Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1888-11-10
A RECEPTION OF EXILES.
EXAMINING RUSSIAN PRISONERS
DESTINED FOR SIBERIA.
Convicts With Heads Half Shaved
identifying by Photographs
A Ruse of Prisoners

A Ruse of Prisoners.
From George Kennan's latest article
70 the Century on life among Russian
exiles, we quote the following: The
prisoners had disembarked before we
reached our destination. We found them
assembled in two dense gray throngs
~ the ends of long wooden shed,
which was surrounded and turned into
sort OF cattle-pen by high plank wall.
Here they were identified, counted and
turned over by the convoy officer to the
warden OF the Tomsk forwarding prison.
The shed was divided transversely
through the middle by low wooden
barricade, at one end of which was a
fenced Enclosure, about ten feet square,
Tor the accommodation of the officers
who had to take part In the reception of
the party. About half the exiles had
been formally received" and were stand
ing at the eastern end of the shed, while
the other half were grouped in dense
throng at the western end, waiting for
their names to lie called. The women,
who stood huddled together in o group
by themselves, were mostly in peasant
costumes, with bright-colored kerchiefs
over their heads, and their faces. l
thought showed great anxiety and ap-
prehension. The men all wore long
gray overcoats over coarse linen shirts
and trousers; most of them were in
chains, and the bare heads of the con-
victs and the penal colonists had been
half shaved longitudinally in such a way
that one side of the scalp was smooth
and blue, while the other side was hidden
BY long neglected hair. Soldiers stood
here and there around the shed, leaning
upon their bayoneted rifles, and inside
the little enclosure were the convoy Off
Ger of the party, the warden and the
surgeon of the Tomsk forwarding
prison, the chief OF the local bureau Of
exile administration, and two or three
other officers, all IN full uniform.
Colonel Yagodkin introduced us as
American travellers who desired to see
the reception of an exile party, and we
were invited to stand inside the en-
closure
The officer who was conducting the
examination of the convicts drew folded
paper from large bundle in his hand,
opened and glanced at it, and then
lhouted, "Nikolai Koltsof' A thin,
pale man, with heavy, wearied eyes end
hopeless expression of face, who was
ltanding in the front rank of the exile
party, picked up the gray linen bag that
lay beside him on the floor, and with
slow clink, clink, clink of chains walked
to the inclosure. The examining officer
compared his face carefully with photo
graph attached to the ''stateini speesok,
Or identification paper" in order to
make sure that the pale man had not
Exchanged names" with some other
sxile, while Cossack orderly examined
him from head to foot and rummaged
through his bag to see that he had neither
lost nor surreptitiously sold the articles
Df clothing that he had received in Mos
COW or Tiumen, and that his 'tstateini
speesok" called for.
SIS everything there2" inquired the
officer.
Everything" replied the Cossack.
s'Stoopair' (s'Pass pD said the lieu
tenant; and the pale-faced man shoul-
dered his bag and oined the ranks of
the ''received" at the eastern end of the
she'd.
uc puvLOSIupuo aio q HON eAAh5t &
whispered Colonel Yagodkin to me;
'sand only part of the exiles have them.
They arc intended to break up the prac-
ticc of exchanging names and identities. !"
"But why should they wish to ex-
change namesl' Inquired.
"If man is sentenced to hard labor
1t the mines" " he replied, "and has lit
Tie money, he always tries to buy secretly
the name and identity of some poor devil
Of colonist who longs desperately for a
drink of vodka, or who wants money
with which to gamble. OF course the
convoy officer has no means of prevent
lug this sort of transaction, because he
cannot possibly remember the names and
faces of the four or five hundred men in
his party. If the convict succeeds in
finding colonist who is willing to sell
his name, he takes the colonist's place
aud is assigned res dcnce in some vii
! &C, while the colon st takes the con-
vict's place AMI goes to the mines. Hun
drcds OF hard LABOR convicts escape in
| fhis Wavu