The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-07-31

~~SSoA NiS'y TSTa uIIlCSt ucfSel1 WIN q
revolver and visited the general the
next day. Securing admission to his
Office under some pretext, sho approach
ed tho chair where no sat and without
word shot him dead.
Thought to Bc Insane.
This case caused great excitement on
account of its unusual features and was
one of the few which wero tried by
jury. The girl being doomed too young
to undertake such deed while in her
rational mind, she was acquitted ON tho
ground of insanity. When news of the
verdict reached the throngs which sur
rounded the courthouse, it was greeted
with prolonged shouts of approval,
when tho police charged into the mob
and killed several people. Hurriedly en-
tering carriage in waiting, Vera Zas-
sulitch changed her dress for the garb
of nun and afterward escaped into
Switzerland
Eugene and Maria Soobotin were
two sisters who were as noted for their
beauty and accomplishments as for their
daring recklessness. Acting as spies for
their party, they were able to secure in
formation which often saved their fell
low nihilists from arrest. On ono coca.
sion, gaining the confidence of % high
official, they learned from him all about
General Ignatieff's plans for tho sup
preston of the liberal movement, and
from another source they procured list
of the nihilists whom the general in
tended Immediately to arrest Thus tho
scheme was frustrated, but the safety
OF the suspects" was not long contin-
ued. The spies Of the dreaded Third
section soon secured enough evidence to
arrest the brave sisters, who little dream
cd that any suspicion attached to them.
Being reused from their beds at mid
night. they were quietly conveyed to
the fortress, and it was not for some
months afterward that the other MEM
bers of their circle discovered their
whereabouts. After q long period of SOL
itary confinement in the loathsome pris-
on they were finally exiled to Siberia
Other Adherents to the Cause.
Two other prominent workers in tho
cause of nihilism were Miles. Iyanoya
and Griaznova. The former was a daugh-
ter of a military officer and was con-
nected with the secret printing Office of
the terrorist" organ, Peoples Will.
When tho journals place of publication
was discovered, these courageous wom-
EN-, revolvers i'll hand, kept the soldiers
ut bay for couple of hours. The gen
darmes fired continuously through the
doors and windows, but it was only
through lack of ammunition that those
inside were finally compelled to surren-
der. a soldier tied securely the hands
and feet of one of the women and throw
her violently to the ground, and While
III this attitude she reproached her COM
rades for their cowardico i'll so readily
yielding up tho situation. For this de-
fiancc another gendarmc beat her about
the face and body and injured her very
seriously. This imam" was ono of tho
witnesses against her at the "trial''
which followed, and, the evidences of
his brutality being entirely disregarded,
tho victim was sentenced to Is years
penal servitude. believe that through
the influence of the heir apparent, to
whom the court martial appealed, this
penalty was afterward committed to four
years, though the other woman was
transported to Siberia for life.
The great Winter palace explosion Of
1880 brought into prominence another
young woman-Vera Figner, the daugh-
ter of high Russian official-who was
devoted adherent of the liberal cause.
Though acquitted of tho charge of COM
plicity in the plot to destroy the palace,
she was subsequently sentenced to Is
years penal servitude for being identi-