The Opelousas courier., 1899-03-04
ESCAPING FROM SIBERIA.
Hap1ess Convicts Are Secretly Helped
Ftfrd Villagers,

Hapless Convicts Are Secretly Helped by
Bind Villagers
Those subjects Of the ozar who are
sent to Siberian prisons for a real or
fancied offense against the social laws
Or the political degrees Of the power
that is, know that they will be Treated
harshlt; but in no part Of the dreary
country is Imprisonment SO cruel as
in the Kara prison, where the convicts
work in the mines.
Attempts to escape are q common
occurrence all over the country, but
the number of convicts who make a
dash for liberty from the Kara mines
is far greater than from any other
prison.
The miserable creatures who en-
deavor to elude the iron grasp of the
cars officials prefer the spring for
their attempt. There is more chance
SVf reaching the outer world, of cross
Ne the many mileaof desolate terri
toy that separatesxthem from a place
of Aety~c early months of the
year, rdt they canpot always choose
their own time, and in the very depths
of the Siberian winter the desperate
men make the struggle for freedom,
preferring the rigors OF night tramp
ing in the coolest season to the mis-
cries of the prison.
How do these men find their way?
How do they live?
They know the direction in which
safety lies, and they tramp onward
until they reach some spot where they
are safe. That spot may be far away
from the town at which they imagined
they would arrive; but what of that?
They are free; that Is the all-impor-
tant matter.
Yet there is some guide for them
along the first hundred miles Or So;
for in the night time when all is still
and the peasants in the scattered vii
lagos are sleeping, therefugee's heart
is gladdened in his dark and solitary
journey by the friendly CLEAN of lamps
in the cottage windows. From the
depths of Asia to the borders of Eu-
rope almost, at least Il window in
every village is illuminated by a lamp
placed there for the benefit of ''those
who must not be SEEM"
For the moujiks have pity on them
and help them. The escaped c~onvicts
cannot travel by day, lest they be de-
nounced to the guards who are search
ing for them. They have to find sus-
tenance where they may; money is
useless to them, as they dare not
openly enter a tavern or indeed any
other place in order to buy food or to
beg for it, even. The peasants dare
not openly receive or help them, and
the chances of success would be very
small but for the device of the mou-
jiks.
If you enter the house of a peasant
in the vicinity, say, of Irkutsk, and
partake of a meal, you will notice in
the window a little table on which
stands a lamp, a plate and a jug.
When the meal commences one of the
family places a portion of the food on
the plate; quite a choice morsel is Sc
lected, and you fancy that another
and more important guest is expected.
A piece of everything is set out on the
plate and the jug is filled with kvas.
You begin to feel rather small. When
you entered you were treated like a
nobleman, but evidently you are not
the chief guest.
However, the guest does not come,
and, more mystifed than ever you
seek an opportunity of asking the
strange preparations.
"Who is it all for?" you ask.
"For the brodiaji; for those who
must not be seen," is the reply.
Yes; those delicacies are for the
convicts. When they stealthily creep
into a village at night and see that
light they know that on the same
table as the lamp is food and drink.
They have only to push the window
and it opens, SO that they may take
the plate and jug and refresh 'ex-
hausted nature.
The moujik does not wish to see
them; it is better not. When he sees
the empty plate and jug in the morn
ing he is pleased, for he knows that
he has helped some poor creature in
his effort to escape from cruelty and a
death and get back to life and
1s-.a .-,r,o.k1-