The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-11-09
THE STORY OF AN EXILE.
The Pitifnl Case of Russian Punished With
out Cause by q Despotic Government.

out Cause by q DespOttc Goveroment.
George KEENAN,, in November Century.
To me perhaps the most attractive aud SYM
pathetic of the Tomsk exiles was the Russian
author. Felix Volkhofski, who was banished to
Siberia for life, in 1873, upon the charge OF be-
longing to a society that intends, at a more or
less remote time in the future, to overthrow the
existing form OF government" He was about
thirty eight years of sge at the time made his
acquaintance, and was man Of cultivated mind,
warm heart and high aspirations. He knew
English we'll, was familiar with American his
tory and literature and had, / believe, trans
of Longfellow. He spoke to me
with great admiration. remember. of
LonRfellow's arsenal at Springfield and
recited it to me aloud. He was one OF the most
winning and lovable men that II has ever been
my good fortune to know; but his life had been
terrible tragedy. His health had been shattered
by long Imprisonment in the fortress OF Pstro-
pavlovsk his hair was premsturely white: and
when his face was in repose there seemed to be
an expression of profound melancholy IN his
dark brown eyes. became intimately acquaint-
ed with him and very warmly attached to him,
and whom l bade him good bye for the last time
on my return from eastern Siberia, in 1886. be
put his arm around me and kissed me, and said:
George Ivanovtch please DONE forget Us! In
bidding you good bye feel as If something were
going out OF my life that would never again
come into it"
"Since my return to America have heard
from Mr.. Volkhofski only once. He wrote me
last winter a profoundly sad and touching letter.
In which he informed mo of the death OF his wife
by suicide. He himself had been thrown out OF
employment by the suppression Of the liberal
Tonsk newspaper. the Siberian Gazette, and
his wife, whom / remember as q pale, delicate,
sad-faced woman, TWENTY-FIVE or thirty years OF
age, had tried to help him support their family
of young children by giving private lessons and
by taking in sewing Anxiety and over
work had finally broken down her
health; she had become an invalid,
and in q morbid state OF mind, brought on by
unhappiness and disease, she reasoned herself
into the belief that she was an incumbrance
rather than 3 help. to her husband and her
children, and that they would ultimately be
better off if she were dead. A little more than
year she put end to her unhappy life
by shooting herself through the head with a
pistol Her husband Was devotedly attached
to her; and her death. under such circumstances
and in such way, was terrible blow to him.
In his letter to me he referred to copy Of
James Russell Lowell's poems that had caused
after the Burial" he wildly realized,
for the first time, that grief is Of
no nationality; the lines, although written
by q bsreaved American, expressed the deepest
thoughts and feelings OF q bsreaved Russian.
He sent me with his letter q small, worn, leather
matchbox. which had been given by Prince
Pierre Krapotkin to his exiled brother Alex
ander; which the latter had left to Volkhefski;
and which Volkhofski had in turn presented to
his wife short time before her death. He
hoped, he said, that it would have some value to
me. on account of its association with the lives
of four political offenders, all of whom 1 have
known. One of them was refugee in London.
another was an exile in Tomsk, and two had
escaped the jurisdiction OF the Russian govern
msnt by taking their own lives.
/ tried to read Volkhofskis letter aloud 10
my wife. but as recalled the high character
and lovasle personality OF the writer, and
imagined what this last blow Of fate must have
been to such a MANN exile in broken health.
and with family OF helpless children dependent
upon him-ths written lines vanished in q mist
of tears, and with a choking il my throat pm,
the letter and the little matchbox away.
The Tear may whiten the hair of such a man
as Felix Volkhofski in the silent bomb-prooi
classmates of the fortress, and he may SEND
them ia gray convict overcoats to Siberia, but q
time will come, in the providence of God, when
their names will stand higher than his on the
roll Of history, and when the record Of their
lives and sufferings will be source of heroic in
SEPARATION to all Russians who love liberty and
their country