The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-17
FLOGGING IN SIBERIA.
The Worst Criminals Are Chosen 10
MieId the knout.

RAISING along a gloomy passage of the
Alexander prison, whose walls are cover
ed with black mouldiness, and reek with
the strong scent of pine cones strewing on
the floor, we find at the end of the corri-
dor chairs aud tables for the authorities
who witness the inaiction of the punish
ments; among the officials are a lawyer
the chief of the prison, and the surgeon,
and a little way off is. placed the block
OF threatening aspect, behind which
stands the wilder of the knout who awaits
his victims with curious look His garb
is apparently intended to make the situa-
ton all the more impressive he wears a
tall white head covering, soft felt shoes,
bloodred shirt with its sleeves turned up
and he carries the knout in his hand.
Along the one wall stands row of con-
victs with smoothly shaved heads, and
facing them is long line of warders arm
ed with loaded revolvers in the hand. The
stiffness, as of the grave. which stamps
all present is broken from time to time
by the rafting of the handouts and the
leg letters, and by furtive cough or the
rustling of the papers upon the table of
the prison governor.
Who will be the neXt?" Is the question
that is all too clearly to be read upon
the deathlike feature of the ''arrestants."
"Sidorov is called out by the governor
in a quiet, restrained voice. Sidorov steps
unsteadily and with an increasing totter
and rafting of his chains out of the line
of gray, long felt coats. l note his lips
growing pale and the fear in his widely
opened eyes, as though he we're hunted
wild beast.
Lie down!" is the command. Hastily
making the sign of the cross on his breast
Sidorov lives down at length on the bench,
and throws each arm around it; he is then
bound by leathern thongs to the bench,
and his hands are tied together beneath
it.
How many?" asks the warder charged
with counting the strokes.
Sixty" is the quiet answer of the gov
ernor.
Look out" or Pull yourself together"
forms the general remark of the knout-
wielder and the next moment the blows
are raining in fearful thuds upon the bare
back of Sidorov who utters heart-pierc-
ing shrieks. One, two three-the warder
calls aloud the tale of the stripes, every
one of which Kisses and leaves its mark
on the culprit. The cry that at first fol-
lowed every stroke has gradually become
an unbroken howl and roar, and readers
must have strong nerves if they can pic
ture further all the hideousness of this
diabolical form of punishment.
This sort of castigation Is inflicted upon
convicts whenever it is ordained by the
law or by the police and local authorities.
The dispenser of blows is always a fell
low taken from the prisoners themselves,
and in his hands the fate of the delin-
ouent may be said literally to lie. The
knout consists of a thick wooden stick,
to which is fastened a strong plated lash,
about thirty inches long and two inches
wide, and this thong is cut so as to form
three lashes at its end A convict who re-
tains the smallest degree of human feel
ing can never be induced to undertake this
office, and thus only the most reprobate
and hardened criminals are chosen for
the dread work. To these inhuman erea-
lures the courts of Russia intrust human
life 1t is in their power to infliet only
light punishment upon the condemned, to
make him cripple for the rest of his
days, or to send him to his grave on the
spot; and yet the officials never deem il
necessary TO put any restraint on these
1oggers The experienced hoggers are
really skilled at their work. If they wish
to show any mercy to the delinquent they
rain blows on his body with the middle
part of the whip, while the cruel tips Of
it fall beyond the prisoner and on the
bench; but If no mercy is to be given,
then the knout is made to do its fell pur
pose. In the hands of a skilled 1ogger the
motions of the knout are so quick that
they can scarcely be rightly followed by
an inexperienced observer In either case
the prisoner naturally bowls; but the diff
ference in the result is very marked. The
lighteued form of punishment can be
bought, and woe to him who is not able
ia propitiate the hogger.
Permanent injury and death as the re-
suits of the knouts were formerly by no
means rare but now they are exceptions.
Very much depends also upon the person.
ality of the chief of the prison; if he is
a man of the least kindly feeling he will
not allow the flogging to be carried out
to grewsome lengths; but, are there many
such men to be found on the outermost
fringe of the Russian empire?
The courts generally condemn to f1ogging
confirmed criminals, fugitives from Sibe-
ria and vagabonds many of whom have
received altogether from five hundred to
six hundred blows. An old Siberian tramp
finished has curriculum vitae with the fol-
lowing words: II have received all told
fourteen hundred stripes of the birch rod.
six hundred blows from the knout and
numberless thrashings by sticks" AS is
to be expected, the statistics of the Siber-
ian prisons show the futility of these pun
ishments as corrective measures. In pro-
portion as the punishments increase in
number and cruelty so the relapses and
backsiidings into crime increase. Nostal-
gia. or intensified inconsistencies is curl
ously strong in the inmates of the Siber-
ian prisons. and will not be repressed by
the most cruel system of whipping
Hitherto we have dealt only with the
knout, which is the rare form of punish
ment and must be ordered by a court of
law. The usual corporal punishment by
means of rods and sticks Is somewhat diff
ferent for they form the Alpha and Omega
OF the corrective measures in use in Siber-
ian prisons This form of punishment is
regarded rsther as a bagatelle, and yet its
effects are much worse than those of the
knout, for it is melted out to all in the
same measure; il needs not to be ordained
bv a court of law, and the victim UNDER
goes no previous medical examination as
to his fitness to bear the punishment. Every
governor of prisons can give thirty and
every district governor one hundred of
these blows at their sole discretion. 1t is
the naked truth that even criminals when
grievously i'll do not escape this punish