St. Paul daily globe., 1890-12-29
A Young and Beautiful Rus
sian Girl Condemned to Be
Executed
Because She Loved Her Fell
low People and Despised
an Autocrat.
An Illustration Of the Tyran-
nieal Government Exist
ing in Russia.
What Women Have Done in
the Glorious Battle for
the Right.

tH0 hlSuC.
In lonely dungeon. within the con-
fines of the world-famed Petropavlovski
fortress, there is confined beautiful
and intelligent young Russian girl,
writes the Countess Norraikow. You
ask the nature of the crime for
which she is incarcerated. This the
world has been unable to learn, save
that it is political one, and for it poor
Sophie Gunzburg has been condemned
to die. The child of well-to-do parents.
when only seventeen years old she de-
cided to study medicine. and the uni
yersities of her native land being well
nigh inaccessible, she determined
to go to Switzerland, and there
secure what Russia denied-a thor
ough medical education. She en-
tered the University of Berne, where
she became acquainted with other Rus
sian students who, like herself, had been
forced to seek abroad what they could
not obtain at home. The oppression
which has ever characterized Russia'S
rule has tended to incite spirit of re-
bellion in Ter people, especially the
youth of the country. What more
natural than that these young people,
the moment they find themselves in a
free land, should think of some means
for bettering the condition of their own
people2 They soon turn to the study of
sociology as the first means by which to
achieve greater freedom for Russia.
10 this class had Sophie GunZburg
allied herself. Bright, energetic and
Self-SacrificIng, she soon
Devoted Herself
wholly to the cause of the Russian peo-
pie, arguing that it was of far greater
self with such movement than
to study medicine, and practice
among peasantry too poor to
live up to sanitary requirements,
Or to pay for medicines. After four
years of study to Berne, she returned
to Russia, where for two years she car
ried on the work of a propagandiSt.
She identified herself with the peasants
of the villages she visited, assisting in
their work, and becoming one of them.
Beyond this, nothing is known of the
cause of her Incarceration.
To the women of America this may
seem but trif1ing matter, utterly una
ware of the dangers which attach to
and braveSt Russian hearts are sent
forth on such perilUus mission. Other
nations of the world have their heroines,
but in point of numbers and dauntleSS
bravery Russia Outranks them all. To
those noble American women who have
so generously espOused this young
Russian girls cause. let it be said that
they know but little OF the strong. in
dOmitable will which pervadeS Rus
sian woman's character.
The women OF Russia have no voice
in the affairs of state, and every at
tempt at forcing their way to the front
has been met in much the same spirit
as that displayed in Sophie Gunzberg's S
pie free speech. free press, free meeting
and the right of any electoral platform,
could not. of course, tolerate the inter-
ference of women. Yet with all this
oppression, women have become an I'M
pOrtant factor of the empire, whero
they regard themselves as the equals of
men. If difficult mission is to under
taken
Ii Is Woman
who is chosen for its performance. It
was a wOman's cries coming from the
Northern Siberian land which touched
the hearts of the civilized world.
1t is woman who has taught the
world how to suffer, and suffer in ST.
lence. From the times of the Iron Gar,
Nicholas, when the beautiful Princess
Tarakanowa suffered such horrible
death for freedoms cause, down to the
present, the women of Russia have
stood out pre-eminent as heroines and
martyrs in the cause of liberty.
Sophie Perovskei, molly born, gently
nurtured, at the time offered position
Of honor in the household of the late
empress. suffered death at the hang
mans hands. In her case guilt was
coheluSiveiv proved. How different in
the case of Sophie GunZburg. who was
tried by court martial, with closed
doors, and sentenced to death without
any facts being made public. The Rus
of the case, fear to make public
the knowledge. and the world at
large is left in ignorance as to the girls
guilt and the justice of the sentence i'm
posed upon her. OF one fact those who
have studied Russian affairs must be
aware; and that is. if Sophie CUM
burg's guilt had assumed tangible form,
the Scars officials would only too
gladly have given the knowledge of it
to the world i'll defense of the sentence
passed upon her. 1t is the star-chamber
proceeding in connection with the case
which arouses the attention of civilized
countries.
Not long since saw paragraph in a
morning paper which contained the in
formation that political
Women Prisoners
in Siberia were no longer to be flogged.
but would be sent to the island of
Sakhlien. Can any one who knows
aught of this penal settlement imagine
| worse fate than being condemned to
| life there? Situated in the Okotsk
sea, accessible at only one
| point, and that point several miles from
| the penal quarters, what chance has the
convict of effecting escape, or even
communicating with friendSb In adj
dition, it is a well-known fact that
greater brutalitieS are practiced on po-
Htical offenders at Sakhalien than at any
other of Russia's penal settlements. The
chances of being discovered are somueh
less, owing to the isolated position of the
island. In former times it was custom
ary for The government to offer a re-
| ward for the head of every escaping
! convict. The savage Gelyaks inhabited
the island. and to them the three rou-
sbles offered was tempting bait; the
consequence was that the political pris-
.oners were shot down the moment they
appeared beyond the prison walls. The
rewards has been withdrawn, but
the brutal and murderous official
still remains. In the face of such facts,
if the hanging of Sophie Gunzburg were
not looked at from humanitarian point
of view. it would be better to let her
suffer the death penalty, for in any case
life will be nothing more to her than a
living death. with the ever-present pos
sibility of its being ended as was Nine.
Sighidis' and the rest of the Kara hero
ines.