The morning call., 1893-11-12

A new light. however. has been cast on
| their offenses, and that through medium
| which has every appearance OF secret
understanding between the refugees and
| the interviewer, n. NJ. Ballad. young
Russian VINO has sought home in Amer
lea. Mr.. Ballad lives at 546 Howard street.
| Learning of the arrival OF prisoners from
| Saghalen he interested himself in their
| story, and when the whaling bark Cape
| Horn Pigeon cast anchor IN the bay he
! visited the five men who were on board.
A CALL reporter accom- pa MED aim and
! noticed q disposition to be reticent and
| d!strusttul among the convlcts, until Ballad
| made himself known as sympathiZer and
not a Russian spy. In Russia. where the
| body polite is honeycombed with secret
| society, having for it's ends the attainment
of principles of liberty in speech and
| action. mem ers of the revolutionary fac
| ton are known to one another and dis
| tinguished by secret signs or words In
! all probability Ballad was recognized by
the fugtives in a similar way as a brother.
Anyhow the fugitives spoke to him as they
| did to no other interviewer. Ballad him.
| self had an opinion TO express while inter-
| preting their story.
"Being myself not only Russian by
BIRTH" said he, but also one OF those to
| whom Russia is nothing but an unjust,
cruel stepmother. naturally became very
interested IN the fate of these people who
| went through so many dangers Tor sweet
| freedoms sake. One has TO be born In
| Russia, where every corner hides spy,
| where every noble effort is suppressed by
| lashes of the deadly knOut, where men.
women and youths are banished, degraded,
shot down like dogs for every possible
and impossible reason, to be able to fully
appreciate the very word freedom.
II felt rather glad for these convcts.
! who managed to escape from the horrors
| of Saghaiien to the new and free world.
| Unfortunately | noticed the other day that
some of the local papers, instead of giving
true reports aud thus doing justice to men
who came for it all the way long with
radiant hopes for a better future, have
done everything to endanger their lives.
bring them to despair and make their
landing hard task, if not impossible. Be-
sides. it is rather strange that men, after
suffering so many hardships and about to
see their brightest hopes nearly realized,
| should freely brag about themselves ana
their crimes. None but an insane man
would betray himself of his own free Will.
| | doubled very much the truth OF these
| statements, and not withOutg00 grounds.
1t is partly for that reason that resolved
TO interview the convicts and see whether
tnev were really so black as painted. L
know perfectly well America does not
want criminals, but then Americans In
| SeHcTdt nave DOJ Tile SllgutoSt dpptoCiotiOu
how the word crime Is understood, or
| rather misunderstood, in Russia. To be
seen reading book on political economy
or the advantages of a constitutional gov
eminent over unlimited despotism, to sing
a revolutionary song, Is suf1lclent GROUNDS
Tor man or woman, no matter OF what
class, to be ch aimed and exlled TO SlDeria-
the grave of So many noble souls.
Referring to his experiences on the cape
Horn Pigeon. where he met the second
party of c0nvlcts, he said:
he sound of stheir native language
brought them IN second to their feet ana
half cursing, half frightened, they sur
rounded me, questioning and interrupting
each other so that | hardly had an opp0r-
tunity to answer Although 1t was quite
dark. the only light being that OF dim
smoking little oil lamp had no trouble in
picking out the men l expected TO be pollt-
ical offenders.
Being SIRE that was not a shy the men
talked freely about their struggles on the
desolate island, their voyage and rescue by
the Charley M. Morgan.
'The most intelligent of the five is Ivan
Kovolioff He is 26 years old and shoe
maker by trade. Six years OF hard prison
life, with more flogging than bread. have
nearly ruined his health. The following is
the true story OF his arrest, trial and con-
viction and escape.
"lvan Kovoloff was born in Charkoff. a
large city In Southern Russia. There are
so few colleges or universities in Russia
that the lucky city which caE claim one Its
own Is looked upon as the most Important
center for thousands of miles around.
Charkoff is also one of those cities where
the Hebrews can find no shelter
I'm 1888, when The present Car. Alex
ander Ill. had narrow escape. while his
train near Charkoff was wrecked by
nihilists and many persons were killed,
the students of Charkoff, about 1000 in
number, had riot with the guards of the
college. The police were called out, and
many young student was shot and killed
or wounded and injured. The battle was a
very fierce one, the laborers coming to the
students assistance. After a hard strug-
gle the police. together with q CORDS of