The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-15
Rise in Revolt Because Bible Trans

word-painting or the most subtle skill of
| the artist to depict this, the acme, the
consensus, of all the misery and horror
| that can have an existence in this world.
| And this is the spectacle with which
Russia, with her hypocritical vagaries of
4! international disarmament and peace,
! confronts the opening of the twentieth
century.
The general desolation and climatic
r1gors of Saghalin accentuate the stern
ness of official misrule. Except for few
weeks of uncertain midsummer sunshine,
| the island Is ice-bound and fog-bound.
Nature is without attractions of any kind;
never a tree is seen, and scarcely n
/! flower, except for few months in the
year. A gray pail of Arctic chill and cold
hangs over the universal desolation, as
spot accursed. Desolation forever relgns,
to mark an awful judgment; or as if the
glowing hills of Pandemonium had been
raised from their dreadful depths to sully
the face of the earth with their most for
bidding aspect. Great masses of frowning
mountain ranges, perpetually incased in
a grim mantle of ice and snow, rise III
huge disarray, hurled into unutterable
confusion and towering grim, forbidding,
and menacing, as if to accord with the
CHASTITY horrors they seek to hide in their
adamant bowels.
This mountainous condition of Saghalin
first attracted Russian official attention.
Subsequent surveys revealed the fact that
coal mines of considerable value were
open to exploitation, which suggested an
ideal method of securing direct financial
advantage and kill two birds with one
stone," as it were. By quartering here
the real criminals and inconvenient peo-
pie, who, to the autocracy, are the most
it was possible to find free labor to WORK
these mineral deposits, which, in itself,
was a commemorate feature from an
economic point of view; Furthermore, the
problem was satisfactorily solved of safe
guarding against the escape of dangerous
convicts. For on Saghalin only the worst
class of criminals and the most feared
political deportees are found, which, how
ever, does not palliate or excuse away
the unnecessary and barbarouS rigor Of
the convict system.
The total number of convicts at present
CHARTERED OH Saghalin is estimated at
nearly 10000, and one cannot ponder over
tile lot of these miserable people without
a mingled shudder of gloom and horror.
The minor malefactors are seldom con-
signed TO the mlnes which, in a meas
ure, Is an amelioration of their punish
ment, but OF the others 1t may well be
may f1guratively read, "All hope abandon
we who enter here" No distinction is
made for age, sex, or condition. The
prisoners, so soon as they are landed,
are sorted according to the rigor of the
punishment to which they have been con-
demned. The lesser criminals, chained
and logged to guard against possible es-
cape, are given occupation above ground
as tillers of the soil or prison attendants,
! TO Uhi nd
of subordinate officials. Unceasing toll,
curses, semi-starvation, the -'plet," ter
rible loaded whip, is henceforth their
daily lot; but 1T is bed of roses COM
pared with the future condition of the
more unfortunate deportees, those guilty
of real heinous crimes, and those whom
Russian officialdom fears even more, po-
litical 1nalefactors.
These prisoners, so soon as they are
landed, are assigned to a distinctive num-
Der, and huddled pell-mell, like horde
of wild beasts, into one of the gaping
holes in the mountain sides. From that
day until death fortunately relieves their
sufferings. they are condemned to a life
of the most abject misery degradation
and hardships. The vast subterranean
channels become populous avenues of
Wild-eyed, frantic maniacs. The most
brutal immoralities are prevalent; chill
dren are born, but no distinction is made
for their condition; the steel-hearted
overseers give them a distinctive number
if they survive to proper age; infanti-
eide is encouraged and abetted, and
! thenceforth. although guiltless of all
crime, they suffer the fate of their par
| ents.
! Down in the dark bowels of the earth,
| denied even a pittance of sunshine or
fresh air, these God-forsaken unfortu-
mates toll on endlessly, until first flies
| spirit, then reason-hideous, shrunken,
| tortured gnomes and maniacs, they labor
on till their doom is happily cut short by
| deaths welcoming hand. One or two, or
| at the utmost, five years Of this living
| death prevails over the most vigorous VI
| tally; more often long before that time
! the miserable wretch ends all by suicide
! Small wonder it Is that most of them
| live but few months; their deaths are
! reported by the overseer. and in sicken-
Ing farce the priest is sent for, sprinkles
the accused spot with water, and in an
unknown grave they are unceremonious-
| ly buried. Sometimes the thrill of liberty
Is too strong to be resisted, sudden