Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1893-04-28
THE KNoUs AND WHIPPING RoAPr

Wilson could speak the Swedish Ian
guage, and in this horrible place they found
Swede who acted as interpreter. They
had to write separate accounts and stand 8
long examination separately, each answer
being translated from English to Swedish
and thence to Russian. Of course some
trihing discrepancies were found, and SO
they were told that they had not cleared
themselves and must remain until the next
spring." Every Wednesday all the 6,G0O
prisoners were mustered, 400 of then, WON
en- and girls, to witness the ilogginss.
The first day Psrady yco saw it seven pris-
oners, six men and a woman, were the vic
Tins. The men were ordered to strip. and
then one of them was seized by hall dozen
soldiers and dragged to the fo:g;:,,in:5 board.
This is a stout plank IS inches wide with
one end resting On the ground and the
other supported by two legs SO that it re-
clines at an angle of about IS degrees To
this the victim was securely strapped, and
then the convict who did the fogging
stepped to the 'front.'
The knout, as often described, has nine
leathern thongs on which sharp brass cleats
or buttons are riveted here and there The
executioner brings it down with a sharp
slanting blow which cuts the flesh into
scores of bloody burrows. One of the men
died under the lash, but the horror of hor-
rors.was to come Paradyce says:
"Then came the woman. The poor crea
ture was soon about to become mother,
and as she was led past the governor she
threw herself at his feet and begged that
he would postpone the fogging until after
her baby was born. Her appeal was in
vain, for the governor replied that the laws
made by the czar must be obeyed, and she
was ordered to strip. The woman gave one
look at the sea of faces around her, and
then, with the assistance of one of the SOL
diers, removed her clothing.
Like the men, she was stripped naked
and strapped to the board. At the third
stroke she became insensible and remained
so until the full SO lashes had been admin
istered, when she was taken from the board
and carried to the prison hospital Three
hours afterward she gave birth to dead
baby. This learned from the Swede, who
visited the hospital every day. The wom-
ans body was in tatters."
And this was only the beginning Of hor-
rors. Paradyce declares that in some cases
the young women and girls, especially those
of good families and accused of nihilism,
are handed over to the common soldiers to
be dealt with at their will. Twice the two
Americans narrowly escaped f1ogging for
not saluting an officer as he passed. They
found one prisoner to be a Turk of high
rank and a relative of the sultan, captured
during the last war with Turkey and sup
posed by his countrymen to be dead. They
succeeded in smuggling message from
him to the Turkish minister in China.
At length Paradyce and Wilson were sent
before the governor Of Saghalien island,
who ordered them forwarded to the main
land Of Siberia, and after many days of ter
rible suffering the gang of which they were
members reached Kara. They were for
tunate enough to fall in with negro
named Colcord, a telegraph operator, who
spoke both languages fluently and gave
them valuable assistance and instructions.
When they were tried at Kara, the inter-
prefer also assisted them greatly. The
Russian authorities there happened to pos
sess some rudiments of common senSe and
humanity, and their innocence was made
apparent.
Still they were not free till heavy bolfds
were secured erom English and other gen.
tlemen at Vladivostock. Thence they took
ship for Shanghai, where Wilson at last &C.
| counts was Sill in hospital suffering with
scurvy >aused by the diet In Siberia. Para
| dyce in few weeks recovered sufficiently
| to ship for San Francisco, where he wrote
out his case to be laid before the govern
| ment, The foregoing is very brief sum-
mary of it.
The American School of Archaeology
that is maintained by voluntary sub
scriptions at Athens fully justifies its ex-
istence and does honor to the United
States. Its pupils and professors are
now making explorations at the temple
Of Hera, near Mycenae. They have late
/ " made a rich find in unearthing the
foundations Of an ancient temple which
Greek historians say was burned 42s
years before Christ The work of exca-
vation is performed by 200 men in the
employ Of the American School of Ar
chaology. @ - =
1 Land Commissioner LamoreuS vii
change the officials al d cruisers wht
have charge Of estimating the pine OF
Indian lands. He thinks there was .
well planned scheme to fool tn,
government and the Indians and sci
the pine to favored lumbermen 70
8 low prices. Most Of the fights agains
pine land frauds are those to proven
! wrongs in the future, and it is yer.
q easy to claim that great good is bein,
done in that direction.