Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-02-25
THOSE BRUTALTTlES.
The Troubles at Ta9 Began with a
''lfnnger Strike"
THE CASE OF NINE. sIGIDA.
Latest Details. show That the Harsh
Method. OF the Government onlciais
Drove Thirty Exiies to At
tempted Suicide.

LONDON, Feb. 24.-Further details OF tho
outrage in the political prison at Kara,
SioerA. reached the Russian exiles In Lon
don I'm friends who are located a short
distan4 from the scene of the horrors'
They are brief, but conclusive, confirming
.ully a report of tho affair received here
from an official in St Petersburg who is In
sympathy with the cause Of the people.
1t appears that the trouble at the Kara
prison originated in hunger strike" IN
August, when the women political prisoners
tried to starve themselves to death to escape
the brutalities of their jailers. AL the
women imprisoned there abstained from
food FOR fourteen days The jailers did not
Aceiieve that they would be able to keep up
Hss2ruggle. At first they jeered ae tho
vol hen tempted them with food and
then, findsag this of no avail, threatened
them WheSsevaral of the women were at
the point of cath fronf-their voluntary alb
stinence fre h food the prison officials re-
sorted to artificial means to compel then to
take nourishment The methods adopted.
however, were violent and licentious and
the women were compelled TO abandon
their strike.
The Case of Nine. sigida.
This state of affairs led Nine. Sigida, whose
death by fogging has already been an
nounced, to ask for IN interview with the
director of the prison in hope OF securing an
'ameloration of the condition OF the prison
.erS. 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, how
ever, what took place during the interview,
but whatever did happen Nine. Stgida did
not return to her companions.
She was taken from the directors office
and conveyed to the prison In which COM
mon offenders were confined. Three OF her
companions from among the political prison"
ers were permitted to join her. The advices
raesished state that these were Mary koa-
lesky, wiSsof Professor Koalesky, OF kief;
Nine. Smirnitsky and Mary kolujnv. The
last two ladies were from Odessa.
An Appeal UNDECIDED.
Two months elapsed after these events be-
fore Lieut.. Gen. Baron Korf, governor
general Of the province Of the Amour, IN
structed the directors of prisons that the so
cret edict of March, 'SSS, which ordered
that political prisoners should be treated by
prison officials in precisely the same man.
ner as criminals condemned for common
law offenses. would be enforced, and Or
dered the directors to notify the political
prisoners of both sexes that they would be
liable 10 corporal punishment il they vio-
lated certain Of the prison regulations. The
male prisoners, foreseeing immediate dan
ger, held q consultation, and sent to the
director of the prison petition that he
would telegraph to the minister Of the int
-rior, at st. Petersburg requesting him to
suspend the application of the edict. The
director refused to pay any attention to
their petition, and thereupon the men
warned him that the first fogging Of po
litical prisoner would be the signal for the
others to commit srielde together.
-SAs Multiplying and the Suicides.
Three lays afterward Lieut. Gen. Baron
Korff Sc e special order directing that
Nine. Sigida be punished according to the
fullest extent. Nine. Sigida was stripped
and received 100 lasheS. She was carried of
bleeding and in an unconscious condition,
aud her death ensued from g rupture Of the
heart Her three companions committed
suicide within an hour Of the time Of hear
ing of Nine. Sigida's death. The eorpses Of
the four women were buried at the same
time in the courtyard of the common offend
ers prison.
For weeks Gordon of vigilance was so
closely maintained around the prison that
nothing was known of what was happening
within Since the secret channel of infor-
nation has been reopened it has been 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 struggled
into the prison was net sufficient to kill
quickly, but in the course Of the evening two
of those who shared it-Bobokov and Ko.
lujny-died. Their commissions and the
dead silence which reigned in the other cells
reused the attention Of the guards and they
immediately summoned physicians, who ad-
ministered emetics to the survivors and en-
deavored by every means to counteract the
effects of the poison.