Bismarck weekly tribune., 1888-12-28
EXILES AND CONVICTS.
4 COLUMN OF RUSSIAN PRISONERS
EN- ROUTE TO SIBERIA.
Marching In Cloud Of Dust--A Roadside
sh.sne-rhe MONDAY Halt-Ths Boast
of the Brodyag-Rest for the Night.

r -
of the Brodyag- REST for the Night
Rations.
The column moved at the rate of about two
miles an hour, and long before noon it was
enveloped i'll suffocating cloud Of dust
raised by the shutting, fetter encountered
feet OF the prisoners In warm, dry weather,
1 when there is no wind, dust is q source OF
| great misery to marching parties particu.
larly to the sick, the women and the children.
There is no possible way of escaping it, and
when prisoner is suffering from one of the
diseases of the respiratory organs that are
SO common in etape life it is simply torture
TO sit In a cramped position for six or eight
hours in an open teleea. breathing the dust
raised by the feet of $50 men marching in
close column just ahead. have traced the
progress of an invisible exile party more
than mile away by the cloud of dust that
hung over it in the air.
Five OF. six miles from Tomsk the party
passed s'chasovnaya," or roadside shrine.
consisting OF an open pavilion, in which
hung ghastly wooden effigy of the crucified
Christ. Here, as upon our departure from
Tomsk, noticed that two.thirds of the con.
victs removed their caps, crossed themselves
devoatly, and muttered brief supplications;
A Russian peasant may be highway robber
or murderer, but he continues, neyerthe~
less, to cross himself and say his prayers.
HALT BY THE wAYs1DE.
The first halt Of the party for rest was
made about ten miles from Tomsk, at the en-.
trance to small village. Here, on a patch
OF green sward by the roadside, had assembled
ten or twelve girls and old women with bas.,
kets of provisions, bottles of milk, and Jugs
OF "kvass," or small beer, for sale to the
prisoners. At first sight of these prepara-
tions for their refreshments, the experienced
brodyags. who marched at the head of the
column, raised joyous shout of Prevail
Preeval!"-the exile's name for the noon day
halt. The welcome cry was passed along the
line until it reached the last wagon Of Gin
capables," and the whole party perceptibly
quickened its pace. A walk of ten miles does
not much tire healthy and unincumbered
man, but to convicts who have been in prison
without exercise for months, and who are
hampered by five pound Leg fetters united by
chains that, clash constantly between the
minute after the command to halt was
given, almost every man in the crowd was
either sitting OIL the ground or lying on it at
full length After short rest, Che prisoners
began buying food from the provision ven
ders, in the shape of black rye bread. fish
pie, hard boiled eggs, milk and kvass. and in
half an hour they were all sitting OH the
ground, singly or in groups, eating their
lunch.
The afternoon march was without note
worthy incident. The brodyags talked con-
stantly as they walked, raising their voices
so as to make themselves heard above the
lingling of the chains. while the novices
generally listened or asked questions. There
is the same difference between a brodyae
who has been to the mines half dozen times
and novice whois going for the first time
that there is between an experienced COW
boy and a ''tenderfoot." The brodyag knows
the road as the tongue knows the mouth: he
has an experimental acquaintance with the
temper and character of every convoy officer
from Tomsk to Kara; and his perilous adj
ventures in the ''taiga"-the primeval Sibe-
rlan forest-have given to him self conf
dence and a decision Of character that make
hlm the natural leader in every convict
party. 1t is the boast of the true brodyag
that the ostrog tthe PRISON. is his father and
the taiga (the wilderness) his mother, and he
often spends his whole life in going: from one
parent to the other; he rarely escapes from
Siberia altogether, although he may reach
half dozen times the valley of the Oh.
Sooner or later he is.almost always recap
tured, OF is forced by cold and starvation to
give himself up. AS an etape officer once
said to brodyag rearrested in western Si.
beria: ''The czar's cow pasture is large, but
you can't get out of it; we find you at last if
you are not dead"
BEST FOR THE NIGHT.
When our convicts,. after their toilsome
march OF twenty-nine versts from Tomsk.
reached at last the red rooted poloo etape of
Semlluzhnaya, they We're marshaled in rows
In front Of the palisadea and again carefully
counted by the under officers in order to
make sure that none had escaped, and then
the wooden gate Of the court yard was
thrown wide open. With wild. mad rush
and furious clashing Of chains. more than
900 men made sudden break for the narrow
gateway, struggled, fought and crowded
through it, and then burst into the kameras.
In order to secure, by preoccupation, places
on the sleeping platforms.
At last the tumult subsided. and the con.
victs began their preparations for supper.
Hot water was furnished by the soldiers of
the convoy at an average price of about
cent a teakettleful; ssbrickn tea was made hv
the prisoners who were wealthy enough to
afford such luxury; soup was obtained by
few from the soldiers kitchen; and the
tired exiles, sitting on the sleeping platforms
or on the aocr, ate the black bread, the fish
pies, or the cold boiled meat that they had
purchased from the provision venders, The
evening meal b sometimes an exceedingly
scanty one, on account of the failure Of the
peasant women to bring to the etape for sale
an adequate supply of food. They are