Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-12-10
A HUMANE GOVERNOR.
Why a RussiHu Colonel In siberia DiG Not
Au.ncI the Generals Letter.

regret 10 lave To say that he waS
vir., ally driven out of Siberia 10y the
worst uul most corrupt class pi Rus
.luu bureaucratic Officials he was
called ",'paE and sentimental lao
was accused Of being "A Socialist he
Wa> SAIL t0 he m sympathy with the
"!gWs vi Re political cOuyicts; and
Jl.c nnuJyaIE of Ncrcliusk openly
lHuarI. m the Official club Of that
r,l,, ta,, ID, Would yet send Col.
NuuuuuN,en 10 Tie province OF va
un,,E VIA 81 yellow dIamuua on his
back !.ow g:.ly even hiah officers
81 Jlr STE .l7 administration were To
1ulril&.n the most trivial charges
against INN maj be inferred from the
ioliUNlug aueuGute:
iJurlg the last year of his service
az %aiH There cauc tp the mines a po-
Auc,l convict, hardly oul Of llis Teens.
Hgmnd E,hi6of (Bee-hoc ioitj. As o
consequence of long continued suffer
az and III treatment on the road, tins
yCJHg Elam was rs wild. suspicious
HGl savage "a, a trapped wolf He
s".pled lu regard all the world us his
'utmIts. aid .larel al every officer as
n he expected n blow, was half afraid
al II but was prepared 10 die fight
ing. Col. kouuuUvich received BIN
c~nurteUGsly and kindly; sent the wife
OF one 81 the political eXiles To him
with fresh underclothing; attended
generally to his physical needs, and
finally said TO HIM, Remember that
uuGaIy here will insult you or i'll treat
you"
The young convict was greatly sur
prisca by such a reception, and in a
letter that he wrote To a friend in Eu-
ropean Russia he said, IL am glad to
know from the little acquaintance !
have had with Kononovich that a
Russian colonel is not necessarily a
beast" This letter fell into the hands
of the police in European Russia. was
forwarded through the minister Of the
interior 10 Gen. Ilyashevich Qll-yah
shay vitchl, the governor of the Trans.
Baikal, and was sem by that officer
10 Col. konoaovich with a request for
an explanation" IL seemed 10 be re.
gardcd as documentary evidence that
the governor of the Kara prisons was
on suspiciously friendly terms with
the political convicts. kononovich
paid no attention 10 the %commuuica.
ton.
Some mon-ns later he happened TO
visit Chita on business and Governor
liyashevlch. al the course of a con
versltion about other matters, said TO
him, by the way, Col. kononovich,
you have V answered "A letter that
/ wrote you asking for an explanation
Of something said about you il Il let
ter from one OF the political convicts
in your command Did you receive
~"
"Yes," replied Konorovich, II re.
ceived it; but what kind Of an answer
did you look for! What explanation
could ] give! Did you expect me 10
excuse myself because somebody re.
gSIded me as a human being and not
u beasti Was TO say that the writer
of the letter was mistaken IN suppOsing
ms TO be human being-that IN real.
ity ! was a beast. and that | had
never given him or anybody else rea.
son 20 suppose that a Russian colonel
could be human beingl'
Tsis presentation of the case rather
confused the governor, who said that
.he demand for an explanation haG
been written by his assistant, that IL
had been stupidity expressed, and that
after all the matter was not of much
consequence. lie then dropped the
subject. George KEENAN, ia Cen
tury.