The evening times., 1898-11-11
LUcHRN1s LIVING DEATH.
He VIII SIefid the Rest of His Life
In Total Silence.

New York, Nov 1.-THE World pub
fishes today tailctter written by Ben H,
Ridgely the hited States consul at e.
neva, relative 70 the horrors of the un-
ishlrent of Lucheni who was sentenced
TO Imprisonment for life yesterday Tor the
assassination of Empress Ehzab tn of
Austria, September 10, in Geneva, Swift
Gerland The setter is as follows:
Lucheni's punishment will he, for an
anarchist the most terrible that can lie
conceived Ii will be total silence. He
will not be made IA martyr" He vii
simply be shut up, set TO work and for-
b!dden to talk.
For the first five years he viii be con-
lined To his cell and viii perform the la
Dor assigned to him there. After hVe
Sedrs he Will be set to work in Prison
snop and may not speak to any of ,he
lesser knaves around him upon paln OF
oeIng returned TO solitary conino ment.
lie is not TO be pamrered; he may not
smoke or read or Ialk; i-e does not kno"
wnat the world is saying ab5ut MIN. tie
will not even haye the p:isi.eSe OF
standing in public on the sulIot.n2 a-ld
having his head cut off-a Blessed c IL
ISOLATION to Vail ant and Henry aad Saht1
tesario They locked forward To it and
gioried in it, and were proud of cha c;
to go under the knife splitting Gu. ses
upon society. But there Is no stcH Lops
1or Lucheni.
He is allowed no wine or beer or spirits,
and since that one famous cigar of which
so much has been said, was smoked ne
has not been permitted to touch tobacco
All the prison guards take turIis IN
watching his cell, and he has had little
chance of getting special privileges lie
is allowed TO receive no visits or letters
or TO communicate with the world. All
sorts of letters have been sent TO MN,
but he has seen none OF them. These
from all parts of Europe-One or two
from the United States. All the letters
received are not from sympathlZers. IN
one there came Il bit of rope ana rouSh
sketch of "A man being hanged, This is
what you ought to suffer, says the
writer.
The cantonal penitentiary of Geneva.
the Eveehe is d gloomy graystone build
ing hard by the famous old Cathedral
Church OF ST. Pierre (the Church Of John
CalvinJ in the Rue de IEveche. Some
fifty prisoners are confined there at pres
entail males OF these only one is
life prisoner, a parricide who has already
passed sixteen years in lis cell
Here LuCheni Will enter never again TO
come out He Will be put TO work at
shoemaking. On Sunday mornings there
is a service in the penitentlary chapel,
which Lucheni may attend if he wishes,
but as anarchists scorn religion, he may
deny himself this comfort. There IS
also a prison library, from which the
prisoners may each take book every
Sunday. They are permitted to read on
Sundays, and may also read ut the din
ner hour.
Prisoners who have undergone this
punishment four or fve years nave de
clared that they would prefer death
Some hav7 bagged To be killed.
For Lucheni il will be particularly
hard He sees before him a life abso-
rftely without hope; the ceaseiess ta!ker
will be reduced 20 everlasting silence;
the prea cher Of the bad cause will be
without an audience and without pub
lie: the Idle and noisy anarchist viii be
forced TO work industrously every day
of his life.. frctn in the morning until 6
at night and cannot even dispose of the
fruits Of his own enforced labor. If the
I anarchists have any wit they may see d
certain terrible irony in the fate of
Lusui Luoheui