The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-01-19
Sufferings of Siberian Prisoners.

readable articles on prison life in
Russia. 1t is entitled Life On the
Great Siberian Road" From adj
vance sheets we make the following
extract:
The exile parties that leave TOmsk
in July and August are overtaken
by the frosts and cold rains of autumn
long before they reach Irkutz. They
have not yet been supplied with
winter clothing, and most of them
have no better protection from
rain. sleet or cold wind than that OF.
fered by coarse linen shirt, pair
of linen drawers and gray frieze
Overcoat. Imagine such party
marching In cold north. east storm
along the road over which we passed
between Achinsk and KrasnOyarsk.
Every individual is wet to the skin
by the drenching rain. and the nurs.
ing women, the small children, and
the sick lie shivering on water-soak-
ed straw in small rude telegas, with
out even pretense of shelter from
the storm. In places the mud is al
most knee-deep and the wagons wal.
low through 1t at the rate OF about
two miles an hour. The bodies of
the marching convicts, kept warm
by the exertion of walking in heavy
leg letters. steam little in the raw.
chilly air, but large number of the
men have lost or removed their shoes
and are wading through the freezing
mud with bare feet. The Govern
ment, Influenced. l presume, by con-
siderations of economy, furnishes its
exiles in summer and fall with low
shoes or slippers called "kotee," in
stead of with boots. These kotee are
made by contract and by the thous-
and, of the cheapest materials, and
by the Government itself are expect
ed to last only six weeks. As mat
ter of fact they frequently do not last
over one week. ~
A high officer of the exile admins
tration told me that it was common
thing to see exiles leave Tomsk or
Krasnoyorsk with new kottee and
come into the second etape barefoot
ed-their shoes having gone to pieces
in less than two days. Even when
the kottee hold out their nominal
period of service, they are not fitted
to the feet of the wearers they can
not be secured because they have no
laces they are so low that they fill
with mire and water and are con-
stantly sticking fast or coming off
in mudholes and on such road as
that between Achinsk and Krasnoy-
arsk scores of conyicts either remove
their shoes and hang them around
their necks, or throw them away al
together. and walk for days at time
with bare feet, through mud whose
temperature is little above the
freezing point.
AS the party, wet, tired and hun
cry. approaches one of the little log
villages that lies along its route, the
''starosta," or head man appointed by
the exiles to conduct their negotiation
with the authorities, asks the convoy
officer to allow them to sing the
"begging song" as they pass through.
out the settlement. The desired per-
mission is granted certain prisoners
are designated to receive the expect
ed aims the convicts all remove
their gray caps and entering the vii
lage with a slow, dragging step, as if
they hardly had strength enough to
crawl along, they begin their mourn.
full appeal for pity.
I shall never forget the emotions
reused In me by this song when I
heard il for the first time. We were
sitting, one cold. raw, autumnal day,
in a dirty post station on the great
Siberian road. waiting for horses.
Suddenly my attention was attracted
by peculiar. low.pitched, quayering
sound which came to us from dis.
lance, and which although made ap-
parently by human voices did not re.
semble anything that 1 had ever be.
fore heard. 1t was not singing, nor
chanting, nor wailing for the dead.
but strange blending of all three.
1t suggested vaguely the confused
and commingled sobs means and en-
treaties of human beings who were
being subjected TO torture. but whose
sufferings were not acute enough to
seek expression In shrieks or high.
pitched cries. AS the sound came
nearer we went out into the street in
front of the station-house and saw
approaching chained party of about
a hundred bare. headed convicrs, who.
surrounded by Gordon of soldiers,
were marching slowly through the
settlement. singing. singing the sex
iles' begging song" No attempt was
made by the singers to pitch their
voices in HARMONY or to pronounce