The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-27
ESCAPED FROM RUSSIA.
An Exile's Thrilling Tale of the Land
OF Bsrbarity.
From the Cleveland World.

~ 4aAc VI S46 GdOQ
OF Bsrbarity.
From the Cleveland World
Pursuing the peaceful occupation Of a
brewery manager in this city is WELL
known citizen upon whose head a good price
IS set by the Russian government, and
whose story has all the horrors of and
more intensity than the narrative Of George
Kennan concerning the Siberian exiles.
theodore Bender. manager of the CO.
operative brewery, is well-known South
Side resident. He walked into Attorney
Bauder's Office last week.
Gold morning." he said by way of greet
ing.
Eyes, responded the lawyer. THERE'S
touch of Siberia in this"
"Siberia-ha, ha, haI" laughed Mr..
Bender. II could give you a few points
upon that"
He was urged to tell his story, and he
did so.
At about the time the civil war was raging
in this country the inhabitants Of Poland
made their last determined stand for free
dom. Bender was boy of IS years. In
1851 he entered the Polish army. and for
year and a half did not know what It was
to sleep under a roof. In three great bat
ties which were fought he received wounds.
The troop of which he was a member was
surrounded by the czar's forces and siege
began. The provisions of the besieged were
exhausted, and they were compelled
to kill their horses for meat. Mr..
Bender says that young horse flesh
is as sweet as chicken. After untold priva>
tions a break for liberty was made. A bull
let struck Bender In the back of the head
and he t1mbled from his horse. He re-
members nothing until he recovered con-
seriousness in hospital. When he had par
TALLY recovered he was confined for nine
months in Jail. No trial Yves given him,
but he was sentenced to twenty-five years
at hard labor in the mines of Siberia. In
the nine months of his imprisonment he was
allowed very little food and barely sufl-
Client water to drink. He asked for
water to wash in but was refused,
and the slime of the cell was en-
crusted over his skin and clothing.
Finally he, with over 200 prisoners, men,
women and children, were started for
Siberia under guard of sixty soldiers. He
tramped through the snow for seven
months. Every day some of the weaker
ones fell from exhaustion. They were
placed on sledges which the other prisoners
were compelled to drag. At some of the
villages the Inhabitants took pity on them
and gave the prisoners covering for their
exposed feet, food and water. At other
places the inhabitants pelted them with
dirt and filth. The soldiers offered them no
been left behino and escape being deemed
impossible, the chains by which the con-
victs had been bound in pairs were removed
In the prison pen at this point the horrors
endured by the prisoners are scarce
lY describable. Vermin attacked them
with the ferocity of hunger. Some of the
CT eatures, it is declared, were as large
around as an ordinary lead pencil and half
an inch long, and they covered the ceilings.
walls and hunks completely. One night of
such existence, added to the sufF ering of
the exiles in the previous seven months, de-
cided a number Of the more hardy of the
men. They realized that of those who en-
dured the march, few would survive the
expiration OF their sentence, and general
agreement was entered into to attack the
soldiers and escape or die IN the attempt.
The exiles had no arms, while the soldiers
carried rifles aud other effective weapons.
Stick, stones, and even bare fists were to be
employed by the desperate rebels to
secure their freedom. They waited until
the train reached spot where the under
brush was thick. Then eighty of the men
dropped their burdens and rushed upon the
soldiers. Some were trampled down at once
by the horses Others fell under the MUIR
derous fire poured into their midst by the
soldiers as soon as they could bring their
guns to bear. In all thirty or forty Of the
exiles were left dead upon the ground.
v,
and running for two hours, got into the
brush and left their pursuers behind. The
little band scattered to make pursuit more
difficult. A half dozen, among whom was
Bender, kept together. They skulked and
starved for four months and seven days,
avoiding the towns and picking up pre-
carious living until the German frontier was
reached in safety. They we're kindly treated
by the German people, aud Bender spent
three months in the empire. Assistance
reached him from friends in New York,
and he took PASSAGE arriving hero July 4,
1865. Being well-educated and intelligent,
he found no difficulty in securing employ
ment, and Is now well-to.do. He has not,
of course ever dared venture back to Rus
sia, where the police would enforce severe
punishment upon him for his escape. He
learned after his arrival that his father was
a convict at the mine. and later heard CT
his death there.
Mr. Bender married after his arrival in
this city. His wife was Polish girl. She
had been possessed of information concern
ing plot to again rebel against the rule of
the car. She was arrested and required to
divulge all she knew. She refused to give
the information which would lead to the
death or Transportation of fifty or sixty of
the corspirators, and was sent to prison.
For q year and five months she
was starved and tortured in the filthy
prison. Periodically she was subjected
to examinations, but invariably pro-
fessed entire ignorance Of any conspiracy.
The Russian officials finally became con-
WINGED that che knew nothing and let her
go. She was required to take an oath that
she would return Co her home, but did not
hold herself bound by by the extorted prom
Use and came to America where she met Mr..
Bender.
Bender's experience is barely outlined
here. The details are many of them too
shocking for print. He declares that Ken
mans picture of life in Siberia is not over
drawn.
Cancers, and cancerous tumors, are cured
by the purifying effects of Ayers Sarsa-
parilla.-Ad