The Opelousas courier., 1889-11-16
THE CONNECTS OF SIBERIA.
THE HORRIBLE LIFE WHICH THEY
LEAD.
Scenes of Suffering Graphically De-
scribed by an Eye-Witness-Liv'
ing and DYING in Chains. .

SCFlDGu Dy an Eye w EtLfcSs-AAis
ing and Dying in Chains.
Mr.. Alexander Baranoff, who was a
Russian army officer, and who was sen
fenced to Siberia for alleged completely
in revolutionary schemes, spoke to a Bos-
ton Adcertise7' reporter as follows:
"Were it not for the charity OF the
people of Russia and Siberia no convict
would ever live to see the end of his
journey. The charities of the City of
Moscow, from which so many prisoners
start for Siberia, are great. It is the GUS
tom of the convicts to choose one of their
own number as foreman when about to
start on their long journey. When our
company of 800 men and women, es-
corted by the soldiers with fixed bayo-
nets, left Moscow, our foreman went up
and down the lines of people gathered to
witness u departure. He collected aims
from the crowd, the money being put
into bags and carried along to the first
station, where it was divided. The
amount collected was so great that every
man had $27.
"The Government does not interfere
with this alms-giving on the part of the
people. In every little town through
which you pass each villager takes off his
hat, and crosses himself, and throws in a
penny for the benefit of the poor unfor-
%tunate,' as the convicts are termed by
the people.
Cali that the American people have
heard and read about the sufferings en-
dured by the prisoners exiled to Siberia is
true. The half has never been told.
The soldiers in Siberia have a name for
the convicts which well expresses them
condition. It may be translated freely
as you are dead but not buried This
is the truth. 1t is a living death.
"The M prisoners at the mines
were employed in scrubbing, washing
and clothes making. The delicately
nurtured ladies among them who were
political offenders did not generally live
long. i
"Some of the seventies practiced upon
conyicts in Siberia are justified, it must
be said. Many of the convicts are the
worst sort of humanity, including muir
derers, thieves, highwaymen and all
kinds of offenders. We had one muir.
derer in our community who had killed.
tWenty-seven men. !
"The political prisoners were forced to-
mingle with this class of convicts, some
of them the dregs of humanity. In our
company of 500 which left Moscow.
there were forty-eight political prisoners,i
four of whom were women. Sixteen of
us were the officers of the Shleselburg
Regiment, who had been courtmartialed
for alleged completely with Polish con-
spirators. Three of us officers stuck to-
gether and worked together, and finally
escaped together. [ do not know what
ever became of the others. 1 suppose
they are all dead by now. 4
"There is only one chance in 100 Of
ever getting back to Russia when one is
once sent to Siberia, for if a convict is
suspected of having further political
schemes it destroys his hope of a pardon.
s'Many Of the convicts, as l have said,
are desperate men. Here is a story Of
the revenge some of them took upon a
Siberian who had murdered some of their
number. This Siberian was one of the
Mongolian race called Bratski, and he
had a farm about 200 versts from Ner-
chinsk. 1t lay in the way by which con-
victs escaping from the mines generally
passed. The region was mostly a dry
desert, but this Bratski farmer had
a good well of water which at
tracted the c~onvicts, especially the green
ones who had never heard of him. Il
was this farmers custom to call to a convict
whom he saw passing by, wearing a good
pair of shoes or a good coat and entice
him within reach, and then shoot him
from a round hut which he had loop
holed all about. He killed and
robbed a number Of c%onvicts in this way
One day a party of seventeen convicts
went by the farm, and some of the
younger ones were for stopping. The
more experienced convicts dissuaded them
from doing this, saying that they would
surely be shot. By means of a stratagem
five of the convicts captured the farmer
unarmed and away from his loop-holed
hut. Then the best means of putting to
death the murderer was discussed.
Some were for hanging him, but n on
vict said: 'I1l show you a better way
than that The farmers legs were ripped
up with a knife from the inside of
the ankle and a lot of finely
chopped horsehair was rubbed into the
wounds. The hair was obtained from
the tail of a horse which was cut off.
The finely cut hair irritated the wounds
much and put the victim in great agony.
The convicts at Nerchinsk later heard,
through the convict system of signs and
communication, which is spread all over
Siberia, like the tramp language in this
country, that the farmer died of his
wounds.
II remember hat a convict at Ner-
ehinsk named Butouska, who was an un-
ruly fellow and often brought punish
ment upon himself. He used to get 200
or 800 lashes at a time for stealing from
the other prisoners. Upon one occasion
he was punished for some misdeed by
being thrown into a dark cellar, the in
tention being to keep him there for two
hours. But the overseer, who was a
drunken fellow, forgot him, and he was
not released. During the night the other
conviets heard an awful yelling coming
from the cellar into which Butouska had
been thrown. In the morning there was
nothing to be seen in the cellar but
Butouska's bones. The rats had eaten
the rest of him."
Two Comparisons.
C;p,nr H-aan1aaf +ho ar,S,arL ,-sc&