Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-02-20
RUSSIAN BAEBAHtrIEs.
A Document From the Prison Di-
rector = she Helpless C6uvtcts
EiOggcd to DeHth. MM

A Document From the Prison Di-
rector : she Helpless CoHvtcts
Fioggcd 10 DeRth.
CHICAGO, Feb. 1.-THE following COM
munication bus been received here:
"1I0 the dQeat Of the Associated Press
have received from independent sources
in Siberia copies of the order OF the
Russian prison administration by virtue
If which Madame Nadezhda Sigida seems
to have been logged to death NJ the mines
of Kara last November. 1t is Rs foliows:"
MINISTRY or THE INTERIOR, CHIEF Prison
ADMINISTRATION ST.. PETERSBURG, March D.
1sS8-T'o the Governor Of the Island OF
Sdgndlien. Your High EGcellency: On the
steamer Nizhni Novgorod OF the Volunteer
feet, which is to sail from the port OF
Odessa on the 20th OF March, 1888, there is
party OF SAG oonviots banished to the
Island OF Sagnalien. Among these orimi-
malls condemned to penal servitude are the
political offenders, Vassili Volnof, Serge
KUHN, Ivan Meisner and BtanislauB
Khrenofski. In notifying you OF this fact
the chief prison administration has the
honor to respectfully request that you
make arrange ments to conhne these
political Offenders not In separate group
by themselves, but IN the cells OF other
| Common eriminaD eonvlets. In making
| such arrangements 1t Is desirable not to
put more than two poltlcals Into any one
cell containing common criminals. In
| making the arrangements for connninR
| these polttieals In prison and employing
them In work no distinction must be made
between them and other criminals except
| In the matter OF surveillance (which must be
| OF the strlctest possible character.
| Neither must any difference be made be-
| tween them and other cop7lcts in respect TO
| punlshmeDts inflicted for violations OF
| prison discipliee.
/ easI A. I,.f~ 10 atHa -
| prison administration OF the manner ia
which the above named political offenders
are distributed In the Islands OF SagnalIen
and to forward reports with regard TO their
behavior. NJ. aALKiN YRAssKoY,
Director Of the Chief Prison Administration.
Up to the time when this order was
issued some difference had been made in
Siberian prisons between the treatment
of political offenders and the treatment
of burglars, highway robbers and mur-
derers. Both classes were confined in
the same prisons, received tho same fcoi
and wore the same dress and leg letters,
but the pol:ticals were isolated in cells
specially act apart for them and were viz
tusly exempt from corporal punishment.
They did not enjoy this ex mption
however by virtue of any law. Theoreti-
cally and legally they we're liable to the
sans punishments that were inflicted
upon common criminals. Namely, 70 to
100 blows with the 'rods" or the "plat"
Ia heavy whip of hardened raw-hide with
number OF lashss). In practice, how
ever, it was the custom for the prison
surgeon TO make profCrma examination
of the political offender who had rem
dered Himself or herself liable to
corporal punishment and certify &c
, the governor OF the prisoner that In
his Judgment auoh political was moi
strong enough to take a fiogging without
danger to life. Whether as matter Of
fact this certificate was true or false the
! governor always made it his warrant fol
substituting some other form of punish
,, rent. The government at that time die
!, not venture to uss the whip on the backs
!, of educated and refined men and womeI
and the surgeons certificate was I
mere legal fiction intended to relieve thu
prison department from the necessity o
actually enforcing its right to hog politi
cal conyicts and at the same time to hol(
that right in allegiance.
The issuance OF the order above sc
forth in March, 1883, marked q neV
departure In tue treatment of politica
! convictB, and since that time they hay
/, been put into the same cells with thieves
burglars and murdeEers, and have beel
! fiopged precisely SIS il they we're common
: criminals. On the 10Th Of September
q 1883, a little more than six months atte
7 the above order appeared, two of the YER
:, political offenders named in it-VasSil
Valnof and Ivan Meisner-and one other
named Tomashevski, were logged at tn
penal establishment Oh the island of Sag
: nalien. OF this affair I have receive
several manuscript accounts from Siberia
y The particular order of which l hay
!. given translation was address,
II 10 the governor Of the island Q
s. SeEnalien, but similar directions wer
n given of course to the governor Of th
10 Trans. Bniksl in which are situated I'll
:. mines of Kara. Lieutenant-g general Earo
"a Korff, the governor of that province
Il seems to have insisted upon merciles
10 enforcement of the order OF the chic
L. prison department and the logging {
10 Vnlnof, Meisner and Tomasheyski WI
!: followed by the logging to death {
=. Hope Sigida. ! do not care, at presen
Z to make any comments upoo the terrib
/. tragedy at Kara, but desire to call q
!. attention o. the American people to th
r fact shat the government which shoo
Or and hangs administrative exiles
r, Yakutski and hogs an educated and r
"a fined woman to death at the mines
:. y Kara is the same government that is no
r striving to get an extradition treai
as through the United States Senate and IL
W same government that has Just sdvertis,
al in European newspapers the ofier OF
1e prize for the best essay upon the life al
81 services Of John HowRrd-Huoh essay
y. "a be read In st. Petersburg at the fort
az coming meeting Of the internations
ID prison congress-.
n [signedl GEORGE KEENAN,.