The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1885-06-05
ExlLEs IN SIBERIA.

Exn.Es IN SIBERIA.
Their Treatment Said to be Liberal and HUI
mane-how They are Transported.
The generally received notions about
the condition Of political exiles in ST.
IBERIA are wholly erroneous, if the
statements of Mr.. Enoch Emory are
true. This gentleman is Russian
lied American who has lived for q
long time at tho mouth of the Amoor
river.
Don't you find tho vast number of
convicts sent to Siberia great curse
to its advancement" he was recently
asked by reporter for The San Fruss-
cisco Chronicle.
well, I'll tell you; that is good
deal like the wolf yarns Tho fact
is, that these convicts have really
built up our country, and instead Of
being curse we gladly welcome
them. Their injurious influence is
much like the cruelty and brutality
with which they are alleged to be
treated, both equally absurd and SEN
satiOnai. The fact is, that with very
few exceptions, in the case Of hard
ened and hopeless criminals, no penal
Institutions in existence compare with
those il Siberia for liberal and hui
name treatment, and even the boasted
model prisons Of England and Amer
lea are cruel and barbarOus COM
pared to the comfort and ease that
awaits the exile in the frigid regions
of Siberia. You know there are two
classes of exiles-thOse who lose their
entire political rights and those who
are only partially deprived of their
privileges. The latter, after Il short
term of confinement. arc usually al
lowed to have their own homes and to
engage in business for themselves,
subject only to official surveillance,
and generally become happy and fro
quentiy prosperous. This is almost
always the case with political exiles.
Take Poles for instance-.hey were
the real cause of the growth and pros
perity of Irkutsk. When they were
banished in 1916 they were sent to
that place, but by the leniency of their
treatment they soon became satisfied
and gradually introduced mannfac-
turing industries and other mercan-
tile pursuits, until from struggling
frontier post Irkutsk became the chief
city and capital of Siberia, with pop
ulation of nearly $4,000. In 1874,
when tho Poles were pardoned, COM
parative few returned homeland
many of these came back after short
stay and have since remained in their
formerly-enforced home. where they
could do better than in Po.
land. Thus it Is with other pris.
oners. and Siberia to-day has better,
brighter, and more civilized class of
residents and finer-looking villages
than the towns of European Russia. for
In most cases their residents are made
up Of the most intelligent classcs,
whose superior minds have rcvoltcd ut
the severity of the national govern
inent and from chis cause have been
led into political troubles, from which
their duller, plodding brethren have
escaped. And as to that class who are
kept in close confinement, they have
nothing to do but to ''eat, drink and
be merry" for the government can
not begin to find wor6 for them all,
and SO in many cases the more ener-
getic among them actually beg for
some work to keep them occupied"
"How many offenders are annually
banished to that country?'
well, of course that is u little diff
cult to tell, though as have been per-
mitted very extraordinary liberty in
various prisons and penal institutions,
l can form u pretty accurate opinion.
/ should say that probably 10000
year are transported across the noun.
talis, perhaps one-fourth of this num-
Der being women-some of these are
under sentence themselves, OF follow
of these exiles return home after their
term of their husbands into exile. of
course, many Punishment has expired,
50 that l should Judge as many as
5000 every year turn their faces to-
ward the Western ocean, and it would
bring tears to the tlintiesr hearts to see
their happiness and uncomfortable joy
at being permitted to once more con-
slider themselves free. AS Il rule.
however, these are young people
who have left their sweethcarts
or lovers behind and, expect to find
them with opet arms and hearts as
warm as when the march commenced
to their far-away ice prisons. Tho
convicts are transported very comfort
ably in these days, the old foot r,archs
which gives rise to all these stories of
terrible privation and barbarOus treat
ment having been entirely dlscontin-
ued. except on the farthercst confines
of eastern Siberia, where there is no
other way to travel, as there are not
even wagon roads there. At present
those sentenced to Punishment are sent
from various portions of the empire to
great central prison at Moscow, from
which they are sent in bands of sever
al hundred at time by railroad to
Min Novgord. At this place they are
placed on large burgess and towed over
to Perm, where they are again trans
ferred to the cars and sent to Ekater-
ineburg, the terminus of the railway.
At this point they are divided up into
smaller bands and put into wagons
and are thus carried to Fuisnen. the
great distributing prison for all Sibe-
ria. From the start, however, they
are provided with warm clothing and
bedding and good, wholesome food,
SO that any physical suffering is usu.
ally the result of the prisoners own
carelessness."