The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-23
KARA RULED BY DEMONS.
A SECOND CONFIRMATION OF THE
STORY FROM SIBERIA.

STORY FROM SIBERIA.
The Recent Trouble a Sequence of an
Attempt by the Female Political
Prisoners 30 Escape the Brutality of
Their Jailors by 5tarvation-Thirty
Men and Three Women Committed
Suicide.
LONDON, Feb. 22-Further details of the
outrage in the political prison at Kara
reached the Russian exiles in London to-day
from friends whosare located a short dis
tance from the scene of the horrors. They
are brief, but conclusive; confirming fully
the report of the affair received here from
an official in st. Petersburg who is in SYM
pathy with the cause of the people, Ac-
cording to the details received to-day 1t
appears that the trouble at the
Kara prison originated in a "Hunger
striken in August, when the
women political prisoners tried to
starve themselves to death to escape the
brutalities of their jailers. All the women
imprisoned there abstained from food for
fourteen days. The jailers did not believe
| that they would be able to keep up the
| struggle. AT first they jeered at the women,
then tempted them with food, and then,
| finding this of no avail, threatened them.
When several of the women were at the
| point of death from their voluntary absti-
| nence from food the prison officials
resorted to artificial means to compel them
| to take nourishment.
LICENTIoUs METHODS.
The methods adopted, however, were
violent and licentious, and the women were
rnmnaliad tn abandon thar
Abominable outrages followed and were of
daily and hourly occurrence. This state of
affairs led Nine. Sigida, whose death bv
| fiogging has already been announced, to ask
| for an interview with the director of the
prison in the hope Of securing an ameliora-
tion of the condition of the prisoners. This
request was granted, but when
she was taken before him she
found him abusive 1t is said that
in her evaporation at his abuse she called
him a villain and slapped his face. 1t is
not positively known, however, what took
place during the interview, but whatever
did happen Madame Sigida did not return
| to her companions. She was taken from
the directors office and conveyed to the
| prison in which common offenders are con-
| fined. Three OF her companions from
among the political prisoners were per-
mitted to join her. Advices received to-day
state that these were Mary Koalesky, wife
of Prof. Koalesky, of Kieff; Madame
| Smirnitsky and Maria Kolujny. The last
two ladies were from Odessa.
| THE OBJECTIONABLE EDICT.
Two months elapsed after these events
| before Adjt. Baron Koreff, governor gen.
eral of the province OF Amour, instructed
the directors of prisons that the secret edict
of March, 1888, which ordered that political
prisoners should be treated by prison officials
| In precisely the Same manner as criminals
condemned for common law offenses.
would be enforced, and ordered the direct.
ors TO notify political prisoners of both
sexes that they would be liable to corporal
punishment if they violated certain Of the
prison regulations. The male prisoners.
foreseeing immediate danger, held con-
sultatton, and sent to the director of the
prison petition that he would telegraph
to the minister of the interior at st. Peters
burg, requesting him to suspend the appli-
cation of the edict. The director refused
to pay any attention to their petition, and
| thereupon the men warned him that the
first fogging Of political prisoner would
be the signal for the others to commit
suicide together.
THE FLoGGING OF NINE. sIGIDA.
| Three days afterward Baron Koreff sent
a special order that Nine. Sigida be pun
| ished according to regulations, and the
| order was executed to the fullest extent
Mme Sigida was stripped and received 100
lashes. She was carried OFF bleeding and
In an unconscious condition, and her death
| ensued from rupture of the heart. Her
| three companions committed suicide within
an hour Of the time of the hearing of Mme
| Sigida's death. The corpses of the four
women were buried at the same time in the
court yard of the common offenders prison.
| For weeks the Gordon of vigilance was SO
closely maintained around the prison that
nothing was known of what was happening
| within.
| THIRTY COMMIT SUICIDE.
Since the secret cha mel Of information
has been reopened it is learned that the
men carried out their threat of suicide.
| They met together, and thirty of them
shared what poison they could obtain and
then went to their cells to die The
quantity of poison which had been
smuggled into the prison was not sufficient
| to kill quickly, but in the course of the
evening TWO of those who had shared 10,
Bobooker and Kalujny, died. Their con-
vulsions and the silence which reigned in
| the other cells aroused the attention of the
guards, and they Immediately summoned
| physicians, who administered emetics to the
survivors, and endeavored by every means
to counteract the effects of the poison.
PHnADELPHIA's EXILE ASSOCIATION,
PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Feb. GA largely
attended meeting of the Siberian Exile
Petition Association was held in Associa-
tion hall in this city this afternoon. This
association was organized some months ago
as result Of the interest created in the
connection of the Siberian Exiles
by the return of George Kennan,
the famous Siberian traveller. To-
days meeting was presided over by
Rev. W. N. McVicker, president Of the
association, and the form of a petition TO
the Gar of Russia was agreed upon. 1t is
the purpose of those interested In this move
ment to circulate copies Of the petition all
over the United States for signatures, and
| to place the same in the hands of the car.