Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-11-21

are as we'll ventilated and as well condi.
toned in svery respect as the majority
Of the prisons in America. Are women
whipped in the street? No; that state
ment comes from the mandatory OF
fabrication, mandatory that runs
dsy and night, so that the supply may
meet the demand.
But how about Siberia? My answer
is Siberia Is the prison OF Russia, a
prison more than twice the size OF the
United States.
If a man commits murder In Russia,
he is not electrocuted as we electrocute
him, or choked to death by halter as
we choke him to death.
RUSSIA IS THE ONLY COUNTRY
on earth from which the death penalty
has been driven, except in case OF high
treason. Murderers and desperate vii
iians are sent to the hardest parts OF
Siberia. but no man is sent to Siberia or
doomed to any kind of punishment In
Russia until he has fair trial.
There are In Russia grand juries and
petit juries and the right to challenge
the jurors, and the prisoner confronts
his accuser, ana mark this, as in no
other country, after prisoner has been
condemned by Juries and judges he may
appeal to the Minister of the Interior,
and after that to the Senate and after
that to the Emperor who is constantly
pardoning. As said, the violent and
murderous are sent to the hardest part
of Siberia, but the more moderate GRIM
finals to more propitious parts OF Sibe-
ria, and those who have only little
criminality to parts of SIBERIA positively
genial for climate. Run your finger
along the map of the world, and you
will find that the lowest part Of Siberia
is on the forty-ffth degree of latitude,
and the richest part of Italy is on the
same forty-fifth degree OF latitude. So
that Siberia reaches from the furs at the
North to the palm leaf fans at the
South. 1t has been demonstrated that
ninety per cent. of the Russian crimi-
nails colonized into Siberia go into eli
songful with birds and embroidered
with flora enough manifold to confound
the botanists. Much OF the soil is rich
loan and harvests wait for q pillow to
liberate them. When criminal is sent
to Siberia. in the vast majority Of cases
it gives him an opportunity to make
new start under the best possible cir
cu'mstances. The criminal is allowed to
take his or her family along, and that
is mercy no other country grants.
IN THE QUICKSILVER MINES
of Siberia, the hardest place OF expatri-
alton, only one-fourth OF the miners are
criminals. The other three-fourths go
their because they choose it as place
to earn their living.
l talked with the President of the
National Society of Russia for the edu-
cation and moralization of the children
OF Siberian convicts. The President of
that Society, appointed by the Emper-
or, is lady of great accomplishments,
and much sympathy, which illumines
her face and makes fearful her eyes and
tremulous her voice. The evening /
passed al her house in ST. Petersburg
was one of the memorable events OF my
lifetime. l will not attempt to pro-
nounce the name Of that noble woman
appointed oy the Emperor as the Presi-
dent of the National Society for the
education and moralization Of the chill
dren Of convicts. Please to name any
such National Society In our country,
supported by government, for taking
care of the children OF convicts.
The merciful character of the present
toiiowing Gel~ well illnStEated 10 the
l..,,orvieed the assassru &UIUrl OF the IA
Their OF tho present Emperor, standing
In the snow that awful day, when the
dynamite shattered TO pieces the legs
of Alexander the Second,-I say the
man who supervised all this fed from
st. Petersburg and quit Russia. But
after awhile The man repented OF his
crime, and wrote to the Emperor ask
ing for forgiveness for the murder OF
his father and promising to be good
citizen, and asking II he might come
back to Russia. The Emperor par
doned the murderer OF his father and
the forgiven assassin is now living in
Russia, unless recently deceased.
But how about the knout, the cruel
Russian knout, that comes down on the
bare back of agonized criminals? Why,
Russia abolished the knout before III
was abolished from
OUR AMERICAN NAVY.
But how about the political prisoners
hustled off to Siberia? According to the
testimony of the most celebrated lit
erary enemy of Russia, only 443 politi-
cal prisoners were sent to Siberia In
twenty years.
Meanwhile, let the international de-
famation come to an end. Cease to
speak evil of dignities merely because
they are dignities, and OF Presidents
merely because they are Presidents, and
of Emperors merely because they are
Emperors. And may the blessing OF
God the Father, and God the Son, and
God the Holy Ghost, be upon all the
members Of the Imperial Household OF
Russia from the illustrious head OF that
family down to the princess, seven
years of age, who came skipping into
my presence in the palace OF Peterhof
last summer.