Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-05-09
CONVICT COLONIES.
DIFFERENT DEGREES OF DISCOMFORT
IN SIBERIAN SETTLEMENTS.
EXiles who Are Allowed to Roam the
Tundra at wiIl-Others Who Are Sur
rounded by Dead-Lins Ditch No
Sunday Potency of Bribes-

rounded by a Dead-Line Ditch - No
Sunday Potency of Bribes-
The great Rarabinza steppe between the
lrtlsh and the Obj is traversed by strips of
woodlands -"cross tlmbers as they would
call them III leXas where game abOunds
and where several trading posts control tho
collection oi a yearly qWantum Of turs, COM
puIsor hunrimg and trapping b"lng the only
penalty imposed upon comparatively en-
NIAule class of eXilcs the twelve y ears
men transI PORTED for mansaughter, burg
harry and similar secondary OfieDses They
are permitted 10 roam the tundra at will,
being merely required to report at head
quarters twI,e or thrice IA year-Ottensr
only If black murkeI for nygle,t Of duty.
During the hrst year they dIaw govern
ment IatlOnN, which they they ar atteTwa.
permitted 10 commute lor all sorts OF extra
supplies If their earnings should exceed the
prescribed minimum. Some oI these inv OIL
untary spOrtsmen own quite comfortable
log houses
DIFFEIENT DEGREES OF DISCOMFORT.
At the expiration of their term they ars
permitted 10 sell their hOmesteads to free
settler, unless they should prefer 10 become
permanent settlers themselves, and exchange
Il free wilderness for the comforts and CON
straInts of west Russian city life Their
penal seryitude is not much harder than
that to which poverty and equally rig
orous climate sub -ect thousands Of our
northwestern pioneers Put there is
ceptIonal lot, ami at Telmi in the govern
ment OF lrkuotsk, there are penal factor .es
where couvicts are worked for fourteen
hours a day, and required 70 pass the nights
In a shanty town, surrounded by a dead
line dit, which they must not approach on
pain of helng shot down like wild Leasts.
They, too, are, however, permitted TO i'm
prove their lot by over time work, and are
treated with comparative indulgence being
charged with such Nenlal sins As robbery,
incest and violation Of the excise laws
Political offenders 10 to the mines Some
are sent TO the Stanovol mountains in the
far last, where escape is physical geographi-
cally imp ssIble Others 20 to BereDow, OF
to ertschinsk, where the gloom of their
misery Is never lighted by ray OF the sun,
their time being divided between work in
the bowels of the hills or sleep in the bunk
room OF tLeir prison barracks Their food
consists OF rye bread and a slice of salt beef
washed down with ditch water. Barring
accidents IN the shafts, they work from
a H. to p IN, without lntermission,
dinner being omitted in the menu of their
daily meals Supper, the principal meal of
the day, has to lie prepared and finished
within eighty minute, for an hour AMI
half after their return from the mines the
drum beats for lights out
THE HADES or NERTSCHINSK
They have no Sunday. and only one
yearly holiday the birthday of the car A
few men Of iron constitution have actually
endured the horrors OF that hell for twenty
five years The happy plurality die before
the end OF the fifth year Yet 81 olnnipo
tent is bribery i'll the dominiOns of the car
that families OF wealth are known to have
lightenei t e burden of their eNiled re atives
even in the hades uf Nertschinsk By the
collusIon of half dozen officials prisoners
can lie kept on the sick list for years to-
gether, a mining slave can secure a berth in
the commissary department or even a conf
DENTAL cerkshIp, alter the timely and we'll
CREASED resignation of his pre- .ecesSor.
A private interview with he governor Of
Tclma is said to have wrought even greater
miracles A sicn convict was permitted to
get stin enough u Justify his removal in a
perforated coffin. which, at the cemetery
gate, was deftIy exchanged for "a less airy,
Tut also less heavy Casket The relatives
OF the deceased managed the rest Of the
programma uring the prevalence Of a
convenient epi Ienit another governor took
i. upon hImSel, to detail one OF his convicts
Tor duty IN the role OF n special assistant
physician and soon aIterward was obliged
TO report that his brevet doctor had abused
his couhd noe 10y taking Il prescription of
his own-a rather literal dos. of fresh air.
DIR. Oswald in Cincinnati Enquirer