Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-01-28
CURIOUS RUSSIAN SECTS.
From tho London Standards Moscow
CorrespOndent.

Correspondent
Among the many curious sects OF
which residents of Russia occasionally
hear very indefinite accounts, and which
are never heard of beyond the frontier,
one of the strangest is. that of the So
called Runners" The origin of the
name is uncertain, but may be derived
from the custom Of running away like
a sick animal to die IN peace when dis.
ease overtakes them. During the chol-
era year n whole family Of these run.
hers" at Saratov were overtaken by
death before they could fulfill the last
duty of their creed, and were buried
by their friends in the courtyard Of the
house they lived in. When found by
the police in the course of sanitary
itation, the bodies of five men and wom-
EN- were discovered with the legs care.
fully tied together with linen band.
This custom is said to be n mark OF
the sect, and would seem to indicate
that the name comes rather from
their habit of wandering In ones and
twos about the country, the tying of
the legs signifying that their run
hing" is over.
The interest awakened by the late
missionary congress at Kazan in the
investigation of the innumerable sects
whose existence is contrary to law,
and whose tenets In some cases involve
violation even of the criminal code,
has resulted in the discovery of fur
ther development of the above sect.
the members of which are called "Run.
ner-Smotherers." When any member
Of this extraordinary sect Is seized with
n mortal, or supposed mortal, illness,
instead of being allowed to run off to
die he Is put out of the world by won.
an whose title is the "smotherer." This
ceremony is, for safety's sake, gen.
orally performed, not in the victims
| house, but in the common "praying
ROOM" secret room conveniently sit
uated to escape the prying eyes of au.
thority, and provided with numerous
exits in case of surprise. While psalms
are sung and the censor swung the old
MOllldu WIZ 'HC
able Office of "smotherer," performs her
task with q. small cushion held over the
sick persons nose and mouth, the body
being hfterward secretly buried in
some remote spot, whittier 1t Is con.
yeycd under a load Of some innocent
matter, such as hay.
In the rare cases where this last rite
is performed in private house, un.
supplied with the necessary means OF
concealment, charge of murder is the
usual sequel, but even then the absence
OF the corpse is great help TO the ac.
cuscd. Unless the grave can be found,
the nearest relatives OF the missing
person naturally escape the full pen.
atty Of the law, however strong the sus.
picion OF four play may be. Indeed,
the actual smothering being done by
an official parsonage, who Is never given
up, the relatives are only at most &C.
completes, and If any punishment at all
follows the discovery by the author.
tiles of supposed crime committed in
this way, it is usually that of deportine
to Siberia, not as criminals, but "for
residence there" of all those strongly
suspected Of belonging to the sect
In course of time Siberia has thus be.
come thoroughly infected with these
and scores of other sects-many mere.
ly innocent "Dissenters"- more
harmful than the sect of "Smotherers,
md some Of the most extraordinary re.
lgious beliefs and practices the world
has ever heard of thrive and develop
there in the freer air of country toe
vast to be governed, except on paper, by
the not too energetic labors of an mad
squate police.