Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-17

twentieth blow tainted. but the ropes held me
up, and the full hundred were counted on my
body They cut me down, rubbed rock salt and
waite r and some iron that eats Ike fire into my
back to stop the bleeding, and carried
to the hospital. I lay there Two months,
and discharged l had but one idea
then, and that was vengeance. BY patience
palace as a seamstress. One afternoon he was
in his bath, and he sent for towels. The attend
ant was tired, and volunteered to take them.
threw them over my arm, and under them 1
held long stiletto, sharp as a needle. 1 en-
tered the room, and he WAS reading and smoking
in the bath. laid the towels by his side with
my left hand. and at the next moment drove
the knife through his heart. 1t was
splendidly done. He never made sound
and I escaped to this land. That is why
am Nihiiist. Do any of you doubt?'' She
sprang excitedly from her chair, and in half
minute had barred herself to the waist. The
front of her form from neck to belt might have
passed as the model of the Venus de Milo. But
the backI Ridges, welts and burrows that
crossed and interiaced as il cut out with red
hot iron, patches of white gray, pink, blue and
angry red, holes and hollows with hard, hideous
edges, half visible ribs and the edges of ruined
and heightened with the swaying of her body.
There was gasp from everyone present. The
aged host rose, silently kissed her on the fore
head, and helped her to put PACK her garments
Then again the wine passed round, and what
secret toasts were made as che party drank will
never be known.
The historic chapter which this news
paper paragraph brought to my mind was
the story of Madame Lapoukin; the
bri efest account of which is probably the
following, from the Knout, by German
de Lagny:
In 1860, under the reign OF the indolent and
luxurious Elizabeth, who had abolished capital
punishment, Madame Lapoukln, woman OF
rare beauty, of which the cZarlna was enVlouS,
was condemned to the knout and transporta-
ton in spite of the privilege of the nobility new
er to suffer the former punishment She haG
haaF fefad sod and RIM
had. 1t was SAID. betrayed the secret OF the en-
press liaison with Prince Razounowsky. She
conducted by the execuhoners to the public
square, where she was exposed by one OF them,
who rolled up her chemise as far as her waist;
he then placed her upon his shoulders, when an
other arranged her with ms coarse DIRTY nanus
in the required position, obllglng her TO hold her
head down, while man OF the lower classes,
squatting at her feet, kept her legs still. The
executioner cut her flesh into shreds by 100
strokes of the knout. from the shoulders to the
lower portion of the loins. After the intiictiOn
of the punishment, her tongue was torn out, and
a short time subsequently she was sent to Sibe-
ria, whence she was recalled In 1862 by Peter ILL.,
For the successful development of
these journalistic literary and historical
facts and suggestions into full three
volume novel, with truthful as well as
chsraC teristio accessories, it was neces-
sary that [ should make a study of
Russian village life, and refresh my
memory with such chapters of Russian
history as should enable me to hold my
imaginary characters and their actions
within the reasonable control of proba-
bllity. 1 was already fairly well ac-
quainted with some of the best works of
Russian fiction, which'a full of strong
local color and fine Characterization,
Gogol's stories more particularly, but in
order that [ might not stray from the
path of truth any further than is reason
ably permissible, l followed up the
narrative of the Times, in the
files of the Daily Telegraph and the
Jewish Chronicle: traced the anti.
Jewish riots throughout their lurid
march of fire and bloodshed; talked to
several travelled authorities as to their
experiences of Jewish life in Southern
Russia; and settled down to a careful
study of the literary, Typographical,
political and historical literature of the
subject, in the course of which, for the
purposes of this story, 1 have consulted
and read 1.-THE Jews and Their Perse-
cutors, - by Eugene Lawrence; "Scenes
from the Ghetto, - by Leopold Kompert;
1.-THE Knout and the Russians, by
German de Lagny; elizabeth, or the
Exiles of Siberia, by Madame Coffin;
''Russia Under the Cars, - by Stepinak;
''PrIson Life in Slberia'' and ''Crime
and Punishment, by Fednr Dostoiffsky;
''The Russian Revolt, - by Edmund
Noble; ''The Jews of Barrow" by
Karl Emil FRANCIS. "Russia,
Political and Social, by L.
Tfkhanirov; ''Called Back - by
Hugh Conway; dead Souls by
NikoIai V. Gogol; "War and Peace
and Gamma Karena, F" by Count Tolstoi;
GA Hero of our Time, - by NJ. V. Ler-
ID
War; by the author of Society as it is
in ST. Petersburg;'' ''The Encyc!ope-
dia Britannica "Russians of To-
Day, - by the author of ''The Member
for Paris;' ''The Russian Peasantry &"
by Stepinak, "Stories from Russia, ST.
IBERIA, Poland and Circassia, - edited by
Russell Leer ''Chamber's Encyclopoe-
dia;' George Remnants Century papers
on "Plains and Prisons of Western ST.
IBERIA, - and "Acrosss the Russian From
tier;'' Theodore Child's "Fair of Mimi
Novogorod, - in Harper's Magazine;
the Times pamphlet (befors men
toned "Perseoution of the Jews
in Russia, 1885," ''Venice, s"
by Yriarte; venetian Life,'
by Howells; "Sketches from Venetian
History; - f'New Italian Sketches by
J Symonds, and other miscellaneous lit
erature. 1t will be seen that l name
these works without any view to classif-
cation or order. A foreign criticism upon
the Venetian chapter of the story makes
it desirable for me to state that the in
PRODUCTION of Russian interest in the
royal fetes on the Grand canal is pure
invention. The pageantry is true enough;
the presence of the king and queen of
Italy; the illuminatIons and the rest, but
the red gondols aud the ghost of the Ia
goons belong to the region of fancy,
though they might easily have formed
part of the events of the time. I saw a
dead swimmer towed into an English
fishing port under verZ similar circum-
stances to those which 1 have described
as occurring in the waters of the Adri-
attic.
In taking leave of nv readers, with all
due apologies for this personal note, I
venture to express hope that they may
continue to feel an interest in the future
of the Milbankes, the Forsyths, the
Chetwynds and the Klosstocks. If l
have made these people half as real to
them as they are to me, they will keep
them in their remembrance as acquaint-
anoes, if not as friends; and in reflective