Tombstone epitaph., 1888-06-30
THE KNOCK ALPHABET.
VARIOUS ACOUSTIC METHODS USED IN RUSSIAN PRISONS.

How Knocks and Scratches on the Wall
 Are Made to Represent Words and
 Phrases by Which Prisoners May Hold
 Communication.
 And now for the ''knock language, Tor 'sknock alphabet" There is multitude of such alphabets at the various political prisons of Russia and Siberia, almost every prison having an alphabet of it's own. The simplest system is: One knock at the wall signifies a, two knocks b, three knocks c, etc. But as the Russian grammar contains thirty-five letters, this system is tiresome and inconvenient, and to facilitate 1t various acoustic methods are used. A knock at 8 wall with the end of finger sounds different from knock with knuckle. A thumb nail causes another peculiar sound. The sound of the palm of the hand is different from that caused by fist All the finger nails at once creates peculiar sound of their own; the knuckles make the knock sound diff ferent than the finger ends, or the wrist, or elbow. Again various sounds can be elicited with every or several fingers at once, and the sound of a bass button or a penholder can also easily be distinguished. The formation of knock alphabet further depends on the figures marked on the wall by> the knocks. A straight line could easily be indicated by two knocks at different points, triangle by three knocks, a quadrangle by four knocks, and so on. The time which elapses between the knocks is also taken into consideration, and some knocks often signify whole words and phrases.
 WORDS AND PHRASES.
 At the central prison of Belgorod, words frequently used were expressed by knock figures as follows: One knock with the end of the thumb signifed yes; several knocks, repeated quickly one after an- other with the end of the thumb, signifed no; a rectangle indicated by a knuckle, meant relatives; square, friends, com rades, members of the same party; a straight line, what Russian prisoners call "volia," the outside, free world; two straight lines, Siberia; triangle, prison; bow, which was indicated by rubbing brass button at the wall, prisoner; two parallel lines signifled corridor; a vertical line, director; crooked line, warden; semicircle, mediator; knock at the wall with the elbow, czar, and so on. Several knocks at the wall with the knuckies was . warning: "Don't knock, somebody is coming!'' Two slow knocks at the wall signified: ''Halloo, do you care to speakS' One knock with the knuckles and one with the ends of the fingers went for "Wait, am busy" and one knock with the whole palm signified: "Now, go on, am ready to listen" was expressed by a knock at the wall with the little finger; you, by knock with the wrist.
 Before entering into the minor details of the knock alphabet as it was in use at the central prison of Belgorod, few pre- 1iminary remarks are deemed necessary. There are in the Russian alphabet hard and soft, long and short vowels, so called. Instead of giving their respective names, the approximately corresponding English vowels will be given below for the sake of convenience. The Russian 6 is pro nounced like the English in get. The Russian like the French or ] in ger main or jeunesse.
 INGENUITY vs. THE GEAR.
 The alphabet was composed as follows: One knock at the wall with the large finger stood for a, ia, or va: two knocks with the same finger, e, ie, iou, or ye; one knock with two fingers, i, ie, ei, ca, or y; two knocks with two fingers, o, oa, 10, or yo; one knock with the first finger joints, co, 0u, iu, or yoo. It must be said that for the sake of quickness the vowels were left out whenever 1t was possible. B or p was expressed by one knock at the wall with one knuckle, usually with that of the large finger; V or by two knocks with one knuckle; g or by one knock all knuckles, or by one knock with the thumb and the next finger put together, or by two knocks with the same, m or D by one knock with all fingers, or sh by two knocks with all fingers, c, ts, or ch by one knock with the knuckles and one with the fingers fol lowed quickly one after another; kh or the German oh by one knock with a knuckle and one with a finger. stch or shtch was expressed by two quick snaps at the wall. As to figures, such were easily denoted by corresponding numbers of knocks. One knock with the middle joint of the large finger, short pause, five knocks with the same slowly re- peated, another pause, and two knocks with the fist went for 1, 800, the fist knocks indicating zerOs, and so on. ..
 As far as quickness is concerned, the above is the most convenient, if not the simplest, alphabet used in Russian pris- Ons. It was not the product of sudden discovery at the prison at Belgorod, but the result of notifications made grad ually in the course of months. All sorts of systems were tried, not excepting the system used by telegraphers, that is, points and lines; or the so called figure system, that is, expressing, for instance, the twenty-fifth, twenty-eighth or thirty third letter of the Russian alphabet by two and five, two and eight, or three and three knocks, with pause between, but they all had to be given up. To make a line distinguishable 1t was necessary to rub some metal, for instance brass but ton or chain joint, at the wall, but the sound was too sharp, and the warders could easily hear it. The figure system was too slow, monotonOus and weary. Besides, the walls of the solitary cells of the Belgorod prison were of solid stone blocks, and this, perhaps, made the above system most available. Brick or wooden walls would have necessarily required a somewhat modified system. - Michael Malkoff in Chicago News.