Wallowa chieftain. [volume] (Joseph, Union County, Or.) 1884-1909, 1902-06-26
A LIVING DEATH.
Awful Fate of Russian Prisoners in
Mines of Saghalin.

Mines of SaRhalin.
A writer in Leslie's Weekly gives n
graphic account Of the horrors of prison
hfe at the Russian convict station OH
saghalin, an island in the Sea of
Okhotsk.
The total number of convicts at pres.
ent quartered on Saghalin is estimated
at nearly 10000, and one cannot ponder
over the lot of these miserable people
without mingled shudder of gloom
ana horror. The minor malefactors
are seldom consigned to the mines.
which, in measure, is an amelioration
OF their punishment, but of the gates
OF Saghalin they may figuratively 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 their rigor of the punishment to
which they have been condemned. The
lesser criminals chained and logged to
guard against possible escape are Civ
en- occupation above ground as tillers
OF the soil or prison attendants, sub
Ject to the petty whims and cruelty of
subordinate officials. Unceasing toll.
curses, semi-starvation, the "plet," a
terrible loaded whip, is henceforth
their daily lot; but it is bed of roses
compared with the future condition of
the more unfortunate degenerates.
fhnGn pIIiltty of
and those whom Russian officialdom
Tears even more, political malefactors.
These prisoners, so soon as they are
landed, are assigned to distinctive
number and huddled pell-mell, like n
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 con-
demned to a life of the most abiect
misery, degradation and hardship. The
vast subterranean channels become
populous avenues of wild-eyed, frantic
maniacs. The most brutal immorali-
ties are prevalent; children are born,
but no distinction is made for their con-
dition; the steel-hearted overseers give
them distinctive number if they sur
vive to IL proper age: infanticide is en-
couraged and abetted, and thenceforth,
although guiltless of. all crime, they
suffer the fate of their parents.
Down in the dark bowels of the
earth, denied even a pittance of sun
shine or fresh air these God-forsaken
unfortunates toll on endlessly, until
first flies spirit, then reason-hideous
shrunken, tortured, gnomes and ma
MACS, they labor on till their doom is
happily cut short by deaths welcom-
ing hand. One or two, or at the ut
most, five years of this living, death
prevails over the most vigorous vital
ity; more often long before that time
the miserable wretch ends all by sui
eide. Small wonder it is that most of
them live but few months; their
deaths are reported by the overseer
and in sickenng farce the priest is sent
for, sprinkles the accursed spot with
water, and in an unknown grave they
are unceremoniously buried. Some
times the thrill of liberty is too strong
to be resisted; sudden frenzy to es-
cape light up the embruted breasts
with the faint hope of despair, and,
goaded to fury, the bolder spirits start
an insurrection, overpower their guards
and rush toward the shelter of the
gloomy mountain Businesses. Like
mad dogs, they are trailed surrounded
by soldiers and shot down with no COM
junction.