Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-06-16
RUSSIA'S PRISONERS.
TWENTY MONTHS WEARY MARCH.
 ING TO THE SIBERIAN MINE.
Dukes and ouchesses. Counts, EarIs, Ladies or High Rank, Thieves and Murderers HuddIed Together in Small Barracks.

 Dukes and 0uehesses, Counts, Earis. Ladies
 or High Rank, Thieves and Murderers
 HuddIed Together in Small Barracks.
 I AM an Hungarian by birth and took an active part in the revolutionary outbreaks of iSis and 1Si9. Later sought refuge under i!r. brnacr of Garibaldi in Italy, and when. in lS6i, the Poles rose up to unfetter themselves from the oppressive tyranny of Russian slav. cry, events found me ut Warsaw in the ranks of the people who wanted to wrestle for their freedom.
 Bat luck was against me. Not long after I had been enlisted among the troops of the Revolutionary Army I was taken prisoner ;..."ny with 125 of my comrades. We wcre at once scnt 10 Russia and into prison. Without being p;i. to trial as to any offence we might have committed, the fact was soon announced to that we were to be exiled into Siberia.
 What q feeling of horror this sentence awoke in us can easily be imagined. Had somebody conc to us with the announcement that we were to Dc put to death, believe WIG would not have been more mortified. Our idea of Siberia was the samo which is entertained by most people to-day, and, let mo tell you, it is totally erroneous. Instead of being an enor. nous desert of ice and desolation, can as- su-r you thatin some parts of that country, wai"h covers Il larger area than the United States, fiourishing cities are found in plenty, and vegetation and commerce and agriculture are abounding.
 For years end years the Russian Govern mcnt hrs sent to this country all the way from 31,0O0 to s0,0O0 prisoners, which number is made up of criminals of all classes in the year 1863 1864 alone. 25 900 political prisoners | were sent out there, of which 15 900 were women. As u rule no one over returns from Siberia, because tho sufferins,s Of the journey and in the mines make havoc with the strong est constitution. But all prisoners arc not | employed in tho mines. Some arc allowed to | settle there. A tract of land is given them, | and they can labor on that But whatever products they raise the proceeds go to the | State, except the amount for tho bare main- tenancc of life.
 It was in the beginning of 1864 when myself and 2S6 prisoners arrived at Nishui-Novgor- | cd on our way to Siberia. was in an extra ordinary company. There were dukes and duchesses, counts earls, ,barons and ladies from | the highest society. Beside those there were men who had robbed banks, killed their wives | set houses on fire, and women who commit l ted the gravest crimes imaginable. All were | huddlcd in small barracks. For six days we remained there and every day transporta- | tions of prisoners arrived, while others de- | parted. Sometimes the father was taken | The Russian Government knows no feeling for the unfortunates. At last my turn came i; | 2S6 of us were packed in the lowest part of a ship, and our journey was on the river Volga | as far as Perm. Here we again came into barracks, and then received our penal clothes | which were alike for men and women, except that the latter obtained petticoats where we | got trousers. Then we were divided into six l divisions, the members of each being con- I H.. Al~z | rying twenty pounds of weight on their feet. On the following day at eight o'clock in the morning, We departed from Perm. We
 walked every day, chained and dressed, at l the rate of twenty-five miles. In ten days | we arrived at Jakaterineburg, the extreme eastern town of Europe. From here our march went through the mountains of the l mighty Ural, and no matter, whether the ob- l staces of travel were almosttinsurmountable
 whether it rained, showed, hailed or blowed a | hurricane, our six divisions marched on, un.
 til they came to a station, where a pound of
 bread and bowl of tea was given them, which constituted the entire nourishment of
 q transport of prisoners. Suddenly, it Is high | in tho mountains and we pass an immense
 block of granite. We look at it and read on one side Europe, and on the other Asia and Siberia. One more step and we arc in another | continent.
 | luc IOWu Ut WHICH we ualC IS IODOlSk. l Here the Governor of the city comes to exam- inc us and here tho prisoners are burned with q mark, which indicates the name of the mine | to which they arc to go. The burn is general ly made on the forehead. In February, 1864, Canon Hindlius, of Wilma, who had been with us all the time as prisoner, died by the road side. This priest was one of the most | genial and kind-hearted men ever met, and we were all sorry when he died. In June, 1865, I T1l{, 1 largest river in Siberia, and after we had crossed it. the country we came into was
 very beautiful indeed.
 l Here one of the officers in charge asked me where was to go.
 | "I don't know, replied"
 "All right, he continued, ''you shall to go Michaelow until we find out what our orders are in regard to you." With three common criminals chained to me I arrived here in March, 1866, after having marched twenty months without days rest.
 Michaelow was a gold mine where 4So men were employed. There was no settle ment allowed within fifteen miles of the mine. Tho building for the prisoners, | soldiers. officers and the colonel were | altogether. Opposite the mine stood a scaffold where the miners were chastised 1 with the knout at the least offence, and next to this scaffold stood an image of a saint be- fore whom the prisoners prayed every morn- l ing and every evening. Two meals were handed us every day, consisting of soup and bread, meat being unknown in the bill of | fare.
 l If an accident should happen in q mine, such as braces falling or explosion of foul l air, then for those men that are injured to I such an extent as to render them useless for | further work, the government employs the convenient method of killing by giving them | poison.
 | was in that mine two months, when one day an order came that I was to go back to Irkutsk. Arrived hcre the Governor handed me q paper which gave me permission to seek a settlement, so started out. Accord | ing to my permit all post stations I passed | were to give me the regular rations of food for prisoners, and was subsistiny us best I might. On these wanderings met an old Finn, who gave me paper which allowed mo to go in the Altai territory. Here I arrived at Kiachta, the greatest commercial city for tea | in Siberia.
 | From there I came to the town of AIboa, which is tho most peculiar place in the world, inasmuch as there is not a woman living in it. was disgusted and left Alboa, when was captured and taken back to Irnutsk From there the Governor sent me with a dct:Ich- mcnt of soldiers to Usbit, in the Yeuisei terri tory. I was still under the verdict oT a | settler, and got permission to choose tract