Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1900-12-22
ESCAPED FROM SIBERIA
sNARKAelE STORY AND THRILL.
ING ADVENTURES OF AN EXILE,

] ''hN y 'NSluNLtWfkl, WHO
was sent to Siberia Oh account of his
participation In the rebellion of the
RUSSIAN Poles against the imperial
GoV3nment in 1896, who are five
times wounded by Russian bullets.
who walked seven thousand miles
through Arctic Russia and Siberia in
chhiiis. who escaped his captors by n
method almost miraculous. and re.
traced his steps for seven thousand
miles along the great Siberian road.
During the two years 1863, 1864. "
said Mr. Grygla, as he is now known.
sixteen hundred political prisoners
We're executed in the prisons ut War.
saw. My two brothers, who were cap.
lured, had been too prominent in the
revolutionary movement to remain
long unidentified. At their trial they
were sentenced to die together, AMI |
stood among the Polish prisoners and
looked on while they were being shot
to death. My own trial came soon
aftcr. When | was led ont Ivy the
guards | was Informed that had been
sentenced to II life of banishmeut In
l.ublin-one of the uttermost provinces
OF Siberia,
Late IN August the transport left
ST. Petersburg, and at the end of three
months We arrived a. TupUisk, just ov-
er the Siberian boundary line Our
line OF march was along the great
Siberian road, of which much has been
told and of which so much more can
never be told. The prisoners walked
In chains, and We're tied to one anoth.
er to prevent any one escaping. In
front, to either side and behind the
guards marched, with loaded muskets
unslung. Their orders were to shoot
any who attempted to escape.
'FolloWing the main line of march
came the 'telegas.' These were rough
wooden wagons without springs, II
man tainted or dropped in the line
from sickness he was loaded on one
of these until the next 'etap,' or sta.
ticr, was reached, Here q stop was
made for the night,
"Even during the journey Of three
months IN Russia there was much dis
ease and death In the transport OH ac.
count OF OyercrOwding in the prison.
ers' rooms. But II was the hospitals
that we feared the most Time after
time ! have seen men drag on I'm
til they dropped dead in their tracks
rather than enter one Of these hos.
pitfalls.
m N,,ny 1l,n,l ~, oI, ~,
horrors of what was to come had
dawned upon us. The pittance which
the Government granted us for support
was small enough, and permitted our
buying only the cOarsest kind of meat
and flour. But for many days before
our arrival at that city the officers In
charge had withheld the greater part
OF the allowance, and no one received
more than three or four kopecks day.
After we had talked among ourselves
| was selected 10 present the griev.
ances of the transport to the Governor
of Tobolsk. This l did when occasion
offered. He Immediately flew into
most violent rage, and roundly abused
the officer IN charge of our party,
Il was stripped to the waist, and
Two soldiers were detailed to give me
a hundred lashes with the knOut.
was beaten accordingly until | fell in
a faint from pain and loss of blood. At
the conclusion of my punishment salt
was rubbed into my wounds and l was
thrown OH II 'telega,' where | was left
to recover my senses. That the eX-
ample might prove even more efficient
the officer ordered that l receive OH my
bare back twenty lashes with the
knout before the transport entered
every great town.
I'm the 'etaps the vigilance Of the
guards increased, If anything. and
under no conditions We're the prisoners
ever allowed to leave their room. No
wayer was allowed, except for pur
poses of cooking aud for drinking, The
penalty for the infractlon Of the rules
was death.
"The women and the children num-
bered ut first about two hundred. The
children died first, then the women.
As long as any Of these unfOrtunates
could hold up they stayed afoot; then
they took to the wagons.
I'VE pushed on through the winter,
spring and summer of 1865. The pris.
oners had dropped off from 1000 to
1000 and with the coming of the win
ter of 1865 only about eight hundred
were left alive. One day the
prisoner next to me procured
Il small knife-a more play |
thing. fashioned for wearing as a
watchcham. With this lie managed |
TO sever The arteries of both wrists. |
AS he held it in his hand for a moment
while the blood began to flow, ! i
reached for it and quickly concealed
it by sticking the blade in the bark
thong which bound ME to the prisoner |
opposite the dying man.
when the guards stopped the trans |
port to drag the suicide away my |
pockets were searched. No pointed |
instrument was found about me and |
the incident was soon forgotten. But |
with the knife l managed to slowly |
saw away the thongs which bound me |
to my neighbors OH either side. On |
the morning OF December $. 1861 |
have always celebrated the day as my |
Fourth of July--having severed my |
bonds and awaited favorable Oppor.
tunity, l broke from the transport and |
ran.
II was muffled up in the same great |
coat that had worn from the hospital, |
and my feet and lands were heavily |
covered, rs was my head. The |
guards were also encountered, and
had run perhaps hundred and fifty |
feet before three or four shots rang |
out almost simultaneously, and 1 fell. |
My fall was due rather to chance than |
TO intention on my part, for as it hap |
pened the bullet which struck me
could not have knocked me down. For |
some time lay in the snow motion
less,