The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-04-21
ESCAPED FROM RUSSIA.
HORRORS ENDURED BY slBER-
IAN PRISONERS.
The Break for Liberty and the Awful Re
sultan Exile's Thrilling Tale of
the Land of the Czar-
Prosecuted Poles.

CAAo A-hnu OF the CZar-a ,E.ttg
Prosecuted Poles.
Pursuing the occupation OF a brew
cry manager in this city, says tho
Cleveland World is a well-known cit
izen upon whose head good price is
set by the Russian government and
whose story has all the horrors of and
more Intensity than the narratives of
George Kennan concerning the Siberi-
an exiles.
At about the time the civil war was
raging in this country the inhabitants
OF Poland made their last determined
stand for freedom. Bender was a bow
OF IL years. In 1861 he entered the
Polish army and for year and a half
did not know what it was to sleep un-
der a roof. In three great battles
which were fought he received
wounds. The troop of which he was
a member was surrounded by the
Cars forces and the siege began.
Inc provisions of the besieged were
exhausted and they were compelled
TO Kill their horses for meat. Mr..
bender says that young horsehesh is
as sweet as chicken. After untold
prlvations a break for liberty was
made. A bullet struck Bender in the
back OF his head and he tumbled from
his horse. He remembers nothing
until he recovered consciousness in a,
hospital. When he had partially re-
covered he was confined nine months
in jail.
No trial was 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 h e.
was allowed very little food and bare :
~ sufficient water to drink. He asked
for water to wash in, but was refused,
and the slime of the cell was encrusted
over his skin and clothing. Finallv
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 in.
babitants took pity on them and gave
the prisoners covering for their ex-
posed feet, food and water At other
places the inhabitants pelted them with
dirt and filth. The soldiers offered
them no protection. At Miensk; CIV
ilization having been left behind and
escape being deemed i'm r.,ssible, the
chains by which the convicts had been
bound in pairs were removed.
In the prison pen at this point the
horrors endured by the prisoners are
scarcely describable. Vermiu at
tackled them with the ferocity of hum
ger: Some of the creatures, it is de-
clared. were as large around as an
ordinary lead pencil and half an inch
long: and they covered the ceiling,
wall and hunks completely. One
night OF such existence added to the
suffering of the exiles in the previous
seven months. decided a number of
the more hardy of the men. Thew
realized that of those who endured
the march, few would survive the ex-
plration of their sentence and a gen.
eral 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
and other effective weapons. Sticks,
stones, and even bare fists were to be-
employed by the desperate rebels to
secure their freedom. They waited
until the train reached a spot where
the underbrush was thick. Then
eighty of the men dropped their bur-
dens and rushed upon the soldiers.
Some We're tramped down at once
by the horses. Others fell under the
murderous 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. About twenty, after al
ternately fighting and running for two
hours. got into the brush and left their
pursuers behind The little band scat
tered 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 precarious living until the Ger
man frontier was reached in safety.
They were kindly treated by the Ger
man people, and Bender spent three
months in the empire. Assistance
reached him from friends in New York,
and he took passage. arriving here
July a. 1875. Being well-educated and
intelligent. he found no difficulty in
securing employment, and is now we'll
to- do.
He has not, OF course. ever dared
venture back to Russia, where the
police would enforce severe punish
ment upon him for his escape He
learned after his arrival that his ia
ther was convict at the mines, and
later heard of his death there.
Mr.: Bender married after his ar
rival in this city. His wife was a
Polish girl. She had been possessed
of information concerning a 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 conspirators and
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