The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-01-24
A DESPERATE PROTEST.
AAr' Aennan's Account of . Hunger Strike
In . Siberian Prison


nails were brought back to the political
prison at the Lower Diggings. where
they were put into new and much
smaller cells that had been made by
erecting partitions in the original
kameras in such manner as to divide
each OF them into thirds. The effect
OF this change was to crowd eyerv
group OF seven or eight men into a
cell that was so nearly filed by the
sieeplng-platform as to leave no room
for locomotiou. Two men could not
stand side by side in the narrow space
between the edge of the platform and
the wall. and the occupants of the cell
were therefore compelled to sit or lie
all day on the plank mares without oc-
cupation for either minds or bodies.
No other reply was made to their Pc
tltions and remonstrances than a threat
from Khalturin that if they did not
keep quiet they would be fogged
with view to intimidating them
Khalturin even sent surgeon
to make physical examina-
ton of one political, for the avowed
purpose of ascertaining whether
his stage of health was such that he
could be fogged without endangering
his life. This was the last straw.
The wretched state criminals, de-
prived of exercise. living under ..dun-
geon conditions" poisoned by air
laden with the stencil of excrement t.
buckets, and finally threatened with
the whip when they complained,
could endure no more. They re-
solved 10 make that last desperate
protest against cruelty which is known
in Russian prisons as ''godlodofka,
Or ''hunger-strike". They sent a no.
tification to Major Khalturin that
their life had finally become uneu-
durable, that they preferred death to
such an existence, and that they
should refuse to take food until thev
either perished or forced the govern
ment to treat them with more humani-
ty. No attention was paid to their no.
tification. but from that m oment not a.
mouthful of the food that was sent into
their cells was touched. AS day after
day passed the stiffness of death
gradually settled down upon the
prison. The starving convicts, too
weak and apathetic even to talk to one
another, lay In rows, like dead men,
upon the plank sleeping platforms, and
the only sounds to be heard in the
building were the footsteps of the
sentries, and now and then the in
coherent mutterings of the insane. On
the fifth day of the '.golodofka" Major
Khalturin, convinced that the hunger
strike was serious, came to the prison
and asked the convicts to state definite
ly upon what terms they would discon-
tinue their protest. They replied that
the conditions of their life were un-
bearable. and that they should con-
hnue their self-starvation until the
sxcrement- buckets were taken out of
their cells, until they were permitted
to have books and to exercise daily in
the open air, I'm il they were allowed
to direct the expenditure of their
money for better food and better cloth
ing than were furnished by the Gov
srnment, and until he {Khalturin) gave
them a solemn assurance that none of
them should be logged. The COM
nandant told them that the
talk about fogging was nom
sense; that there had never been any
serious intention of resorting to the
whip, and that if they would end their
strike, he would see what could be
lone to improve the material condi-
lions of life. Not being able to get
any positive assurances that their de-
demands would be complied with, the
prisoners continued the ''golodofka- !"
On the tenth day the state of affairs
become alarming All of the starving
men were in the last stages of phys
ical prostration, and some of them
seemed to be near death. Count
Dmitri Tolstoi, the Minister Of the In
terror, who had been apprised of the
situation. telegraphed the command
ant to keep ''skorbnoi leest." or
hospital sheet" setting forth the
symptoms and conditions of the strik-
ers, and to inform him promptly of
any marked change. Every day
thereafter feldsher. or hospital stew
ard, went through the cells taking the
pulse and the temperature of the starv-
ing men. On the thirteenth day of the
..golodofka' Major Khalturin sent
word to the wives OF all political con-
victs living at the Lower Diggings that
they might have an interview with
their husbands-thef first in more than
two months-if they would try to per-
suade them to begin taking food. They
gladly assented, of course, to this con-
dition. and were admitted to the prison.
At the same time Khalturin went him
self to the starving men and assured
them, on his honor. that If they would
end the hunger-strike he would do ev'
cry thing in his power to satisfy their
demands. The entreaties of the
wretched, heart7broken women and
the promises of the commandant final
ly broke down the resolution OF the
politicals, and on the thirteenth day
the first and most obstinate hunger
strike in the history of the Kara po-
litical prison came to an end. George
Kennan, in Century.
Charity is paradox to the covet-
Gus. The doctrine that teaches aims,
and the person that needs them, are
by such equally set at naught. Tell a
miser of bounty to q friend or mercy
to the poor. and point him out his