Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-10-17
TORTURE OF THE KNOUT.
RusSia'S Barbarous Method of Punish
ment Finally Abolished.

Aside from the victims themselves
and those who have been witnesses
or active parties to their horrible tor
lures very few persons have had any
adequate conception Of the iendiSh
barharouSnasS of the Russian inStru-
ment of punishment. the knout. In
deed, even in Russia the extent 10
which it was used and the terrible
nature of the outrageous work for
which 1T was responsible were not
tuly realized. The new imperia
lkaSe 'aboliShing the Use Of the knout
for the punishment of otfenSeS COM
mitted by the peaSantry, who have
hitherto been completely ut the merry
of the local judges" was the direct
result of something distinctly in the
nature of Il revelation to the ear him.
self. Statistics were submitted to the
car showing that in ten years 5000
persons, mostly guilty of tuettS of
produce or other comparatively minor
otfenSeS had died after punishment
with the knout. Practically. punish
ment with the knout was sentence
of death. Though i'll Russia the rod
and its equivalents have had a more
extended and bloody existence than
IN any other European state, it iS evil
dent that the more humane spirit OF
the age has been felt. Had not this
been the case the statistics Of horrible
IN,
ear with resultant adjustment OF
the knout would never have been col
lected and presented. 1t is an inter
eSting fact that the world at large
was given to understand as long arc
as 1866 that the knout was abolished
for all but the graveSt ottenSeS.
a Polish artist named SochacZWeSki
who was for twenty years in political
exile in Siberia, is now i'll England
and has told some interesting facts
concerning the knout and other Incl
dentalS of life tor DEATH in Siberia .
NJ. Sochaczewski was political eX-
lie in Siberia at the age of u, and
suffered four years and half in the
mines, during two and Il half of
which, he carried, night and day,
chains, of which marks are perma.
nently craven on his ankles The
former political prisoner is educated
and intelligent, and speaks without
fear or favor. lie tells simply of
what he has seen and known.
The knout was i'll use in the mines
during the whole of his exile, and he
intlction. Those who We're condemn.
ed to it suffered in public. The knOut
is not an article which is either SuS-
ceptible of or needs very elaborate
description. 4 band of leather serves
the eXecutioner for a handle and the
knout itself is a single thong OF
leather, rough and very hard, taper.
ING toward the extremity, where it is
weighted with ball of lead. With
this the eXecutioner, who is generally
a reprieved murderer. GA intliCt a.S
little or as great suffering as Ne
p!eaSeS. Prisoners would sometimes
give the eNccutioner Il II BIZ &c p"ovC
his skill, when he would stlike one
Of them, apparently with ful! force
across the palm of the hand, but the
blow would scarcely be felt and would
not leave scratch. With the same
instrument the eXecutioner could kill
a single stroke and was occasion.
ally bribed to do so 10y condemned
prisoner, breaking the ribs ana al
most tearing out the hear
NJ. SochacZeWSki says tn the num-
Der of strokes which are to be inflicted
on prisoner is itself of no conse.
quence: for punisi m"nt with the knout
is regarded as Il sentence of death.
A man under sentence of one hundred
laSheS might die at the third LASH ii
when case the remaining ninety-Seveu
would he given To the corpse. 1t was
possible. if the eXecutioncr did moi
employ his whole art or strength, fol
the victim TO escape death but he
would then inevitably he a cripple fol
the res t Of his life. There were men
in the hospital whom the knout lad
MANNED for life.
Nor did the knout exhaust the re.
sources of penal discipline in Siberia
There is n whip called the ''plet" that
is scarcely less barbarous than the
knout. The plet has three tails of
twisted leather, with bits of metal al
the tips. 1t is. perhaps, tritle less
deadly than the knout. but an expert
tlogger can kill his victim at the fifth
stroke There is a difference in the
logging with the knout and the plet.
The knout, ike the English cat" is
laid across the back. The three tails
Of the plet score the hack downward
from the nape of the neck to the
loins, and every stroke, properly given
carries away three strips Of the skin
and bites into the flesh. Providence
Journal.
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