Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-06-21
a MOSCOW pRis ON.
Dr.. ISusdell Draws . Rather PloasIne
Picture Of Russlaa AMhirs.

out with my travelling companion and
an American. a former Governor OF
Virginia, to see the new Central
prison. recently built in the suburbs.
We arrived. however. latter the fair, -
for it was at the end Of August, and
most of the companies of exiles had
started, five hundred only remaining.
of various categories, including,
think. wives and children. We went
over the building. which was q great
Improvement on the old one. The
wards were very largo and lofty. re-
miuding one of extensive city ware
houses, and detached from the main
building were towers with small rooms
for political prisoners.
The rooms certainly were not large.
but they appeared reasonably com.
Portable. or at all events had nothing
about them to recall the sensational
damp" "fugus-colered" cells into
which certain writer's on Russian
prisons are fond of thrusting their
political prisoners. especially in the
Alexeiefsky ravelin of the fortress OF
Peter and Paul in St Petersburg. /
did not secure photograph of the
Central prison at Moscow, but had
unexpectedly become possessed of
sketch of a cell in the Alexeiefsky ravel-
in made by political prisoner who
occupied it. This prisoner. on my
second visit to Siberia, heard me mar
rating to friend that l had been per-
mitted to visit the Peter and Paul
fortress, whereupon he drew me
aside and told me that he had been
a prisoner therein. and would tell me
his experience if l would call upon him
privately. ] did so. but was rather be-
hind the time appointed. and whilst he
was waiting he made for me a pen and
ink sketch of his cell or room, which
measured eighteen feet light inches
long by sixteen feet four inches broad
and nine feet four inches high. 1t was
furnished with table. chair. commode
and bed with two feather pillows. a
pair of sheets, blanket and wooden
coverlet. Mezentseff. chief of the Sc
cret police, who was assassinated by
the Nihilists in 1879, asked him on one
occasion whether he would like to
smoke. in which case he should be sup
piled with quarter of a pound of to.
bacco for cigarettes every other day.
He was also asked if he would like to
paint or write, and drawing materials
were brought to him, as also books
from the library. 1t was in this fort
ress prison, he said, that he read Glib
bon's decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire.
How far this state of things prevails
in the new prison at Moscow l am UNI
able to say. but should imagine not
to great extent. because the Mos
cow cells are intended for ''politicals"
on their journeys. At the time of my
visit there were but two political pris-
oners among the five hundred others
They were in separate cells, one hav-
ing. l noticed. quite little library of
books, and among other things a scent
bottle. but whether containing eau-de-
Cologne or Uodka was not sure.
The small proportion of political
prisoners to criminals just mentioned
will not coincide with the popular
idea as to their number. but in
fact much nonsense has been writ
ten and more believed respect
ing the number of Russian po-
litical offenders sent into exile. One
writer talks about calculation that
in Eastern Siberia alone there were
from 80, 600 to 10000 Polish political
exiles, whereas. in 1879, for instance.
S9S was the total number of Polish
criminals exiled, and criminals out
number the politicals by more than ten
20 one. Others, when they heard
prison statistics quoted that from
1900 to 10000 Russians were exiled
yearly, jumped to the conclusion that
these, or large portion of them, were
political offenders. whereas the dcpor-
tation of political offenders. until re-
cent years. did not come under the Or
binary prison administration at all,
but was separately managed. The
political Travelled alone, and was
usually kept in prison alone, specially
guarded; and under these circum-
stances from time to time / saw them
n the prisons of Russia and Siberia
but it was always in ones and twos.
and as rare birds among a whole flock
of others. do not think met with
fifty in going through nearly all the
principal prisons of Siberia; and this
impression receives support from such
information as / could obtain from an
official l know. high in the prison adj
ministration, who told me in Novem.
Der. 1881, that the total number of po-
litical offenders of all kinds sent to Si-
IBERIA that year was seyenty-two. Of
which number. however. about half
had been condemned to tie mines in
four previous years. but detained in
Russia. LansdeU, tn Harper's
Magazine.
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