The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-02-26
The Torture in Russia.

In April. 1856. Karakezoff shot ar Alex
ander H. as he was coming cut Of the
summer garden TO take his carriage. saws
Prince Kropotkin IN the March Atlantic.
The shot missed. and karakozon was ar
rested on the spot
In 1850 / was in Siberia One OF our
Siberian officers, who travelled from Rus
STA 10 Irkutsk toward the end OF that
year. met at a post station two gem
0armes- Our ITkutsk officer. finding the
gendarmes al the tea table on a cold win
ter night. joined them and ehaJted with
them. while the horses were being chang
ed. One OF the two gendarmes knew
karakozof
He was cunning. he was" he said.
When he was in the fortress We were
ordered. two OF us.--we were relieved ev-
cry two heurs.-nOt 10 let him sleep. Sa
we kept him sitting on a small stool and
as soon as ne began TO slunbe-. We shook
him 10 keep him awake. a.. What Will
you've were ordered 10 do 80, Wei
see how cunning he was; he would So with
crossed legs. swinging one OF his legs e
make US believe that he was awake, and
himself. in the meantime. would get a
nap, continuing TO swing his leg. But We
soon made IL out and told those VINO re-
lieved Us. so that he was shaken and
walked up every few minutes. whether he
swung his legs or not" And how long
did that LAST" my friend asked. "Oh,
many days,-more than one week"
When KaTakOzoff was hanged, one OF
my comrades from the corps OF pages
was present at the execution with his reg
iment of cuirassiers. When he was Ia
ken out Of the fortress" my comrade told
me, sitting on the high platform Of the
cart which was jolting on the rough
glacis Of the fortress. my first impression
was that they we're bringing out an india
rubber doll 10 be hanged, that karako-
Z0f was already dead. Imagine that the
head, the hands. the whole body were 9e-
solutely loose, as If there were no bones in
that body, or that the bones had been all
broken. II was q terrible thing 10 see
and TO think what il meant. However.
when two soldiers took him down from the
cart. I saw that he moved his legs and
made strenuous endeavors 10 walk BY
himself and TO ascend the steps Gf the
scanold. So IL was not doll, nor cOuId
he have been in a swOon- All the OIL
GERS were very much puzzled AT the cir
cumstance, and could not explain IT."
" hen, however. suggested to my com
rade that perhaps Karakozoff might have
been tortured. the color came into his
face and he replied SO We all
thought"
Alexander II. certainly was not rank
anG-file man. says Prince kropot-
kin, but two different men lived
in him. both strongly developed. to
struggle with each other; and this inner
struggle became more and more violent as
he advanced in age. He could De charm
ing in his behavior. and the next moment
display sheer brutality. He was possess
ed of a calm, reasoned courage IN the
face OF real danger but he lived in
terrible fear OF the dangers which he con-
ceIved in his brain only. he certainly
was not a coward; he would meet a bear
face TO face, and when. one day, the ami
mai was not killed outright by his first
bullet, and the man who stood behind him
with a lance, rushing forward was knock
ed down by the bear. Alexander Ii. came
to his rescue. and killed the bear close
10 the muzzle OF his gun q know this from
the man himselO, but he was haunted
all his life by the fears of his own imagiu-
alton and Of an uneasy conscience. He
certainly was very good hearted with his
friends. but that gOod-heartedness lived
in him by the side of that terrible cold
blooded cruelty-a seventeenth century
ne displayed in crushing
the Polish instruction. and later on in
1850, and of which no one would have
thought him capable.