The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-04-05
A REAL RUSSIAN HORROR.

From The London Daily Telegraph, March IA
ST. PETERSBURG, March 10.-A very
lurid light has just been thrown upon
the life and superstitiOns of the Russian
peasantry by the preparation of q
gruesOm crime in the name OF what
they take to be Christianity. A rich,
popular farmer died rather suddenly
in the village of SoorOffsky He had
been seen i'm the enjoyment of excellent
health Oh Thursday, and was found
dead in his bed on Friday morning.
He was prayed for and duly "waked, Z"
after which he was carried to the grave,
almost all the inhabitants of the village,
inclusive OF the priest, following him 10
the churchyard. just as the body was
being lowered, the lid, which had been
fastened rather loosely with wooden
nails, began to rise up slowly and
and dctach itself from the cOfiin, TO the
indescribable horror OF the friends and
mourners of the deceased. Then the
dead man was seen in his white shrOud,
stretching his arms upward and sitting
up. At this sight the grayediggers let
20 the cords and along with the by.
ISLANDERS fled in terror from the spot.
The supposed corpse then arose, scran
bled ont of the grave and, shiverlng
from the cold (the mercury was two
degrees below zero, Fahr.,) made for
tho village rs fast az his feebIeness al
lowed him. But the villagers had barr
cd and bolted themselves In against the
"wizard,' and no one made ans er to
the appeals he made, with chattering
teeth, 10 be admitted; aud so, blue,
breathless, trembling, he ran from hut
TO hut like a rat in n burning room,
seeking some escape from death.
AT last fortune seemed TO favor
him, and he CHANGED OIL hut the im.
mate of which was an old woman who
had not been TO the funeral, and, know
ing nothing OF his resurrection, had le Il
her door unbarrcd. He opened it and
entered, and going up TO the stove
seemed as If he would get inside IL, IL
he coulI. Meanwhile the peasants
gathered together, armed themselves
with poles and stakes of aspenwood,
the only etlectual weapons in fight
with wizard ,and surrounded the cabin.
a few of those whose superstition was
modified by faith in the merits OF
modern improvements also took guns
and pistols with them, and the door
being opened the attack of these Chris
,ians against this "devil's ally" began.
The miserable man, dazed by all that
had happened that morning, and suffer.
ing from cold and hunger, was soon
and his neighbors, with
many pious calculations, transfxed
him, though alive and unhurt, with
holy aspen stakes to the ground in the
court before the hut. When things
had reached this point the priest, who
had recovered somewhat from his
terror, came upon the scene, with a
half: developed idea that perhaps after
all the alleged corpse had been plunged
in lethargic sleep and might recover
and live as before. But he found the
man pinned down to the
earth with the aspen poles, with no
manner of doubt abont his death The
police superintendent (Stanovoy) who
lived close by, then arrived, and also
saw the murdered man, and made
inquiry into the manner of his death.
The peasants had gone to their daily
work, leaving the body, according to
The requirements of the superstition
prevailing in Russia, until sundown,
when they intended to draw out the
stakes and throw the corpse into bog.
Cases of the kind are of not unfrequent
occurrence in Russia. The press is
taking the matter, but is not sanguine
Of attaining permanently satisfactory
results, which cannot possibly be
achieved until fair and impartial trial
shall be given to education.