Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-09-06
TWENTY FIIL8S SLAIN.
Details of the Latest Horror in the
WildS of Siberia


A Russian in New York Tells the Awful
| story Of the Tinmen Tragedy Trans
ported in leon Cages.
| Six weeks ago cable dispatch from Berlin
stated that another horror had been perpe-
trated on Russian exies in Siberia, that
number of the so-called political unfortu-
nates' had been slain by their guards at or
near the town of Tinmen, in Western Siberia
1 People had already been so surfeited with
/ horrors in reading the heart-rending accounts
of the massacre at jaktush when 50 'politi.
/ Gals" were shot down. and of the fiOgging Of
/ Nine. Sihida at Kara, that the few lines about
the Tinmen affair created only a moderatee x-
citement at the time it was published. Butde-
| tails have now been received that hiring its
horrors fully up to those perpetrated in the
extreme northern Siberian capital.
A Russian, Alexander Kwiatkowski, ar
rived in New York direct from St Petersburg
| and brought with him the first accounted the
Tinmen tragedy. He had gained his news
almost at first hand from a relative of one Of
the victims, a beautiful young girl, the Prin-
cess Eleheoginska, Is years of age. From
! Prince Adam 0ginska, kwiatkowski learned
| the following details:
The story begins with theexiles, 100 innum-
Der who left Ekaterinburg about the end of
! May. They had been transported with
steamer load OF exiles-politcals and crimi-
nals-from Mimi Noygorod TO Perm, living
| in iron cages on deck and were then sent by
the railroad across the Ural mountains, II
hours journey to Ekaterinburg, where the
real horrors of the Siberian journey began.
| From that point the exiles had TO 90 on foot
all the way to Tinmen, a distance of nearly
| 800 miles, where the cage steamer would be in
readiness TO transport them via the Jenessei
and the Obi to Tomsk. where another 1000
miles would have TO be trodden by the weary
exiles until Irkutsh was reached.
According TO Oginska's account as told to
| KwiatkOwski, the journey from Ekanerinburg
| to Tinmen was one of iudescribabe hardship.
| The heat during the day was intense, and for
! 10 days the exiles were compelled to walk
under the burning sun along the roads half
foot deep in dust They usually made 20 to
1 % miles, and sometimes so miles in r day
resting at night in the prisons which line the
| great Siberian post road straight across the
continent from the Urals to the Baikalas, then
further to the Pacific Ocean. The letters re-
ceived by Prince Adam say the sutferings OF
the beautiful Princess Elene was intense
arousing even the sympathy of the Cossack
] Guards at times. She was the youngest Of the
| group of exiles, but much as she suffered her.
self she was never heard 10 complain. All her
| companions were in similar pitiable eondi-
| ton of exhaustion from the journey. Their
| feet were swollen 10 such an extent that some
of them sat down by the roadside and declared
| it was utterly impossible for them to move
another step, and asked permission to ride in
| the wagons that always accompany an escort
of exiles for the purpose of Transporting the
sick and the women unable 10 walk. They APP
! pealed TO the guard in vain, however. for as
/ answer they were cruelty beaten by the soldiers
with the stocks of their guns and ordered TO
/ get up and march on.
These scenes happened frequently on the
/ journey, always with the same results in
/ cruelty. But at last, when within only few
stations of Thinner, the small band of exiles
! driven to despair, turned hercely npon their
guards and began to fight for their freedom.
But it was very unequal fight for the sol
/ diers who made the journey with loaded rifles
! Immediately began firing on the crowd. The
result was horrifying. The first syictim was
the beautiful young princess, Her head
4 was pierced by bullet and she fell dead
without uttering a word. Still the soldiers
kept up the hriug, and out OF the band of po-
litical exiles who left Ekatcrnbburg 20 were
shot dead and II were wounded. As nearly
all the exiles in the group participated in the
rebellion" to greater or less degree, il is
feared that the remainder will be severely
punished, if not hanged.
Such is the terrible story as told by Kwiat-
kowski. 1t sounds incredible, and would
doubtless be considered so were it not that so
many previous horrors of like description
have been reported and proven.
NJ. Norralkow an old Siberian exile, who
is now in New York, says that the case Of the
princess has been followed with deep interest
in the Russion colonies in Geneva, Paris,
London and other cities She belonged 10 an
old and honorable Lithuanian family, several
members of which spend the winter in st.
Petersburg How she came into the trouble
originally is not known. She was probably
connected in some way with the societies in
st. Petersburg for the bringing about Of po-
litical reforms. NJ. Norralkow expects that
81 he