St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-02-14
GEORGE KENNAN'S LECTURE
A Sad and ThriIIfne Chapter from Sibe-
rfan Exile Life.

George kennan OF washington iec-
tured in the Y. M. c. A. course last
Friday evening upon Exile life in
the Kara mines of Eastern Siberia" F"
The lecture was intensely thrilling
and one of the finest ever given on a
st. Johnsbury stage. Throughout
the whole Mr.. Kennan held the clos
est attention of the audience, often
moving them to tears as he related
the sad stories of injustice and bar
barity on the part of the Russian
government The lecturer was in
troduced by Rev E. T. Fairbanks in
his usual original way by referring
to the fact that last year we listened
to a Stanley Africanus while this
year we welcomed a kennan Siberi-
ensis
Mr.. Kennan opened by saying that
if his story seemed too sad to be
| heard, that the audience should re-
member how much harder it was for
the speaker to live through it all,
realizing that he was perfectly help
less to relieve the sufferings of the
eXiles or change the present order of
things. He then gave brief sketch
of the geography of Eastern Siberia
and the location of the most dreaded
of all prisons, the placer gold mines
of the Kara mountains. These mines
are 5000 miles east of st. Petersburg
and on the Mongolian border Mr.
kennan described the filthy interior
of one of these prisons and how no
attention was paid to giving the
prisoners decent attention or COM
Portable quarters. After citing indi
vidual cases of prison servitude he
retired for a few moments and reap
peared in the full dress of a prison
convict with chains and leg fetters.
Every piece of the shabby raiment
that he wore had been worn by some
exile and the suit was one that the
eXiles contributed to be exhibited in
|
| lowed q graphic description of his
finally successful attempts to meet
the political prisoners and with what
JOY they received messages from him
from those he had met in exile on the
great Siberian road" The fact
that he received from them letters to
convey to friends in Russia caused
him great anxiety and for fear of
threatened search by Russian officials
he burned all the letters before leav-
ing Kara. The gems d'arme who
wanted to search him had previous
| ly told Mr.. kennan how he had
found letters in the ears and nose,
and in one instance in a cavity in n
tooth, of political exiles! Many of
these politicals are from the highest
ranks in Russian society, are highly
educated, and a number of them are
ladies. These together with the
lowest criminals are serving life SEN
tences under despotic government
that allows neither freedom of
speech or action, and imposes the
most barbaric treatment In closing
Mr.. Kennan said there are many po-
liticals in Siberia, of high culture and
refinement, the latchet of whose
shoes the Tsar of all the Russias is
unworthy to unloose
At the reception which followed in
the Athenaum Il large number of
the audience grasped the lecturers
hand and were cordially greeted by
him. Those that fingered for few
moments hoping to hear more on
the absorbing topic of the lecture
were not disappointed, and for near
| ly half an hour Mr.. Kennan chatted
| famll1arly upon the subject upper
most in his mind and answered
questions from his spell-bound audi
ence. Mr.. kennan thought the Rus
sian government would be forced to
change the whole system in the near
| future, not from any reasons of hui
manity, but because of the injurious
effect upon the Siberian provinces of
| pouring in upon them murdererS,
embezzlers, thieves and ordinary
criminals. During all his journey
through Siberia the officials never
searched his baggage and once he
| 1n1 Cf, 4
| documents to St. Petersburg from
the centre of Siberia Mr.. Kennan
thinks he is the last foreigner that
will be allowed to visit Siberian exile
stations and he does not propose to
return to Russia until a constitution
al form of government is established
! there.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY NIGHT.
Dickerman & Cooper are now TAX
ing photographs by night and a pic
ture of their reception room taken by
the flash magnesium light is exceed
ingly clear and distinct. This pro-
cess will enable all to preserve SOU
venirs of family parties, receptions,
weddings, etc. 1t is also of advan-
tage to all patrons who cannot visit
the studio in the daytime The stu
dio will be open evenings for taking
photos on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
| AT THE ACADEMY.
| Baker Richardson. Rogers and Ide