News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-01-12
LIFE In RUSSIA.
Government Terrorism and How it
is Infused.

Gen. Strelnikoff's plan was to arrest
simultaneously large number of per-
sons belonging to the Enthusiastically
class; throw them into prison, keep
them for ten days or two weeks in the
! strictest solitary confinement, and then
subject them to terrifying inquisitorial
examination with the hope of extorting
scraps of information, here q little and
there little, which might be pieced to-
gether, like the parts of a dissected map,
so as to reveal the outlines of revolu-
tionary plot. If, for example, a young
| girl belonged to an Enthusiastically /"
family, and suspicious" letter to her
had been intercepted by the authorities;
or if she had been seen coming out of a
suspicious" house at a late hour in the
evening, she was arrested in one of these
police raids, generally at night, conveyed
in q close carriage to the Odessa prison;
cell and left to her own agonizing
thoughts. No explanation was given
her of this summary proceeding, and if
she appealed to the sentinel on duty IN
the corridor the only reply she obtained
was "Prikazano ne gavarit "-"Ialk1nS
is forbidden. The effect produced up
on young, inexperienced, impresslble
girl by the overwhelming shock of such
transition from repose, quiet, and Sc
curity of her own bedroom, in her own
home, to a narrow, gloomy cell IN
common criminal prison at night, can
readily be imagined. Even If she were
q girl of courage and firmness of charac-
ter, her self-control might give way I'M
der the strain of such an ordeal. The
Il, kI4 ca, IF
Russian Criminal prison at night-the
steaIthy tread of the guard; the family
heard cries and struggles of drunken
strapped to his bed in another part of
of the prison-cries which suggest to an
inexperienced girl some terrible scene
of violence and outrage; the occasional
clang of heavy door; the moaning and
hysterical weeping of other recently-ar-
rested prisoners in cells on the same cor
ridor, and the sudden and noiseless ap-
pearance now and then of an unknown
human face at the little square portfolio
in the cell door through which the pris-
oners are watched-all combine to make
the first night of a young girl in prison
Pn experience never to be forgotten
while she lives. This experience, how
ever, is only the beginning of the trial
which her courage and self-control are
destined to undergo. One day passes
two days-three days-ten days-with-
out bringing any news from the outside
world, or any information concerning
the nature of the charges made against
her. Twice every "a hours food is hand
ed to her through the square portfolio by
the taciturn guard, but nothing else
breaks the monotony and the solitude of
her life. She has no books, no writing
materials, no means whatever of divert
ing her thoughts or relieving the mental
strain which soon becomes almost unen-
durable. Tortured by apprehension and
by uncertainty as to her own fate and
the fate of those dear to her, she can
only pace her cell from corner to corner
until she is exhausted, and then throw
herself on the narrow prison bed and in
sleep try to lose consciousness of her
Tho To,,f1,ru