Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-04-01
TORTURE OF FLOGGING.
A FEATURE OF THE OLD SYSTEM OF
PENAL SERVITuDE IN SIBERIA.

cid system Of penal servitude in Siberia
say twenty-five years ago-was hogging. l
don't think it is quite abolished even yet,
though it is supposed to be, but at that time
running the gauntlet, beating with stick
and birch rods were of every day occurs
renee Prisoners were not only beaten to
enforce discipline, but as part Of their
punishment, convicts being sentenced to so
many years hard labor and to receive so
many strokes-sometimes 1000. No man,
however, could receive 4 900 strokes and
live. When the victim had been beaten lit
orally within an inch of his life and the
surgeon VINO stood by on these occasions
testified that the man could stand no more,
be was released, taken to the hospital, and
when strong enough received the balance
of his sentence or so much of it as he could
bear Political prisoners and men Of gentle
birth were exempt from corporal punish
ment, the.victlms being invariably murder
ers and other malefactorx
As may be supposed convicts have a
great horror of being hogged; they gener-
ally contrive to get half-drunk before under
going the ordeal and will do almost any
thing to obtain q feIE days grace Dosto-
jevsky mentions one l,oor wretch who feared
his punishment 50 much that on the eve Of
the fatal day he swallowed a tumbler of
brandy mixed with snuff. Seized at once
with violent vomiting and hemorrhage, the
miserable man was taken to the hospital,
which he never left again He die1 six
months later of consumption. But not all
prisoners are pusillanimous Some display
a Spartan-like fortitude, and it is said that
after several beatings a mans back gets
hardened and he suffers much less than
those whose hides are more susceptible to
first impressions do not suppose, though,
that use 50 far becomes e second nature that
Siberian convicts find fogging enjoyable
TOOK 1000 STROKES WITHOUT FLINCHING.
Dosto;evsky tells of one fellow, named
Orloff, who took 200 strokes without
finching. But he was an altogether phenom-
enal creature-a monster in human form
Perhaps under other circumstances he might
have been Napoleon and fought battles
for his own pleasure; as it was he had been
q brigand, and murdered old men and
young children to crafty his thirst for
blood
Three sorts of corporal punishment were
In vogue in Dostojevsky's time, as | have
already mentioned, but whereas the pains
of the stick and the birch rod were inflicted
as part Of the culprit's sentence, running the
gauntlet was a penalty for violation OF
prison discipline, ordered at the discretion
and depending on the caprice of the prison
director who, whatever might be his rank,
was invariably known as the major. Strange
to say, the worst of these punishments was
the birching. A very strong man (Orloh was
slightly built could stand, on occasion,
1000 blows Of the stick, yet nobody could
stand more than 500 strokes with the
birch rod: not such rod as was welded by
our grandmothers, but formidable weapon
piled by q convict chosen for his strength of
arm The difference in the effects of the
rod and the stick was nevertheless not so
much owing to the way in which they were
used as to the action Of the former on the
nervous centers The bundle of twigs
might not hurt so much at the time, but
every twig that came in contact with the
flesh inflicted q separate blow, thereby i'm
p.ioating far greater number Of nerves
1t may be mentioned that the victims of
both sorts of punishment were fiogged while
lying on the ground.
Running the gauntlet, or the green
lane" as the convicts called it, was also a
terrible punishment Two rows of soldiers,
each of whom was armed with stick, were
formed, and the culprlt's hands being fast
ened to two muskets, he was slowly |
dragged between the ranks, and every sol
der had to give blow with all his
strength on the wretch's bare back An
officer stood by carefully watching, and
wee betide the man who did not strike with |
sufficient vigor He was himself made to |
march down the green lane.
DECEIvINtf A MISERABLE WRETCH.
It was the custom for a convict, when the |
half-naked and trembling wretch was about
to be dragged down the green lane, to i'm
plore the officer to have mercy on him-not
to let the soldiers beat him too severely; aud
when a certain Lieut. Jerebjatnikoff was in
command he would pretend to listen favor
ably TO the petition and promise to be as
tender as he could, consistently with his |
duty to the state! He would even go further |
and protest that, albeit he was shining
against the law, he would not be hard, if
the culprit-sn his honor would undertake to
behave better for the future.
GMost high-born," cries the wretch, II |
promise with all my heart! l swear before
the Creator"
@Wel, well; 1 think 1 may trust you.
You seem truly repentant"
May the Almighty strike me down dead,
and may 1 be eternally-"
~Hush, hush; don't swear. 1 only want
your promise. Your word is quite enough.
You do promi Sc, don't you!"
Il do most high-born. Heaven bless
youl" Cweeping)
We'll, 1 forgive you for the sake of your
have you notT
mo. have neither father nor mother
am an orphan"
Il forgive you because you are an orphan
then But mind it is for the last time. If
you offend again Here, soldiers take him
away"
Then follows pause, and the miserable
man fully believes he has been let off, but
the next moment the drum beats, the terri
BILE procession starts and the officer burst
ing into loud laugh that shows how thor
oughly he enjoys the sport, shouts: take
him away! Flog himl hit him again! Strike
harder, harder, harder! F1og the orphan!
Leather the scoundrel! Lay on, men, lay on!
Give it to him hot Faster, faster, faster"
The blows fall on the unfortunate thick as
hail He howls and shrieks for mercy, while
the lieutenant runs down the line behind
him, holding his sides and bent double with
laughter. 1t is such fun, don't you see, to
take a fellow in like that First Of all,
make him believe he is going to be let of
and then fog him within in inch of his
life.
These were the scenes amid which the
future great Russian move ist was forced for
four years to live. No wonder that he wrote
with terrible realistic powe. and intense
sympathy for the suffering and the afflicted,
and that his stories are the most thrilling
of tragedieS-William Westan in San Fran
cisco Chronicle
An Unpicturesque Highway Robber.
As for dakoits, they are exactly like the
Shans, for, while the former are q miscella-
neous set of Claude Duvals at large, the repre-
sentative of the latter claims a nationality
and a certain method in his fighting, or rather
his reasons for fighting The dakoit is
highway robber wherever discovered, and
nothing more. He may be a thug in
Rajpootanee, a wildly aggressive thakore
of Palitana, or totally unconventional
thief of Camateepoore, but he is dakoit all
the same In Burmah the dakoit does as
his brother in India does. He sallies out,
generally with companion or two, and
waylays the mails or the palkee carriage on
the jungle roads.
He has no picturesqueness about his pro-
fession- He says: Stand and deliver"
and if he gets the worst of the order he
takes it like a man, turns up. in his py janis
tha rnoon1i0hf and bids faravraII To |