapers- But at nightfall
all l. closed. and when darkness covers
the capital and the quays Of the Neva
are ali aglow with gas-lighfs the prison
here dedicated to st. Peter and Sc. Paul
remains shrouded in gloom. like some
huge NAV. ever ready to swallow up all
that j. hest and noblest Of the unhappy
land which il curses with it, presence.
Round the fortress rcigns deep A.
lcnce: but four times in every hour the
big clock in the syringe-shapcd spirs
chimes = psalm tune in praise Of God
and the Car, No wonder that men
who were taught in their childhood thai
20 disobey the potsntate was TO dis
honor the Creator should have learnt 10
detest the one and repudiatc the other.
A GREAT ARMY % NTSERABIEs.
II 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 In past times
the inmates were mostly court offend
ers on their way 70 Siberia or the
scahold. One Of these was the
wretched Alexis. son Of Peter the
Great and heir prcsumptiyc to the
throne Visitors are still shown the
cell where. after being put TO the tort
urc. he was put TO death BY order ol
his father. But for wcll-nigh one hun
dred years there have been neither
palace plots NOR coup def0f. and from
the beginning Of the century % 1872
the fortress prison was closed. Then i
opened 70 receive the Deccmbcrists, the
dower Of the Russian nobility. who had