The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-10-20
BUT. ONE BEFORE him..
Story Of the Second Escape Of :
Russian Exiled to Far
Siberia.
Kennan'e Reports of Cruelties and
Horrors Confirmed and
Emphasized.

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Awful Journey OF Ton Weeks From To-
bolsk to Krasnnyarsk-How Kono-
plttzky Regaincd Liberty.
VANCOUVER, B. G., Got. 19.-The oorre-
spondent of the San Francisco Chronicle
telegraphed that paper the following re-
markable story. Among the Chinese hud-
died in the fore part of the Empress OF
India when she arrived to-day was one
white man, small OF stature, with a fair
complexion, light mustache, stoop-shoul-
dered, thin of face and body, and having a
hunted, worn expression. This man was
Demetrius Konoplitzky, who has the honor
of being the second man to escape with his
life from the horrors of Siberian exile.
Konoplitzky was of a Russian middle
class family, we'll enough to do to give their
son a good education, including a smatter-
ing of the French language, before sending
him to learn the trade of a printer. After
serving his time as apprentice and while
working thereat he became a soldier. Tir-
ing of that, he secured his release and en-
tered a lawyers office. The lawyer was
connected with q democratic paper, the
name Of which, freely translated, was 'sThe
will of the people," This paper Was pub
lished in Kaizan, in the center of the Volga
oil district. An overseer who understood
printing being needed for the paper. hono-
plitzky was given the position.
The paper was not nihilistio, but was
democratic to the verge Of radicallsm, and,
knowing what we do of Russian methods, it is
no surprise hat after Konoplitzky had been
about two years and a half with the paper
it was seized by the government police and
the seventy-fve men connected with it
thrown into prison. OF these forty-seven
! were directly connected with the paper in
the office as editors, reporters, proofread-
ers, compositors, pressnen, etc. The 9th
ers were the papers agents in the nearby
villages and towns.
The whole lot were sentenced, and then
put in the prison of the town. Here 10
noplitzky was kept for two years before
being sent to Siberia. presumably waiting
for sufficient prisoners to conRregats in t he
district to make a caravan. In the pc rty
to which he was attached we're 600 men and
women, many of them. like himself, having
been connected with offending newspapers.
He says that if there are 600 printers in
Russia there are 5000 in Siberia. They
went up the volga to Perm, from Perm to
Tumen BY train, where they again changed
and were taken to Tobolsk.
He was kept in Tobolsk for six mon tbs
md then moved to k~rasnuyarsk. It took
two months and a half to make the jour
ney, and those two months and a half were
filled will days of misery. Chained to-
gether. mon and m dragged their
ao-.o ~nr.1p o1Nrr q MD ~ n 0Tyrooo md
blows of their guards. Very little rest was
allowed. The chain-weighted prisoners
were expected to make as good tim Q as the
horses of the Cossack guards. He saw
women knocked down By the wayside and
kicked till they got UP. again. On one oc-
and the one she was chained tc was forced
to drag the body along and keep up with
the dreary procession.
At times the poor fellow in telling OF
these scenes would forget himself n
break into Russian, while his features be-
trayed the horror that he felt.
On reaching krasnuyarsk, his prison, the
punishments became more horrible The
mines at this point were in one of the cold
est sections. The working hours in the
summer we're from four O'Clock in the
morning till six o'clock at night, and in the
win.er from six O'Clock in the morning till
six o'clock at night. They all wore ankle
chains in the mines, and the knout quickly
reminded the laggard that the car ex-
pected every man to do his duty in Siberia,
while above them Cossack guards stood
ready with bullets to quell the slightest
sign of rebellion.
To sustain them during these long hours
they got one meal a day of black brsa d and
water, and thin soup chat was little better
than water. On Sundays they got a little
beef. During the time he was at Krasnuy-
arsk the slightest complaints brought down
punishments. The knout was too common
to excite commen even among the suffer
ers. Once Konoplitzky complained to the
governor about not feeling comfortable,
and, to show him how much more uncom-
portable he might be. he was stripped naked
and a chain put around his waist. He was
then taken out and chained to a rock, there
to enjoy the balmy climate of the Siberian
panama belt.
Little wonder was it that a constant
thought in every prisoners min was.
Can I escape?" Equally little is it a
cause of surprise that with the spirit
knouted, starved and frozen out of them.
they lacked the courage to make the at
tempt. Fourteen of them were in the plot
with konoplitzky, bat when the supreme
time came the other thirteen 'sfunked."
One of them had a passport that he had
brought with him. Providence only knows
how it escaped the prying eyes of the many
guards, but it did, and into the heart OF
CADoAA - AO GNSh 4 lllL Arp LIZ u OCCA
proud to carry as a Russian fsee man.
With this passport Konoplitzky tailed,
except that he had a tattoo mark on his
left arm while the passport described it's
owner as being free from all tattoo marks.
This was easily arranged. With a sharp
knife Kanoplitzky cut ont the tattooed
flesh and the half-healed scar is now on his
left arm. He had been in Siberia two years
when he determined to escape, and about
six months ago he made his dash for life
and Ii berty.
Nv hat was the name on the ~passport?''
was asked him.. This excited him very
much, and in all the French in his posses
sion he protested against it being published.
The man to whom it originally belonged is
still in Siberia, and hell would be pleasant
to him after he got through with the pun
ishments he would have to undergo IL his
share in Konoplitzky's escape ever reached
Russian official ca g.
1t was early one morning that Konop-
htzky started, after spending the night II,
commenting himself to his Creator and
nerving himself to face death in a chance
to be once moro a free man. When the
prisoners were being marshalled to no to
work the sun was just beginning to creep
above the horizon and all about was
shrouded in gloom. III this fayorine dark
ness he crawled away till he reached a
place where he might dare to stand erect
ana then he started to run past the guard
houses, where the guards, STEPPED in the
merry vodka, slept and dreamed Of new
cruelties.