The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-02-18
7HB SIBERIAN HORROR.
The Infamous Oder That
Brought Aboutthe Kara Affair.
NO MERCY HAS BEEN SHOWN

I NO MERCY HAS BEEN SHOWN
To Political Offenders In the Priso,
Dcns-Gcorgo Kcnnnn Receives
, Additional Dctails-Hls Time.
ly Hint to Congress.
CHICAGO, Feb. 1.-THE following com
munication has been received here:
To The Agent oihe Associated Pres:
have received from two independent
sources in Siberia copies Of the order Of
The Russian prison administration by
virtue OF which Madame Nalezhda
Sigida seems to have been logged TO
death ut the mines OF Kara last Noycm.
Der. 1tis as follows: D.
MINISTRY OF TIE INTERIOR, Cnlrr \
Prison ADMINISTRATION, No. 2,0o6,
ST. PETERSBURG, March s, 1883.
To Tho dor!rnor Of the Island Of sa0halien:
| "YouR HlGH ExcELLENcY.-On the
steamer Nishni Novgorod, OF the Vol.
unteer leet which Is to sail from the
port OF Odessa on the Goth OF March,
lSSS, there Is n purity OF 5o5 convicts
bandishcd to the island OF Saghalien.
Among these criminals, condemned to
penal servitude, are the political offend.
eIs, Vassili Volonoi, Serge Kuhen, Iven
Meiwaner and Stanisaus Khrenofski,
In notifying you Of this fact the Chief
PliGon Administration has the honor To
respectfully request that you make
arrangements to contine these political
offenders not in separate group by
themselves, but in the cells OF other com.
mon criminal) convicts. In making such
arrangements it is desirable no. 10 put
more than two politicals into any one
cell containing criminals. In making
the arrangements for combining these
politicals in prison and employing them
in work no distinction whatever must
be made between them and other crimi.
nails except in the matter OF suryeil.
lance, which must be Of the. stsictest
possible character. Neither must any
difference be made between them and
other convicts in respect to punishments
inflicted for violation Of prison discip-
line.
"You will not fail to inform tho Chief
Prison Administration OF the manner iu
which the above named political offend
ers are distributed on the Island of Sa.
ghalien, and to forward reports with re-
gard TO their behavior.
[Signed IN. CALK1S VRAssEoy.
director Of the Chief Prison Admins.
tration." -"
TIE USUAL CUSTOM.
Up to the time when this order was
issued some difference had been made
in Siberia between the treatment OF DO
litical offenders and the treatment Of
burglars, highway robbers and murder.
ers. Both classes were confined in the
same prisons, received the same food
and wore tho same dress and leg.icttcrs,
but the politicals were isolated in cells
specially set apart for them, and we're
virtually exempt from corporal punish
mcnt. They did not enjoy this exemp.
ton, however, by virtue OF any law.
Theoretically and legally they were liza
b!e TO the same punisbments that were
inflicted upon common criminals, name
ly, twenty to one hundred blows with
rods" or the "plot, "a heavy whip of
hardened raw.bide with a number OF
lashts). In practice, however, it was
the custom for the prison surgeons to
make proforma examination OF the DO.
litical offenders who had rendered him.
self or herself liable to corporal punish
ment and certify to the Governor of the
prisoner that, in his judgment, such po-
lltlcal was not strong enough to take the
tlosgins without danger to life.
MADE IT A WARRANT,
Whether as matter Of fact this Ger.
tiGcate was true or false, the Governor
always made it his warrant for substi.
luting some other form OF punishment,
The Governor at that time did not ven.
ture to use the whips upon the backs Of
educated and refined men and women,
and the surgeons certificate was mere
legal faction to relieve the prison de-
partment from the necessity OF actually
enforce its right to fog political conyicis
and at the same time to hold that right
in allegiance.
The issuance Of the order above set
forth in March, 1883, makes a new de.
parture in the treatment of political
convicts, and since that time they have
been put into the same cells with
thlevee, burglars and murderers, and
have been loggcd precisely US if thev
were common criminals.
On the 10Th OF September, 1883. a lit
tie more than ak months after tho above
order appeared, two OF the very political
offenders named in it, Vassili Volnof
and Ivan Melsuer and one other named
Tomashevski, were tloeged at the penal
establishment OH the Island OF fSacbalien.
OF this affair have received several
manuscript articles from Siberia.
HORRIBLE TREATMENT.
The particular order, OF which have
given n translation, was addressed to the
Governor Of the Island OF Saghalien, but
similar directions were given, of course.
to the Governor OF tho province OF
rransbaikal, in which arc situated the
mines of Kara. Lieutenant General
Baron korH, the Governor of that prov
ince, seems TO have insisted upon a mer.
ci!eas enforcement OF the order of the
Chief Prison Department and the fog.
ging of Volnoi, Meisner and Tomasche.
yski was followed by the logeing to
death OF Hope Sigida.
l do not care, at present, to make any
comments upon the terrible tragedy at
Kara, but l desire to call the attention OF
the American people to the fact that the
government which shoots and hangs ad-
ministrative exi!es at Yakutzka. and
flogs an educated and refined woman to
death at the mines OF Kara, is the same
government that is now striving to get
an extradition treaty through the United
States Senate, and the same government
that has just advertised in European
newspapers the offer Of a prize for the
best essay upon the life and services to
humanity Of John Howard-such essay
to be read in St. Petersburg at the forth
coming meeting OF International Prison
Congress.
[Signed] GEORGE KEENAN,.
| StenmalIiu News. sf.aa. Is-4n-s.