The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-02-14
TWO ExilEs.
A Sample of Russian Justice
IGeorge Kennan IN February century.

George KEENAN, In February Century,
Two of the most interesting politicians
whom we met in Irkutsk were Mr.. and Mrs.
Ivan Cherniavski, who were banlshed to ST.
IBERIA. by administrative process in 1873 be-
came very well acquainted with them, and
for Mrs. Cherniayski especially / came to
feel the profoundest pity and regard. Few
women, even in Russia, have had before the
age of 35 so tragic and heart-breaking life,
and still fewer have maintained through
hardships. sickness and bereavement such
cheerfulness and courage. She was arrested
in Odessa in the early part OF 1878 at the age
OF about %, and after long term of i'm
prlsonment was sent by administrative pro-
cess to the province of Tobolsk. In the city
prison of Kiey, on her way to Siberia, she
was detained for few days. and while there
was to be almost an eyewitness of the as
sassination of her dearest friend. A young
man of English descent named Beverly
whom she had known from childhood, had
been arrested shortly before upon the charge
of living on a false passport and carrying on
revolutionary propaganda, and he was at
that time in the Kiev prison. The night be-
fore Mrs. Cherniavski was to resume her
journey to Siberia, Beverly, with conrad Q
named Izbitski, attempted to escape through
a tunnel which they had succeeded in digging
from their cell to point outside the prison
wall. The prison authorities, however, had
in some way become aware of the existence
of the tunnel, and had posted a squad of SOL
diers near the place where the fugitiyes must
emerge from the ground. Late at night
when they made their appearance, they
Ia Ill.
Beverly was mortally wounded, and as he
lay writing on the ground he was dispatch
ed by soldier with several repeated BAY
onet thrusts. lzbtski, wounded and severely
beaten, was taken back into prison. The
Inc next morning when Mrs. Cherniavski
started with her party for Siberia she had to
march past the bloody and disfgured body
Oh her dearest friend, which was still lying
where 1t had fallen, in plain sight of the
prison windows. II can bear my own per-
she, finished the story of this tragedy, but
such things as that break my heart"
need not recount the hardships and mis-
cries, that she, cultivated and refined
woman, endured on the road and in the road
side etapes between Kiev and the small town
in the Siberian province of Tobolsk where
she and her husband had been assigned
residence They reached their destination
at last; child was there born to them, and
they, lived there in something like comfort
until mdtCu. 1901, WHICH ALEXANDER Ill. came
10 the throne, and Mr.. Cherniavski was re-
oulred to take the oath of allegiance. He
refused to DO so, and they were sent farther
eastward to the town OF Krasnoyarsk A
second refusal to take the oath of allegiance
resulted in their being sent to Irkutsk. By
this time winter had set in, and they were
travelling in an open tarantas with delicate
baby IL months of age. 1t was with the
greatest difficulty that Mrs. Cherniavski
could Keep her baby warm, and at the last
hafAra Trly,
the heavy wrappings in which she had en-
veloped 1t and found it dead With the
shock OF this discovery she became delirious.
ana Wept. sang pathetic little nursery songs
TO her dead child, rocked it in her arms, and
prayed and cursed God by turns. In the
courtyard of the Irkutsk forwarding prison
I'D temperature of 800 below zero, Mr. Cher
nlayski stood for half an hour waiting for
wife raving In a delirium beside him and his
DEAD child In his arms. Mrs. Cherniavs.i
lay In the prison hospital at Irkutsk until
she recovered her reason, and to some extent
her strength and then she and her husband
were sent 1000 miles farther to the northeast
ward under guard Of gendarmes, and colon
lzed In Yakut settlement known as the
bataruski ooloos, situated in the 'tiaga'' or
prlmeval wilderness OF Yakutsk, 165 miles
from the nearest town. There. suffering
almost every conceivable hardship and nrvas
llen, they lived until 1884, when the minister
OF the interior allowed them to return to a
more clyliized part of Siberia.
Mrs. Cnerniavski. when | made her ac-
qualntance, was pale. delicate, hollow
checked woman, whose health had been
wrecked by years of Imprisonment. banish-
ment and grief. She had had two children
and had lost them both in exile under circum-
stances that made the bereavement almost
lnt0lerable, for seven years she had been
separated by distance of many thousand
miles from all her kindred, and the future
seemed to hold for her absolutely nothing
except the love of the husband whose exile
she could still share, but whose interests she
could do so little in her broken state of
health TO promote She had not been able to
step outside OF the house for two months and
It seemed to me, when babe her good.by.
that her life of unhappiness and suffering
was drawing to close. | felt profoundly
sorry for her,-while listening to her story
my lace was wet with tears almost for the
hrst time since boyhood, and hoping to give
her some pleasure and to show her how Sin
cerely l esteemed her and how deeply l
sympathaized with her. | offered her nv
photograph as the only memento / could
leave with her. To my great surprise she
sadly but firmly declined it, and said MANY
years ago had photograph of little child
that had lost 1t was the only one in ex-
istence, and l could not get another. The
police made G. search one night in my house.
and took away all my letters and photo
graphs told them that this particular pic
ture was the only portrait | had of my dead
boy. The. gendarme officer, who conducted
the search, promised me upon his word of
honor, that 1t should be returned to me. but
IL ! never saw II again. | made VOW then
that 1t should not be possible for the Russian
government TO hurt me SO a second time. and
from that day to this have never had
photograph In my possession