The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-17
Russian Noble to Live a Peas
ant Life i'm Manitoba.
Killing a Nan Changes the
Tenor of His Life.
DISCIPLEl OF TOLSTOI
To Dwell on $50 Acres Of
Ground Donated Him.
Banished From Russia For
Founding a New Sect.

New York, Nov. lion the far west
ern boundary of the province OF Mani
toba. IN a land which though smiling In
summer Is swept by billiards IN winter,
a Russian prince, nephew of the present
Russian minister Of railways and a con-
vert to the religious views Of Tolstoi
and the Doukhobortsi, will live on his
$50 acres of land, tilling the soil and
living the life Of a poor and simple
peasant.
The story of the career of the peas
ant Prince HiIkoff has never yet been
related in this country. The prince was
an officer in the Russian army at the
time Of the Turkish war in 1873, serving
an the Caucasus, and during his mill
tary life there met many of the Douk-
nObOrtSl, who were then living in that
htlly country. One day he killed Turk
In battle and captured his horse, but an
other horse, an extremely fine animal,
escaped him after a long chase. The
prince returned to camp much dfscon-
tented and dissatisfied, thinking at first
that the failure to get the horse was at
the bottom of his disquietude.
1t gradually daWned upon him. how
ever, that his unrest came from having
killed a man. The more he thought up
on 1T the more he realized the bad use
TO which he was deVOtiug his strength
and energy, killing people whom he did
not dislike and whom he had never met
before, and he determined to leave the
Russian army.
This he could not do at once, but he
abstained from taking any more life,
though often in positions of great per
sonal danger.
At a later period Prince Hilkoff left
the military service and settled on his
mothers estates in Southern Russia.
There he occupied himself with agricul-
ture and came into closer touch with
the peasantry. He saw how misera BILE
they We're and how hard their life was
IN consequence Of heavy taxation and
enforced military service. Moreover, the
quantity of land allotted to them at
the emancipation of the serfs was an
sufficient for their needs.
Ultimately the prince came into pos
session of his mothers estate and, i'm
mediately divided it up among his peas
ants, he himself living by his own toll
and dwelling on a small section of the
land which had been allotted to him by
the peasants themselves.
BY this act Prince Hnkof acquired
great influence among the peasants, and
was consulted by them in all their trOu-
bleS, more particularly with regard to
the overcharging done by the priests of
the Russian church in connection with
the burial and marriage services.
The prince finally advised the peas
ants to do 8 the StundiSts and the 9TH
er Protestant seCts of Russia were do
ang-to get along without the priests al
together, advice which was at once
adopted. This proceeding caused a ser
ious shrinkage in the church income,
and being denounced by the priests as
the founder of new sect, the prince
was banished to the Caucasus. His two
children were taken from him and
handed over to his mother to be brought
up in the orthodox faith.
In the Caucasus Prince Hilkoff lived
among the DoukhObOrtsi and when, af-
ter a time, the Russian government ban
Ashed the leaders and prominent men Of
the DoukhObortsi to Siberia, the prince
was sent to the Baltic provinces and
placed among the Lettish-speaking peo-
pies. There he lived for two years, and
at last received permission to leave
Russia altogether.
His present plan Is TO accompany the
DoukhObortst to their future home in
Manitoba, living on the $50 acres of
ground which the Canadian govern
ment Is to allOt to each family of these
Russian refugees, and in no way will
his mode Of life differ from that of the
peasants about him. Prince Hilkoff has
a fine education and a good knowledge
of English, and his presence in the fu-
ture colony will be very valuable to the
immigrants.
Prince Hilkoff will be joined shortly
in Montreal by Aylmer Maude, a close
friend of TOlstOi, who is now in this
city on business connected with the im-
migration of the DOukhObOrtsi. Mr..
Maude declares that the DOukhobortsi
are in every way desirable and admira-
bic people. 1t was not true that their
domestic life was a Russianized form