The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-04-19
THE KNOCK ALPHABET.
VARIOUS ACOUSTIC METHODS USED
IN RUSSIAN PRISONS.

Communication.
And now for the "knock language, "or
'knock alphabet" There is multitude
of such alphabets at the various political
prisons of Russia and Siberia, almost
every prison having an alphabet of its
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 it various acoustic methods
are used A knock at a 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 a 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
ELECTED with every or several fingers at
once, and the sound of bass button or
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 signified yes; several
knocks, repeated quickly one after an
other with the end of the thumb, signified
no; a rectangle indicated by knuckle
meant relatives; a square, friends, COM
rades, members of the same party; a
straight line, what Russian prisoners
call VOLTA" the outside, free world; two
straight lines, Siberia; triangle, prison;
bow, which was indicated by rubbing a
brass button at the wall, prisoner; two
parallel lines signified corridor; vertical
line, director; crooked line, warder; a
semicircle, mediator; knock at the wall
with the elbow, car, and so on. Several
knocks at the wall with the knuckies was
warning: "Don't knock, somebody is
comingr Two slow knocks at the wall
signified: ;'Halloo, do you care to speak?'
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, l
am ready to listen" was expressed by
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-
liminary 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 G 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, lie, lou, or ye; one
| knock with two fingers, i, lie, Ell, ca, or y;
two knocks with two fingers, o. oa, 10, or
20; one knock with the first finger joints,
| 90, on, III, or 700. 1t must be said
| that for the sake of quickness the
vowels were left out whenever it 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; 6 or
k by one knock all knuckles, or z by one
knock with the thumb and the next finger
put together, or by two knocks with
the same, m or n by one knock with all
| fingers, or sh by two knocks with all
fingers, C, is, or CHI by one knock with the
knuckles and one with the fingers, fol
lowed quickly one after another; XII OF
the German CHI b. one knock with a
knuckle and one with finger, stch OF
Stitch 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 500, 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. 1t 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 ant
three knocks, with pause between, but
they all had to be given up To make &
line distinguishable it was necessary tt
rub some metal, for instance brass but
ton or chain joint, at the wall, but thu
sound was too sharp, and the warder!
could easily hear it. The figure system
was too slow, monotonous and weary
Besides, the walls Of the solitary cells O
the Belgorod prison were of solid stone
blocks, and this, perhaps, made the abov'
| system most available. Brick or woodel
walls would have necessarily required /,
somewhat modified system. - Michae
| Malkoff in Chicago News