Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1889-11-29

\ CSDpazisoa - ne suOSrlnes RnAuoa
~ Two OlaaaOS. ~

the Nerchinsk mines did not seam to
me SO terrible IS they are often repre-
scented to be- II Is not very pleasant,
OF course, to work eight or ten hours
every day In damp or ICY gallery
three hundred feet underground; but
even such employment is. think. less
prejudicial TO health than unbroken
confinement in dirty, over-crowded
and foul-smelling convict prison. The
mines are badly ventilated and the
gases liberated IN them by the explo-
sives used are doubtless injurious; but
there are no deadly fumes or exhala-
tons from poisonous ores like cinna-
bar to affect the health Of the labor
ers, and experience seems to show
that the death rate is no higher among
the convicts who go regularly every
day into the mines than among those
who lie idle day after day in the
vitiated air OF the prison kameras II
were permitted to make choice be-
tween complete idleness in such
prison as that Of Algachi or Ust Kara
and regular daily labor in the mines,
l should, without hesitation, choose
the latter. SO far as could ascer-
tain by careful inquiry among the con-
v1cts themselves, no one has ever been
compelled to live and sleep In these
mines day and night. and I believe
that all the stories to that effect pub
lfshed from time to time are wholly
imaginary and fictitious. The work
Ing force may occasionally have been
divided into day and night gangs, or
shifts, sent into the mines alternately,
but the same men have never been
required to remain there continuously
for twenty-four hours. At the pres
ent time there is no night work and
all OF the convicts return to their
prisons before dark, or in the short
days Of midwinter very soon after
dark. do not wish to be understood
as saying that the life of Russian con-
victs at the Nerchinsk silver mines il
an easy one, or that they do not suf-
fer. l can hardly imagine q more ter
rible and hopeless existence than that
OF q man who works all day in one Of
the damp. muddy galleries OF the
Pokrofski mine. and goes back at
night to a close, foul, vermininfested
prison like that of Algachi It Is
worse than the life OF any pariah dog,
but at the same time 1t ia not the sem
sationally terrible life of the fictitious
convict described by Mr.. Granville
MurraF-the convict who lives night
and day under ground. sleeps in
rocky niche. tolls in hopeless misery
under the lash Of q pitiless overseer.
and Is slowly poisoned to death by the
fumes of quicksilver. Such things
may be effective In q sensational
drama, but they are not true. The
worst feature Of penal servitude in
Siberia Is not hard labor in the mines;
1t Is the condition Of the prisons.
George Kennan, IN Century.
Single Gentleman - "Have You
any manageable daughtersP" Land
lady-''rwo lovely creatures - one
lovely blonde and" Single Gentle
man-"Excuse me, madam, make it
o rule never to board in house un~
less the landlady's daughters are mar
ried. Good morning."-Texas Sift-
ings. sy., s.! i,4
-t'Did You use your French white
you were In ParisP' asked a young
woman Of a friend who had just re-
turned from q European tour. .'Once
or twice--but it was embarrassing. {"
''WhyF' I'VE nearly, always had to
tell what We wanted In English before
we could get any ono TO understand
VA Merchant Traveller.
Boy [hnrricdly) Gimme q bottle
Of DIR. Quaclrer's cough sirup, Mr..
Squilla" Squilfs-"A dollar and a
quarter please" Boy (reproachfully)
--"Sayl This amt for a customer; It's
for Mr.. Menthol, ON the corner I'm
the boy In his drug store" Sauills--
"Oh. excuse mel Ithought you were
the public. Thirty-five cents, please. {"
Lowell Citizen. "-"'
! ---Mre Jason--'It really is q pity
that the papers have &c devote 90
much space 10 scandal" M. Jason.