Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1903-06-03

Russian convicts are dressa II uu-
,bleached cotton shirts and 1rou~rS,
with socks-or pieces OF clCth Wt'uiis
around their legs, puttee faThloh--ui"'
shoes. Over all they wear the kin
lat" or long, ulster-ike frieiT. All are
! in chains. One degrading fo:m OF pun
ishment, that of claiming tile CONVICT
TO y whcclbarrow, which is never de-
taclled either by day or night, has Derh
abolished On the mainland; but on SAX
holln to-day there are still two men
who are undergoing this mlSeraole
punishment.
Thi: form Of punishment. the hlcials
saw is necessary to keep them from
escaping. The clean shaving of hall
tbo head is also intended to render
escana more difficult and Identification
easier.
Only one hundred out of the six hun'
drcd convicts in the worst prison were
being sent out to do hard labor III the
mines or road-making; it was not sur
prising. therefore, that the dreadful
cnnui drove some of the remainder into
riskinc attempts at flight. The night to
choose for an escape was When STORM
was raging. 1t was OH one such niSh'
of my stay that six in the AieAail-
drovsk Testing Prison, under cover OF
tho darkness and the bowling storm.
lassood the tops of the twcnty-foot
stockadc and. clamhcring over. dropped
down and successfully eNaded the
natrols. The storm that night did us
os good turn as it diu the conviclS.
for returning from seven hundred
mile Journey, mostly accomplished Ill Il
dur-out canrr. we (my Interpreter ANA
II had entered on our last stage wlNch
took us through the forest into which
these six convicts had plunged. There
were two roads before us. one travers-
ing the forest and the other being
merely the sandy beach. The latter
was impassable at high tide, and lad
this advantage, that one had only 10
defend oneself from human-or, rathor
Misunderstanding on one side. All
ex-convict who had given us hospital!
itv begged us not to take this 1oreS'
road. Now, of course, there is free
masonry among the convicts ana cN
convicts. and while he told us that they
were armed with guns more partlcu
= lars he would not divulSc. Seeing u
~ still unpersuadcd he backed up III
ir statement by telling US how> the post
,r which have seen leaving AleXan
ri lroysk, twelve miles distant, carryln
10 beside the driver one armed official an
ca two soldiers with bayoncts tiXed wa
,r held up on this road. a few miles ou
+o of Alexandrovsk. So we determine
MI 70 take our chances of the rising tld
and try th2 beach route, though W
~ had lust heard that the youth who live
On o. with us at Alcxandrovsk had been mu
~, dercG on tho sands for the sake OF I'll
on gun he carried.
ir We started in darkness with no lal
'o1 fern, for that would have rendered
,.o y mark, and the wretchcd tclcga move
-, along at a snail's pace. We sat bat
or to back. revolvcrs and daggers lland
~, in orr belts and loaded rifles in han
We had instructions from the poil
% To fire if we should see any movll
W. form Little. indeed, could we mai
mo- out-tbough we could imagine gre
MI ,7cal-as we pccrcd into the dark tc
of est on our way to the beach. we II;
,,,t drorgcd on ut this miserable pace /
,or obout n mile and half, longing for
tar trolka with Its gallopins steeds, WI