The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-08-17
IT WAS WORSE THAN DEATH
Captain Morris. of Boston, Served Two
Years in the Cars Siberian Mines.
Two Years Without Daylight, Chained to q
Crazy Polack Who Died, end the Corpse
Was His Companion for Fifteen Days.

earth, in a Russian coal-mine. Part of the
time he was chained to the corpse of his
dead companion, and endured such horrors
as would move i'm to dance for joy il
every member of the royal family OF Russia
should fall beneath the steel of nihilism.
Captain Morris. who is q man OF remark
able modesty, was in command of q sealing
schooner. plying its trade in the waters of
the Behring sea. The vessel had made
several successful trips. and was finally
emboldened to poach upon Russian terri
tory. when a Russian man-of-war gave
pursuit. After describing the capture OF
the schooner, the slaughter Of half the
the crew. and the landing of the balance ct
yiadivostoek as prisoners, Captain Morris
goes on to tell o story of cruelty which
quite ~eclipses the worst ever told by Mr..
George Kennan.
las soon as we landed said the Captain,
al started to go aboard the schooner. but
when i came near found myself looking
down the muzzles OF eight n~eedle-guns.
The men behind them wanted to know what
i wanted. When I told them I wanted my
personal effects they referred me to the
governor of the town. 1t was too late to
See him that night, so / went with IN men
TO the hotel. This might seem like liberty.
but we were all under the eye of q guard.
We bad not been twenty minutes In the
hotel when al order came from the governor
that no house, public or private, would be
allowed TO keep us. so we had TO make our
bed on the planks of the wharf. That was
early in September. and we were forced
to live as best we could on tha beach
Of our trial. We dug holes in the
banks and slept upo dried grass. AL
though we had been taken into port as
prisoners. we were not allowed to paTtake
of our own stores; neither was food provid-
ed for rs. We had to shift for ourselves.
We were allowed apparent freedom, but
everywhere we went We found q soldier
close at hand watching our movements.
The trial was conducted in Russian. We
translated for the benefit of the court, but
we were ignorant of the testimony against
US The only thing We knew was that We
had been convicted of violating the seal
and fishing laws
1--WE were taken to the jail. q crowded,
heated hole @ stone building with
cemented floor, -aving hollows here and
there filled with urlne to the depth of two
inches. Our cell was sixteen by twenty
feet, walled with stone and lighted by slits
In the stone with bars across. About twenty
others were there when we came, mostly
Cinnamon, with q few Russians. None of
us had o bed to lie On.
GLAD To Z THEIR MONEY.
1--WE were thoroughly searched, even to
the lining of our clothes, and everything
taken from us. At the sight of our money
the guard uttered q loud guffaw. At
the end of q week we were taken
away to Nicolaski, $50 miles to the
northward. near the Gulf OF Penjiask.
We all walked. guard included. and of the
company there were about thirty-six per-
sons. Some Of the other prisoners were
left at q town on the road. and the rest of
US proceeded with our smaller guard. We
slept under cover only two nights during
the march, which took twenty.three days.
Our rations were q pound of dry bread q
day. The guard would shoot rabbits and
game for themselves On the march we
were not cruelty treated. The guards were
retlcent. but did not trouble themselves
about us so long as we kept in line.
when We reached Nicolaski we learned
that we were sentenced to work in themines
three years. Our names were called. one by
one. and each of Us received from the inter
prefer a paper stating that each must dig
and send up from the mine five car loads of
coal a day. If tho stated amount of coal did
not come up, no rations would he ~sentdowD.
so that II any of us were sick, he would
have to srarve to death. We now found
that our sentence was for three years, five
carloads q day for the first year, and after
that. three carloads. / was first to go down,
and l didn't see the light for two years and
o ilOutu6 L was i II ~ u LWO uuu-
dred feet long and about twenty wide. l
never knew how high IL was. The dark
ness was so intense that 1 was never able to
see but q few feet in front of me.
After i had been down q little while /
saw q light in the other end of the pit. l
at once went toward it, and there beheld
one of the most wOeful sights / ever saw in
my life. 1t was q man six feet tall and
built In proportion. he was covered with
coal dirt from head to foot. his clothes were
in tatters and he looked Ink q fiend. The
light that / had seen came from the miners
lantern on his head. On seeing me he let
forth q savage yell and came toward me
rapidly, talking In. Russian. TO which /
could only reply with q shake of the head.
lie then went back to his picking in dis
gust
Later an officer came down. bringing with
him two belts and q cha.a. with irwin in
struments. The belts were of thick leath-
or. padded on the inside so that they would
notcut into rs W put on. The officer riv-
eted two bands of iron to the outside of
these belts and then put one on each of us.
connecting us with an iron chain eight feet
long. Up to this time the Pole, for that /
learned was the nationality of my fellow
prisoner, bad worked in tho pit alone. Why
we were chained together / did not know
and don't know now, unless it was to in-
crease the punishment or to prevent escape,
though the latter was absolutely impossi-
bic In q pat so many feet below the surface
OF the earth, with n single outlet ND the
49,
a guard day and night. The Pole WAS in
sane. and for q day or two my condition
was mighty uncomfortable. He ate my
rations of rice and soup and threatened to
kill me when / ex postulated. At last hun
ger drove me TO desperation. and the Pole
and | had @ terrible fight. He was much
stronger than /, but he had no skill, and /
got the best of him and gave him q sound
drubbing. After that WI got along all
right
HAINE TO A DEAD MAN.
AT the end of three months / awoke one
morning and found my companion dead. /
was in a dilemma. i was chained TO adead
man. and with five car-loadso of coal to send
up or no rations. While l was turning it
over in my mind a thought struck me. By
this time was nearly starved. ] thought
II l could wheel the corpse from the vein
or coal to the shaft. take it off there and
dump my coal into the car and work hard
enough TO do two mems work / would get
the rations sent down for both of us, and
this L did for four days, sending both
lanterns up every night. At the end of this
time i couldn't stand it any longer. and |
decided to do my own work only.
Thereafter, as i expected. rations came
down for only one. At this time I think
for several days my reason partially left
me. for i can rep/ sfber beating the corpse
with my shovel don't know why / should
ave done so. but / suppose / was driven
frantic by seeing myself helplessly chained
TO O corpse. At the end of fifteen days,
having TO lift and carry the fellow around
all the time. i began to feel weak from Ia