The Springdale news., 1889-09-27
A oq =sRArE PROTEST.
aIr. KcnnaH Nxs ccouut of a Hunger Strike
 in ASiberian Prison.

of July-aIl thS rest Ot tue state crlmi- nals were brought back to the political prison at the Lower Diggings, where they were put into new and much smaller cells that had been made by erecting partitions in the original kameras in such a manner as to divide each of them into thirds. The effect Of this change was to crowd every group of seven or eight men into q cell that was so nearly filled by the sleeping platform as to leave no room for locomotion. Two men could not stand side by side in the narrow space between the edge of the platform and the wall, and the occupants of the cell were therefore competed to sit or lio all day on the plank nares without oe- cupation for either minds or bodies. No other reply was made 10 their pc titions and remonstranees than athreat from Khalturin that if they did not keep quiet they would be Aogged. With view to intimidating them Khalturin even sent surgeon to make physical examina- tion of one political for the ayowed purpose of ascertaining whether his stage of health was such that he could be flogged without endangering his life. This was the last straw. The wretched state criminals, de- prired Of exercise. living under dun geon conditions, poisoned by air laden with the stencil of exerement- buckets, and finally threatened with the whip when they complained, could endure no more. They re- solved to make that last desperate protest against cruelty which is known in Russian prisons US "godlodofla. 5or "hunger-strike". They sent a no- tifcation to Major Khalturin that their life had finally become unen- Durable, that they preferred death to such an existence, and that they should refuse to take food until they either perished or forced the govern mcnt % treat them with more humani- ty. No attention was paid to their no- tification. but from that moment not mouthful Of the food that was sent into their cells was touched. As day after day passed the stiffness of death gradually settled down upon the prison. The starving convicts, too weak and apathetic even to talk to one another, lay i'll rows. like dead men. upon the plank sleeping platforms, aud the only sounds 10 be heard in the building were the footsteps of tho sentries, and now and then the in- coherent mutterings of the insane. On the fifth day of the .'golodofkaa Major khalturin, convinced that the hunger strike was serious, came to the prison md asked the eonviets to state definite ly upon what terms they would diseony tinue their protest. They replied that the conditions of their life were un- bearable, and that they should con- tiuue their self-staryation until the excrement- buckets were taken out of their cells, until they were permitted to have books and to exercise daily in the open air. un il they were allowed to direct the expenditure Of their money for better food and better cloth ing than were furnished by the Gov ernment. and until he (khalturin) gave them q solemn assurance that mono of them should be hogged. The com mandant told them that tho talk about logging was non- sense; that there had never been any serious intention of re5orting to the whip. and that, if they would end their strike he would see what could be done to improve the material condi- tions of life. Not being able to get any positive assurances that their de- demands would be complied with, the prisoners continued the ''golodofka.n V On the tenth day the state of affairs become alarming. All of the starving men were in the last stages of phys ical prostration, and some of them seemed to be near death Count Dmitri Tolstoi, the Minister of the h. terior, who had been appraised of the situation, telegraphed the command apt to keep a sssIorbnoi leest or ''hospital sheet, setting forth the symptoms and conditions of the strik- CTS, and to inform him promptly of any marked change Every day thereafter feldsher, or hospital stew, ard, went through the cells taking the pulse and the temperature of the stary- ing men, On the thirteenth day of the ''golodofka" Major Khalturin sent word to the wives of all political con victS living at the Lower Diggings that they might have an interview with their husbands-the first in more than two mouths-if they would try to per suade them to begin taking food. They gladly assented, of course, to this con- dition, and were admitted to the prison. At the same time khalturin went him. self to the starving men and assured them. on his honor. that if they would end the hunger-strize he would do ey- cry thing in his power to satisfy their demands. The entreaties of the wretched, heart-brolxen women and the promises of the commandant final