The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-05-24
STORY OF AN EXILE.
The Life of Siberian Slaves Described by
Victim Now in America.


The Life of Siberian Slaves Described by a
Victim Now in America.
DR.. J. Hagen, for some time past a
resident of Louisville, is an exile from
his native country. from which he was
driven by the tyranny of the Russian
Government. He tells the following
story of the horrors of a Siberian
exile:
Russia was my home only by
adoption. 1 am a German. When
twenty-eight years of age 1 went to
Riga, in the province of Liveland,
Russia, and took the position of pro-
fessor of anatomy in a medical col
lege. The province was composed
almost entirely of Germans, and the
Russian Government became uneasy
about it. 1t was all the time expect
ing a war with Germany, and was in
doubt whether the residents would go
with the Fatherland, or with the
country of their adoption. Any
how, it concluded to drive them
out, and began by subjecting the Ger
mans to all kinds of petty annoyances.
Among the first of these was an edict
that no language but the Russian
should be used in all schools and col
leges. Previously the German
language was used exclusively. AS
one of the professors, 1 agreed to do
this, but was told that ] could not re-
main in the college. The explanation
1 received, as did many other who
were similarly treated was that was
-,
told that I must leave the country, or
go to Kassan, a small obscure Russian
town on the Caspian Sea. The latter
would have been, practically, Danish
ment, as l could not have returned
had l gone there. l had a good
home in Riga that 1 was forced to
sell, realizing very little for it. But
I never hesitated to go when ordered
for I knew I would be picked up at
some unexpected moment and carried
off into Siberian exile, or thrown into
some of the prisons. Such events are
common.
The charge of being a NihiIist was
elastic enough to cover any one on
whom the agents of the Government
had set the seal of fate. The question
of their guilt or innocence was never
considered, and in nine cases out of
ten the unfortunate victims were in
nOcent. A ship-load of convicts left
Riga every month for the mines of
Siberia, and many a father and hus-
band was silently snatched from his
family and carried off never to see his
home again. Among many instances
that came under my personal Observa-
ton l remember one in particular. It
was that of a young student, who at
tended my college. He received a lot
of Nihilist pamphlets one day and took
them to the chief of police, telling
him he was no Nihilist and knew moth
ing about them. The chief told the
man he had done right and would have
no trouble. Shortly after this the man
disappeared and no one knew what had
become of him. He had wife and
three children, who appealed to me in
their distress, but l could do nothing.
A year or two after his disappearance,
Lutheran minister passed that way
and told us that he had seen the miss
ing one shot in a prison at St. Peters
burg.
''In another case sixty Lutheran
ministers were kidnapped and carried
away. nobody knew whittier. The
only charge was that the ministers had
tried to influence members of the Rus
sian Church to desert it for the Luther
ans, which was totally untrue. But
these things were so common that
they ceased to be a wonder. The thing
most dreaded by the pc ople was exile
to Siberia, preferring death to it. l
have travelled over the country and
gone down into the mines and it is i'm
possible to tell of the misery and suf-
fering to be found there. Men are put
into these mines hundreds of feet be-
low the surface and never see daylight
again: In many places they have to
lay fat on their stOmachs to get at
their work and never have the oppor-
tunity to straighten up. They sleep in
the mines in hunks one above the
other, wet, half-rotten straw being
their only bed clothing. The water
from the damp walls is constantly
dripping on them, and they are alive
with all kinds of vermiu. Here they
work on as long as life lasts and die in
their tracks.
There are thousands of men in these
mines who never did aught against the
Government, yet they are doomed to
this worse than living death. Louis
Vile Courier-JOurnal.