The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-10-28
RUSSIAN CENTENARlANS.

Dwellers In the Caucasus Whose Ages
Run Up to 14o and $50.
Last year an old peasant named Ivan
Kouzmin was reported to have trav-
eled from Moscow TO Kiev at the age of
140. He was said to be in good health.
BE had formerly been coachman to,
Count Sheremetief, but in 1910 was
sent to Siberia, where he spent 54 years,
returning in 1894. His is not the only
instance in which Siberian exile has
survived to extreme old age. Two years
ago there was said to have died in Sa-
mara one Lavrentii Efmof, who had at
tanned the age of $50. According to the
newspaper reports of him he took part
as boy in the famous Pugatchef re-
bellion in the reign of Catherine the
Great, and for his share i'll that brief
but sanguinary outbreak spent 30 years
of his life in Siberia Recently there
was said 10 be living in the village OF
Vank (Saratof government) an Armenl-
an aged 10, the proud ancestor OF 81
descendants, of whom II were still llv-
ing. His name was David Kazarlan.
Another Armenian, priest named Ter
Mikaeliantz, was reported not long ago
to be living at Gori in the Caucasus at
the age of I08. He was still able to
walk to church and once year per-
formed the liturgy. If recent history In
the Turkish empire continues to repeat
itself, such instances of longevity among
the Armenians seem likely to become
rare. Last December there died in the
goyernment of Kharkof an old man,
Theodore Liptzof, who was said to have
reached the age of 115. He well re-
meubered the Nspoleonic invasion Of
1912. It is worth noting that he drank
vodka freely and that he took snuff and
was an inveterate smoker Of tobacco,
which he not infrequently chewed as
well. The Caucasus would seem to be
region favorable to length of days. In
addition to the instance of the Arme-
nian priest already quoted the following
other instances have been reported from
there:
Last year, in the town with the un-
pronounceable name of Mtzkhst, peas
ant with the appropriate but equally
unpronounceable name of Adam Mario
lekishwii died at the reputed age OF
130. Unfortunately some doubt must be
thrown on the accuracy of this instance,
for the newspaper (The Kavkaz) from
which it is quoted adds that Adam left
two sons, the eldest so and the youngest
40 years of age. # this be true, the
youngest son must have been born to his
father at the great age of go, an almost
incredible feat in nonpatriarchial times.
Adam is said to have left a widow aged
100, and this same town with the I'M
possible name is stated still to shelter
several old men and old women between
80 and 100. Three years ago one of its
favored inhabitants, a woman, died at
fhe age of 1870. Happy Mtzkhet! In
Hflis, not long ago, a woman named
Urumsima Arutunova died at the sup
posed age of 120. and as recently as
hay last a brutal murder was brought
to light in the district of Tiflis in which
the victim was said to be 100 years old.
The object of the crime was not discov-
cred. The case of Nicolas de Savin, the
old French soldier who was taken pris-
oner by the Russians in 1919 and died
two years ago in Saratof at the age of
1876, was commented upon at that time
in the English press. About the same
time the case of another old soldier was
brought forward, Finn living in Wy
borg, whose age was said to be 1872.
This summer there was said to be liv-
ing still older Cossack soldier. This
man, named Solodof, residing in the
village of Joynino (Poltava govern
ment), is reported to have passed his
one hundred and twenty-fifth birthday.
Finally an old woman, aged III, is it
is stated, still living i'm Nikolaief. She
is Pole and remembers the taking of
Warsaw by the Russians in 1898. In
closing the list it is we'll to add that in
many of the instances quoted closer
investigation might materially diminish
the ages of the persons in question.
Only last year paragraph appeared in
the papers relating to an old man who
had come from Siberia and who had
reached the age of 1873. A later para
graph stated that on examining his pass
port his true age was found to be only
Lancet.