The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-04-03
PUNISHMENT IN SIBERIA.
Unfortunate Conyicts Who are Subj biected
to Every Conceivable Mode of Torture
-ohicers Who Delight In Human Sui
feriax.

most frightful features OF the old sys.
tenn OF penal servltude in 6lberla-say
twenty-five years ago-was fiogging. |
don't think it is quite abolished even
yet, thought is supposed to be, but at
that time running the gantlet, beating
with sticks and birch rods were of every
day occurrence. Prisoners were not
only beaten to enforce discipline, but
AS part OF their punishment, con-
viets being sentenced to so many
years hard labor and to receive so
many trokea-sometimes four thou
sand. No man, however, could receive
four thousand strokes and live. When
then the victim had been beaten liter
ally within an inch Of his life and the
surgeon (who stood by on these occa-
slons) testified that the man could
stand no more, he 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 corpor-
al punishment, the victims being In
variably murderers and other male
factors. As may be supposed, con-
victs have great horror OF being
logged; they generally contrive to get
nalf drunk before Undergoing the or
deal, and will do almost anything to
obtain q few days grace.
Dostoievsky mentions one poor
wretch who feared his punishment so
much that on the eve or the fatal day
he swallowed tumbler OF brandy
mixed with snuff. Seized at once with
violent vomiting and hemorrhage, the
man was taken to the hos
pital, which he never left again. He
died six months later OF consumption,
and the doctors (who knew nothing
about the snuff and the brandy could
not understand what came TO pass
that man who seemed only the day
before in the best of health should he
taken so suddenly and seriously i'll.
But not all prisoners are pusllanl-
nous. Some display spartan-like
fortitude, and it is said that after sew
eral beatings a mans back gets hard
ened and he suffers much less than
those whose hides are more susceptl-
bic to first Impressions. | do not
suppose, though, that use so tar be-
comes a second nature that Siberian
cOnvicts find tiOgglng ENJOY yable. Dos
tojevsky tells OF one fellow, named
Oroff, who took two thousand strokes
without flinching. But he was an al
together phenomenal creature-a mon
ster in human form. Perhaps under
other circumstances he might have
been a Napoleon and fought battles
for his own pleasure; as 1T was he
had been brigand, and murdered old
men and young children to crafty his
thirst for blood.
He had an iron power OF will and
was proud of it, and after being
sent to Siberia as convict for life he
wanted to receive the four thousand
strokes to which ne had also been SEN
fenced at once, and did actually re-
ceive two thousand, when the doctor,
seeing that Orloff was half head and
would inevitably sHccumb If the pun
ishment were continued, ordered the
execution to stop. On being brought
into the ward, OF which Dostojevsky
was an inmate, Orloff was almost un-
conscious and deathly pale. His back
presented a terrible aspect, and his
fellow convicts tended him all night
through, applying cool congresses to
the bruised flesh, turning him on his
back when he wanted to move, and
giving him medicines. They could not
have been more watchful and tender
II he had been their own brother. The
Dext day he recovered consciousness,
and, thanks to his strength of will,
was able to take few turns up and
down the ward. He desired to get
well, in order that hemight receive the
remainder of his floggirg. His ulti-
mate destination was the mines of
Nertchinsk, and on the road thither he
meant, if possible, to escape. But as
he knew he would not be renewed un-
til he had received all the strokes to
which he had been sentenced, he was
anxious to receive them as quick as
possible. The sooner that part of his
punishment was over, he thought, the
sooner he would be at liberty. And
he was soon at liberty, but in a way
he did not expect. A strong will may
do much, but it cannot set at naueht
the laws of nature, and three weeks la
ter Orlotf was a corpse. He would
have done better to have taken his fog
Three sorts of corporaI punishment
were in vogue in Dostojevsky Slime, as
| have already mentioned, but where
as the pains of the stick and the birch
rod were inflicted as part of the cul
prit's sentence, running the gantlet
was a penalty for violation of prison
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 (0rloff 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 arod as was WELD
ed by our grandmothers, but a form
liable weapon piled by convict
chosen for his strength Of arm. Tt e
difference in the effect 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 a sepa-
rate blow, thereby duplicating a far
greater number of nerves. 1t may be
mentioned that the victims of both
sorts of punishment were flogged while
lying on the ground.
Running the gantlet, or the "green
lane" as the copvicts called it, was
also terriblepunishment. Two rows
OF soldiers, each of whom was armed
with stick, were formed, and the
hands being fastened to two muskets,
he was slowly dragged between the
ranks, and every soldier had to give
a blow with all his strength on
the wretch's bare back. An officer
stood by carefully watching, and woe
betide the man who did not strike
with sufficient vigor. He was himself
made TO march down the green lane
1t has been said of slavery that even
il it could be proved that the system
is good for the aves, the effect of it
on their owners is so odemoralizing and
bad that out OF consideration for