The morning call., 1891-11-27
IN KARA'S PRISON.
KEENAN, Describes the Life of the
Siberian Exile.
Filthy Abodes-B utal Treatment and Scant
Apparel-How Russian Political Cap
tives Are Searched.

George KEENAN,, the distinguished traveller
and writer, interested large audience in
Metropolitan Temple last night with a
graphic description of life in the prisons of
Eastern Siberia.
when you read that the Gar has merci-
fully committed the sentence of q prisoner
from death to exile in Siberia" said the
speaker. 1T means that he is sent to the
dreary penal settlement of Kara. a place
distant 1000 miles from ST. Petersburg. The
country is an unbroken wilderness Of forest
capped mountains. The trail is difficult and
dangerous and almost impossible in winter"
When he and his artist companion reached
the village 1t was noon, and they drove
to what are called the lower diggings. The
place suggested a wOrked-out placer in the
Black Hills. The irregularly clustered huts
suggested Shantytown in New York. Forty
or fifty convicts were at work upon stock
AIDE. They were dressed in gray, with large
yellow diamond-shaped patches of cloth
upon their backs. Surrounding them was
Gordon Of Cossacks leaning upon their
rifles The place viewed by the wanderers
in the cold gray light of an autumnal after
noon chilled them to the heart
WHAT THEIR OBJECTS WERE.
Their objects were 10 see the convicts at
work in the mines, to converse with ticket
Ol-ltdyb pOllllCdl anu TO sea poll
teal prisoners at work.
The first prison visited" said KEENAN,,
"looked like long. low h0rse-car stable,
built Of logs. 1t formed square and was
surrounded by stockade. looking like a
row OF huge sharpened pencils. The steps
that lead inside were covered with ice and
filth. The floor was damp and rotten and
the atmosphere was indescriba ble."
Accompanied by an officer and preceded
by guard they commenced an inspection
of the cells. The guard shouted silence and
they went in. There was no ventilation,
the floor was covered with hard trodden
filth and the walls were covered with a dull,
rusty Stain-a stain made by the blood of
millions Of bed-bugs that had been crushed
by the prisoners. The only furniture In
this and the other cells In the prison were
the plank platforms on which the captives
slept.
The acquaintance Of the political ticket-of-
leave ris0ners had to be made in secret The
officer at whose house they staid would not
leave his guests for moment. When they
went out he went out also. and the place
swarmed with Cossacks They found how
ever, that this officer had an enemy who
was in charge OF these political prisoners,
and they decided to take advantage Of this
enmity.
SEARCHING THE PRISONERS.
One afternoon when the watchful host
was called away KEENAN, went to the
enemy's house and after great difficulty and
many applications of hot Jamaica rum con-
WINGED him that the travellers had no hostile
purpose in view.
He told KEENAN, how prisoners ore
searched and asked him whether he would
think OF looking in a convicts ears or of ex-
aiming the cavities of his decayed teeth
for communications on tissue paper. The
astonished traveller replied in the negative,
whereupOn he was informed that tissue
paper documents had really been found in
cOnvicts' ears and deadly pois0ns covered
with wax in their hollow teeth.
From this officers house he went to
shanty occupied by young lady and her
mother. relatives of Count Leo Tolstoi
Through these he communicated with other
exiles and obtained letters to their friends
in the East. He found that these people,
among whom were some of the purest and
noblest Of the empire, lived in miserable
novels and were subjected TO revolving in
digntles His visit came TO the ears Of the
ofhclals, and he was compelled TO destroy
the letters that had been intrusted to him
and many of his own notes.
IN THE GARB OF A PRISONER
KEENAN, broke his narrative but once.
when he retired from the stage, but in a
few minutes returned dressed in the garb
which all the Russian political prisoners
must wear. 1t consisted of viS0rless cap
fashioned after the Scotch pattern A
coarse shirt loose drawers, thin slippers,
long gray overcoat with yellow diamond
stitched on the back, and chains that iiugled
as he advanced.
Something like a shudder ran through the
audience as the weird figure passed on the
stage Then there was a rattle of applause
and the story went on. BE said he had OBJ
tanned the garments and chains from ex-
prisoners who had worn them. With the
addition Of thin petticOat, he said, a COS
tune similar TO that of the men is worn by
the female cOnVicts, no matter what their
previous condition or how light their offense
has been. In these garments and with
these chains hanging from their legs they
make the long march to Siheria