The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-02

It from an ordinary workyard. Here the men were of a more intelligent type and looked contented and indus trious, though, I dare say, they were not so energetic when the governor had { turned his back. These men receive a small wage, which is placed to their ac- count, and draw it on leaving the jail- that is, if they have not spent it, for one of the odd things I came across was a prison shop where men who would like some delicacy beyond prison fare can get French bread, cheese, sausages, sardines and other things, but neither drink or tobacco. No money passes, but any money the prisoner has or earns, or has sent to him by friends, is kept in an account book, and the men can feast to their hearts content till funds are exhausted.
 After that we went to the kitchen. Dinner was in preparation, "borch,' a. thick vegetable soup, with about a quarter of a pound of meat floating in each plate-the ordinary Russian fare A bowl of it was brought me, with wooden spoon, and I found it as good as have had at Russian railway sta tions. Each prisoner gets some such dislr as this every midday. Also he gets three pounds of bread and tea to drink morning and evening.
 Next we visited the part of the pris- on where were the worst criminals sent from European Russian. They We're on their way in the mines, and to spend their years in Saghalien, the prison is- land in the Far East, which is the Rus sian Botany Boy. Most of them were murderers, They looked it. One could have no pity for them. They were des- peradoes. They all wore long gray felt cloaks, nearly touching the ground. They were all chained, and walked with jangle-jangle at every step. But the most distinctive thing about them was that the right side of the head, half of it, was clean shaven. They came into the yard 50 I might photograph them. It required but qpick action, and they could have slain the six of us-the gov ernor, inspector, myself and interpreter and two warders-and made good their escape.
 Do these men ever escape?" I was fain to ask.
 Yes, sometimes. But our police sys- tenn is such--even Russian cannot move from one town to another with out a police granted passport-'that they are nearly always captured. In the summer time a man can wander the country, but when winter comes he must make for town. Then, unless he has murdered some travelling peasant in order to get his passport, he is sure to be rearrested The usual practice of convicts when the police lay hold of them because they have no passport is to be a mystery, refusing to give their names, to say where they come from, or, indeed, anything. These are hard cases to deal with, because while they can be suspected, as hey have no pass port, it is impossible to fully punish them, because we have no evidence they are really escaped convicts. They make for town long way from their pris- on, so that recognition is wellnight inn possible
 We had long talk, the governor and myself, on the treatment of prisoners. As far as Irkutsk is concerned, the jail could compare favorably with any of our prisons at home.
 We then left the main prison in or der to visit that for women. We walked through village of shanties to what looked the best house in the place. The governor turned the handle of the gate, he went into the yard-a higgledy- piggledy place, filtered with old bricks and the rubbish of some house that had been demolished-and I saw some rath- CT slatternly women sitting about, and some children playing with a kitten.
 "I'll send for the matron,' said the governor. 
 Yes, this is the only prison we have In Irkutsk for women"
 It was just a large sized ordinary house abutting on the street, but not a single soldier to see that no one opened the gate and made off. I couldn't help laughing.
 The matron was a large boned, com woman-most suitable for the post-and was little f1ustered at this visit Without ado we walked into big lower room. There was not pleasant atmosphere. It was | open.
 There were three long, slightly slop- | ng shelves running along either wall. These did duty as beds. There were sprawling about, half of them with children.
 The scene reminded me of a visit I 1 ,nce made to cheap lodging house for vomen in the East End. The place was lar behind the mems prisons for c'ean- mess The smell was indeed sickening. There seemed to be lot of unnecessary id clothing lying about; the women, vlo were sitting in groups when we disturbed them, were unkempt, and most of the children would have been women and about twenty children.
 What are these women here for?" I 1sked.
 "Everything from petty theft to mur- Ter"
 Show me some of your nnurderers." The matron called on five or six wo- nen to stand on one side. There was lothing to distinguish them from the rdinary slothful peasant women. One. owever, was taller and better looking. Ter features were clean cut and her lair was dark. There was sinister, ngry gleam in her eyes, as though she esented our presence.
 That" said the n1atron, 'is our re-