The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1892-08-25
CHAPTER IY.-CoNrINUED.

. This speech inflan. ed the people, and n
murmur of anger arose and threats were
uttered. Then the judge stood up on the
dais and motioned TO the soldiers, and
some OF them approached Aaron and told
him he must leave the court. He seemed
dazed and broken. but he moved away,
still clasping his daughter to him, and a
great sob broke from her. Out OF that tenn
ple of the law, where the scales of Justice
were not balanced, went poor Aaron and
his child, and when they gained the outer
VeStibule they sat on one OF the stone
benches. And pre- ,ently they heard an ex-
ultant cheer from the people in the court.
4 lawyer in his gown came out and was
lurrving away, but Aaron clutched hlm
''Te me" lie said, us he condemned"
"He is"
"And the sentence?'
"Sakhalin," CURLY and gruffiy answered
the lawyer, and hurried away.
All alert as she was, Rachel heard that
dread word, and with sob that came from
her bursting heart, she moaned in the
agony OF her distress this prayer
ooh Lord, God ofth weary and sorrow
full, uphold me and comfort me in this hour
my bitter trial, ] pray Thee and give
me strength to bear the cruel blow"
Even though it compels lis fora mo-
ment or two to turn aside from the inci=
dents in the story, il may be we'll to give
here some account OF the famous prison to
which Moshka had been sent. Sakhalin is
one of the largest islands in the world, and
is situated in the Northern Pacific, off the
coast of Russian Manchuria, from which it
is separated by narrow strait six miles in
width, and known as the Gulf of Tartary.
This island is used as a Russian convict
station and is one OF the most dreadful
and desol ate regions on the face 0! the globe.
1t is out of the rou'e of trading vessels; and
so wild and barren is it. SO difficult of
access, so wrapped in everlasting gloom
and Jog, so iull of fever and disease of all
kind that it seems verify to be accused.
And yet to this awful place he Russian
Government, in its pitiless barbarity sends
its prisoners, whom it is ashamed to
execute, but whom it wishes to bury alive.
1t was in 1869 that Russia first beEan TO
send her COnyiCts there, and removed as it
is from all civilization, and shut off by
pitileSS ice-bound and stormy seas from
trading ships, the cries of agony that are
wrunI from the suffering victims are heard
not. and the world knows nothing of the
inhuman torture that the brutal governors
intlict upon their char. cs. The island is
GO miles long, and from 20 to 161 broad.
The abOriginals are q barbarouS and savage
race known as Ghilaks and Amos, and
mountain people called Oroks. They num-
Der alt gether only 5000. and exc out
miserable existence by hunting. The only
LhlnR Ill Lne lSlduu VI any bdiue DeSlueS
the fur animals is coal, but as this cannot
be shipped away it is practically useless.
There is mountain range from 1000 to
5000 feet. covered with sub-Arctic vege-
tation, while the valleys are miasmatic
sw rmpe, where cultivation is impossible.
The convict settlement is about The mid
die of the island, at o llace called Alex
ondrovsk. There arc two huge prisons
here amidst surroundings that suggest the
p1n nf n hn
Supplies for these prisons are transported
from the only harbor the island boasts of
on the backsot convicts a journey of sixty
miles across the mountains. Many OF the
people perish during this terrible journey,
either from the severe labor or the whips
ofthe brutal gaolers The bodies are lie
where tn fall. and no mercy or pity is
shown TO the dying. If anyone thinks
that these statements are exaggerated l
would refer him to the report of DR.. Petri,
published in the 'Jahresbericht,' OF the
Geographical Society of Berne, during