The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-08-02
HOW DESPOTS RULE.
Horrible Punishment Inflicted on
Exiles in Siberia
Living and Dying in Chafns-Scourged ed,
Starved and Frozen-The Fate of a
Human Eulture-Ha.If Has Not
Been Told.

Alexander Baranof, who was a Rus
sian ar my officer. and who was SEN
fenced to Siberia for alleged com plic-
ity IN revolutionary schemes. spoke to
a Boston Advertiser reporter as fol-
lows:
Were it not for the charity OF the
people Of Russia and Siberia no con
Wet would ever live TO see the end Of
his journey. The charities of the City
of Moscow, from which so many pris-
oners start for Siberia, are great 1t
Is the custom of the convicts TO choose
one of their own number as foreman
when about TO start on their long Jour
ney. When our company of eight
hundred men and women, escorted bv
the soldiers with fixed hayonots, left
Moscow our foreman went up and
down the lines Of people gathered 10
witness our departure. He collected
aims from the crowd, the money be-
ing put into bags and carried along to
the first station. where it was divided.
The amount collected was so great
that every man had tweuty-seven dol
lars
The Government does not interfere
with this alms-giving on the part Of
the people. In every little town
through which you pass each villager
takes of his hat and crosses himself.
and throws in a penny for the benefit
OF the poor unfOrtunates, as the CON
victs are termed by the people.
''All that the American people have
heard and read about the sufferings
endured by the prisoners exiled to 81
IBERIA is true. The half has never been
told. The soldiers in Siberia have
name for the couvicts which well ex-
presses their condition. Il may bs
translated freely as you are dead but
not buried This is the truth It isa
living death.
Typhoid fever is the worst scourge
Of the exiles- More convicts die Of
that than Of any other cause. ItcouId
not be otherwise. The inlescribable
filth and frightful atmosphere of the
crowded slecpinC-places at the sta
tions along the route are steady and
sure breeders OF the disease, which
makes dreadful ravages among the
prisoners. The fever broke out
among Us when we were at Tobolsk.
and the prisoners died at the rate Of
thirty or forty day. | was sick with
! the fever myself The prisoners re-
ceiyed medical attendance, such as it
was. IObolsk was a great stopping
place for transients, and at that time
there were three thousand convicts
confined in various barracks opening
| upon a large inclosure which was
! strongly fortified.
Another thing from which the con-
! victs suffer n Siberia is the cold. The
! cold OF a Siberian winter is intense,
and the convicts on the line of march,
/ unable to walk fast and keep their
! blood in circulation because Of their
! chains, suffer much. L remember one
! day, near the City of Tara, in the
/ Province of Tobolsk, when it was so
| frosty that some Of the baggage horses
even lay down and died. We lost
three women and five men that day,
who, chilled through and through by
| the dreadful cold, succumbed and died
/ in the road, tneir bodies being picked
up and brought along to the next sta
ton.
Some Of the prisoners died in this
way every week. especially in the
Bratsh steppe, and yet it was only the
! ordinary Siberian winter.
Convict life in the mines of Siberia
is well illustrated by our daily routine
at the gold mines of Nerchinsk. We
got up at four o clock in the morning
and had a breakfast of black bread
and bowl of Cruel. We worked in
the mines till noon and then had din
ner, consisting of more Cruel and black
bread, and also piece of meat The
meat was often horse meat, and young
horse, let me tell you, isn't half bad,
/ especially if you are a prisoner in
Siberia.
I'VE worked in the mines again un-
til dark Supper consisted of cabbage
| or some other kind of soup, meat
| every two or three days, potatoes or
other vegetables, which were fre-
| quently rotten, and black bread. In
! the mines we worked in true miner
! fashion with pick and shovel and lamp
on hat. We still wore our chains
/ They never came of. The convict.
had TO live IN them and die in them.
such a life, of course. sooner O.
later, caused the death of many con
victs. The political prisoners, man
/ of whom were of high rank and total
unused TO manual labor and to such L
/ dir and r,,.ppay. ,f iiE-ipar -,rrTarad Tho