New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-04
BURIED ALIVE IN TIRASPOL.
DETAILS OF THE RUSSIAN FANATICS AMAZING

| Tiraspol correspondence OF The London Daily
News.
On reaching the end of a short but lovely YER
nal glade. the cleaning white walls OF Fedor
Kovalefs dwelling suddenly came into view In
the brilliant sunshine 1t naturally occurs to me
that the cottage and its pretty outrageous sur
roundngs form picture more attractive for the
pencil than the pen. Ny companion silently
points to a gaping cavity, blackly shaded within.
near the base of one of the cottage gables. Down
in this cellar cave were entOmDed alive the ilrSt
nine victims, including Kovaeffs wife and two
children, aged respectively four months ana four
years and his sister One marvelS, on closer
| inspection, that this horrible small black hole
was made to accommodate Eine persons lying
prostrate even though two Of them were chill
dren. The victims appear, however, to have as
sumed the most convenient postures for econ
omizng the limited space, lying very closely to-
gether, and alternately head to feet A curious
evidence Of the cramped position in which one OF
the victims here found himself Is shown by a
small cavity which he scOOped out of the clayey
wall with his finger nails in order to give room
for the repOse of the head and shoulders. In
another ard closely adjacent part Of Kovaeffs
premises / the still open and shallow pit
from which the remains of six other victims were
exhumed. j then visited the places in SukhOT s
and GOrsin's gardens where the two parties OF
six and four victims were unearthed. Many OF
the bodies were in an advanced state of decOm-
position when eXhumed, more especially those OF
the victims who were buried many months ago.
may here state that the living interments
took place on the following dates (all Old Style:
Nine persons were walled up alive in KOVaeff' 8
cellar on December %; six were buried alive in
Gorsn's garden on December ~; six in Kova-
lcfl'3 garden. including Vitalia and Kovaef 8
mother, on February >, and the last four in Suk-
hotrs garden on February % Force even
torture, would have awaited nothing in the en-
deavOrS to compel Koyaeff to disclose the burial
places Of the other victims after the discovery
about three weeks ago of those walled UP in his
cellar. 1t was entirely through the humane,
sympathetic and persuasive advice and pleadngs
OF the prison governor that kovalef finally con-
scented to reveal the whole story and point out
the three other hccatombs.
One of the most striking and extraordinary as
poets Of these tragedies is that furnished by the
marvellous moral Residences and physical
hardihood Of the fanatic Zeaots. In my last let
ter l referred to the self-starvation of those
Beguni prisoners who arrested as vaga-
bonds for refusing to satisfy the inquiries of the
census enumerators The prison governor is alb
solutely convinced that they would have literally
persisted Of hunger and thirst had he not re-
leased them at the last moment, and when they
were PROSTATE from exhaustion. But now comes
little more convincing proof Of the marvellous
force OF misdirccted will and unflinching deter
mination Of the victims. All the living inter-
ments took place at night. in one or two cases
In the presence of two Of Kovaens companions,
and on the other occasions in presence of several
passive co-regonist witnesses. All this is duly
attested in the evidence carefully elected by the
examining magistrates. In each the vic
TINS previous 10 the sdcriticial rite, endued
themselves in their best garments, and over
these envelOped themselves in funereal shrouds.
They then Frustrated themselves silently and re-
signedy in their living graves, lying in close
array. and always on the right side. and without
utternS an involuntary moan or cry without so
much as moving hand or limb. they permitted
themselves to be slowly buried alive by the COW
ering earth deliberately shoveed over them by
the single spade welded by FedOr Kovaleff
One stands aghast and dumfoundcd at the bare
thought, not only Of the access of religious
fanaticism which impelled these wretched people
to a voluntary autO-da-f6, but of the astonishing
physical control displayed in the manner Of their
self-submission to a horribly cruel death. There
is something inhuman in such martyr will and
martyr courage as here manifested Any one of
the victims weakly relenting his resolution at
the last moment. or unable to suppress the hui
man and physical instinct which causes a DYING
person To Wrestle with the death agony, might
have stepped out Of the grave while the clods
from kOyalef's spade were still falling over him
as is conclusivey shown by the various photo
graphic pictures showing the positions of the
bodies when recently uncovered.
No less strong of nerve and of fanatic fOrtitude
must have been Kovaleff. who performed the
seXtOn-ke. or rather ghoulish. office of walling
up and interring alive the whole OF the victims
Several portraits of KOvaen have been shown to
pockmarked face and the general expression Of
his Little Russian features are certainly by no
means prepOssessing, but all those persons here
in TraspOl who were personally acquainted with
him, and with whom have spoken give Kova-
left an excellent character as n sober. Industrious
and thrifty agricuturst and Il gentle and affec-
Tomato husband and father. Among their OrthO-
doX and Jewish neighbors the Begun have in
deed always and generally enjoyed a good repu-
tation. They are all wc-to-do people few of
them cultivating less than hundred acres that
is, to each family.