St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-15
Horrors That Are Endured by
Unfortunate Siberian
Prisoners.
A Desperate Break for Sweet
Liberty, and the Awful
Result.
An EXile's Thrilling Tale Of
the Cars Land Of Bar
bapity.
Bender Testifias That Young
HOrsehesh Is as Sweet
as Chicken.

Pursuing the useful occupation Of
brewery manager in this city is well
known citizen upon whose head good
price is set by the Russian government
and whose story has all the horrors of
and more intensity than the narrative
of George KEENAN, concerning the
Siberian exileS, says the Cleveland
World.
Theodore Bender, manager of the CO.
operative brewery, is we'll known
South side resident. He walked into
Attorney Bauder's office last week.
Cold morning. he said, by way of
greeting.
Yes" responded the lawyer.
There's touch Of Siberia in this"
''Sberia-ha. ha, ha." laughed Mr..
Bender. Il could give you 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 freedom. Bender was boy
of eighteen years. In 1861 he entered
the Polish army, and for a year and
half did not know what it was to sleep
under a roof. In three great battles
which were fought he received wounds.
I he troop of which he was a
member was surrounded by the
cars forces and siege began. The
provisions of the beSieged were eX-
hausted, and they were compelled to
kill their horses for meat. Mr.. Bender
says that young hOrSetleSn is as sweet
as chicken. After untold priYatiOns
break for liberty was made. A bullet
struck Bender in the back of his head
and lie tumbed from his horse. He
remembers nothing until he recovered
Consciousness III hospital. When he
had partially recovered 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 he
was allowed very little food and barely
sufficient water to drink. He asked for
water 10 wash in, but was refused, and
the slime of the cell was encruSted 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 |
compelled to drag. At some of the vii |
lagos 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 protection. At Miensk, |
civilization having been left behind and |
escape being deemed impossible, the |
chains by which the conyicts had been |
bound in pairs were removed.
In the prison pen at this point the |
horrors endured by the prisoners are !
scarcely describable. Vermin attacked |
them with the ferocity OF hunger. Some |
of the creatures. ii is declared, were as |
large around as an ordinary lead pencil |
and half all 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 pre- |
viouS seven months, decided a number |
of the more hardy of the men.
They realized that of those |
who endured the march, few |
would survive the expiration of their |
sentence, and general agreement was |
entered into to attack the soldiers and |
escape OF 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 burdens. and |
rushed upon the soldiers.
Some were tramped down at once by |
the horses. Others fell under the muir
derouS fire poured into their bodies 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 alternately |
fighting and running for two hours,
got into the brush and left their purSu-
ers behind. The little band scattered to
make pursuit more difficult. A half-doz-
en-. among them Bender, kept together.
They SkulkeG and starved for four
months and seven days, avoiding the
towns and picking up precarlous liy-
ing until the German frontier was
reached in safety. They were kindly
treated by the German people, and
Bender spent three months in the en-
pire. Assistance reached him from
friends in New York, and he took pas
sage, arriving here July 4, 1865. Being
we'll educated and intelligent, he found
no difficulty in securing EN- pioyment,
and is now well-to-do.
He has not, of course, ever dare
venture BACK 10 KilSSla, Wnefe the pOllce
would enforce severe punishment upon
him for his escape. He learned after
his arrival that his father was convict
at the mines, and later beard of his
death there.
Mr.. Bender married after his arrival
in this city. His wife was Polish
girl. She had been possessed of infor-
nation concerning a plot to again rebel
against the rule of the car. She was
arrested and required to diyulge all she
knew. She refused to give the illfOr
nation which would lead to the death or
transportation of fifty or sixty of the con-
spirators, and was sent to prison. For a
year ana five months she was starved
and tortured In the filthy prison. Peri
odcally she was subjected to examina-
tons. but invariably protested her entire
ignorance Of any conspiracy. The
Russian officials finally became con-
vinced that she knew nothing and let
her go. She was required to take an
oath that SIZE would return to her home,
but did not hold herself bound by the
extorted promise. and came to America,
where she met Mr.. Bender.
Dori- Gorpl,i-