Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1892-12-01


lived, his name q synonym for mercy
throughout Christendom, declared by
voice and pen that the system OF
transportation OF criminals from
Ru STA to .Sibera was an admirable
plan. advocating open air punish
ment rather than enlargement,
and also because it was tax
ing all Offenders hundreds OF
miles away from their evil
companions. John Howard, after
witnessing the plan OF deporta-
ion Of criminals from Russia to
Siberia, commended it to England.
If q man commits a murder in Rus
sia, he is not electrocuted as we cleo
trocute him, or checked to death by
q 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 villains 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 q fair trial. So
far as their being hustled Off in the
night and not knowing why they are
exiled or punished is concerned, all
the criminals in Russia have an open
trial before II jury just as we have in
Amer' a. except in revolutionary or
riotous times, and you know in
America at such times the writ OF
habeas corpus is suspected. There
are i'll Russia grand juries and petit
juries and the right to challenge the
jurors, IN the prisoner confronts
his accuser, and, mark this, as in no
other country, after II prisoner has
been condemned by juries and Judges
he may appeal TO the Minister OF the
Interior, and after that to the SEN
ate, and after that to the Emperor,
who is constantly pardoning.
After being in Siberia awhile the
condemned 20 to earning a livelihood,
and they come to own Their own
farms, and orchards and Vineyards
many Of these people coming to
wealth, and thousands OF them under
no inducement would leave those
parts OF Siberia which a1e pnradises
| for salubrity and luxuriancc. Now,
which do you think is the best style
OF q prison--Siberia or many OF our
American prisons?
THE T:AlPEROE's MERCY.
The merciful character OF the present
| Emperor was well illustrated in the
| following occurrence: The man who
supervised the assassination OF the
father of the present Emperor, stand
ing in the snow that awfu! day, when
the dynamite shattered to pieces
the legs OF Alexander the Second--I
| no 1l,bn oil
fled from st. Petersburg and quit
Russia. But after a while the man
repented OF his crime, and wrote to
the Emperor asking forgiveness for
the murder OF his father and
promising to be a good citizen, and
asking ii nc might come back
to Russia. The Emperor pardoned
the murderer OF his father and the
! forgiven assassin in now living in Rus
sia. unless recently deceased. When
talked to the Empress concerning
the sympathy felt in America con-
corning the sufferings OF the dro';th-
struck regions OF Russia, she evinced
an absorb ng interest and n compass
sion and an emotion Of manner and
speech such as we men can hardly
realize, because it seems that God mas
reserved for woman a, her great
adornment, the coronet, the tear
| leweled coronet OF tenderness and
commiseration. If you say that it
was man, O. Divine Man that came
to save the world, | say Yes, but it
was a woman that gave the man.
| Witness all the Madonnas, Italian
German, English and Russian, that
bloom in the picture galleries OF
Christendom. Son Of Mary, have
mercy on us!
But how about the knou1. the cruel
Russian knout, that comes down on
the bare back of agonized criminals?
Why. Russia abolished the knouJ be-
fore it was abolished from our Ameri-
can navy. But how about the po-
litical prisoners hustled off to Siberia?
According to the testimony OF the
most celebrated literary enemy Of
Russia, only 443 political prisoners
were sent to Siberia in twenty years.
But, you ask, how will this Russo
phobia, with which SO many have been
bitten and poisoned, be cured? BY
the God OF Justice blessing such books
and pam phlets as are nowcoming out
Mr.. Horace Cutter CT San Francisco,
Mr.. Morrill, of England, and by he
opening OF our American gates to the
writings of some twenty-four OF the
Russian authors and authoresses, in
some respects as brilliant as the three
or four Russian authors already
known-the translation of those TWEEN
ty-four authors, which am author
lied from Russia to otferfree OF charge
to any responsible American publish
ing house that will do them justice.
Let these Russians tell their own
story, for they are the only ones FULLY
competent to do the work, as none
but Americans can fully tell the story
OF America. and as none but Ger
mans can fully tell the story OF Ger
many, and none but Englishmen can
fully tell the story Of England, and
none but Frenchman can fully tell the
story of France. Meanwhile, let the
international defamation come to an
end. Cease to speak evil OF dignities
merely because thew are Identities and