The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1905-03-18

mitted to inspect the Cathedral in the
Fortress of St. Peter and St Paul,
where all the sovereigns of Russia
since the reign of Peter the Great,
only Peter ii, are entombed
and to which the remains of Grand
Duke Sergius will be transferred to
Moscow as soon as the alterations
now IN progress in the imperial char
nel-house are complete. No one, how
ever, is permitted to view the prison
part of the fortress, where political
offenders are confined and where the
famous Russian author, Cork, has
been detained since his arrest at Riga.
The only descriptions thereof are eth
er based upon the pure imagination,
or else are deprived from reports of
prisoners who have undergone deten-
ton there, reports that are not always
trustworthy.
GERMAN OFFICERS DESCRIP-
TON OF THE PRISON
The most reliable account thereof
is that given by German nobleman
and officer whose name is not un-
known in this country, Count Won
Pfeil, and who, entering the Russian
Army at the outbreak of the Russo
Turkish War, went through the cam
paign with the famous Preobayenski
regiment, in which he held the rank
of lieutenant colonel. He remained
in the Russian service until late in the
eighties, and while in theRussian Ar
my was often officer of the guard on
duty in the ST. Paul and St. Peter
Fortress. Even as officer of the guard
he would have had no opportunity of
becoming acquainted with the interior
of the prison-house, had it not been
for his friendship with one of the
higher officers of the Blues, as the
dreaded gendarmerie are called, taking
their name from the color of their uni
form.
According to Count Pfeil, access is
obtained to the prison by several
strong iron studded doors beneath
the vaulted arches of the Troubetskoy
bastion, which are guarded by turn
keys and double guards with loaded
guns and fixed bayonets. Within is
a long broad corridor guarded in turn
by trustworthy men, chosen from the
reserve OF the bodyguard stationed in
the fortress The floor of the corridor
is covered with several thicknesses of
mats, so that guards and gendarmes
move to and fro noiselessly. Opening
on to the corridor are a long row of
cells, each separated from the next by
a stone wall several feet III thickness.
From the corridor the cell doors can
scarcely be distinguished from the
gray masonry, and small sash win
dow in the door leaves the prisoner
under the gaze OF the warders at all
times. The cells are roomy and airy,
being about eight PAGES long and four
wide. In a corner is an iron bedstead
fastened to the floor, with good mat
tress and two wooden blankets In the
center are a table and chair. and the
washstand and sanitary appliances oc-
cupy two corners of the cell. Water
is supplied from watertap.
How the Prisoners are Treated
Daylight enters the cells through
a loftv window with triple iron
bars. But the daylight is only weak
as high wall faces the window
at a distance OF but few feet.
At night fall the cells are lighted
dimly from the outside by stone
lamps. Twice daily the prisoners re
ceive hot meal of two kinds of food
and thrice a day tea is served. Or
fast days no meal is allowed. Every
day each prisoner is taken into th'
| fresh air for forty minutes exercise
in small walled in garden, guarded
bv gendarmes, but always alone
Books are provided for the prisoner
and there is a comparatively large II
brary, but it is composed exclusiVel,
of religious works. Every book OF
being returned to the library is exam
lined most carefully by means of
magnifying glass for the purpose o
| checking any attempts of prisoners t
communicate to one another by mean
lof secret marks in the book.
Gendarmes and warders are requir
ed to always work in pairs so that on
could always spy upon the other, an
/ in one case that came under Com
Pfeil's notice where gendarme wa
caught assisting prisoners to commur
icate to one another, he was condemn
ed to death by court-martial, the sen
tence being committed by Alexande
iii 10 hard labor for life in the mine
OF Siberia.
4 When Count Pfeil saw the priso
in the St. Peter and St Paul Fortree
the captives there numbered about foi
~. Some OF them had been conhne
there for years on remand witho'
trial. Others had already been senten'
ed while about q dozen were youa
officers who had suceumbed TO II
, wiles of Nihilists women. The
were, as a rule, treated with leniel
cy. their captivity in the St. Peter AZ