Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-18
Suicide as Protest
Against Russian Tyranny
pecial Correspondence Of The Star

for free government. A frail prematurey
old man. with whom | have just had a long
! talk, has convinced me OF that Felix
] Cohen Is his name-a name wcll-k known and
| honored in Polish and Russian revolution
| airy circles He has suffered as few men
| have suffered FOR their convictions Twenty
years tre has passed In exile In siberia Tho
hsrdships he has endured have broken down
J his once powerful constitution. The worst
| OF them were self inflicted as a protest
| against tyranny when no other means were
| available. But the ardor and enthusiasm
| which led him 10 hold his own life SO cheap
| when weighed in the balance against the
| cause remains unGiminished. In few
days he returns to Warsaw TO play his part
| with tongue and pen in the struggle there
| raging for freedom.
| But you may be arrested and sent to
| Siberia again. | sad.
Perhaps" he answered. with a shrug Of
/ his shoulders. But am needed there and
/ must go If they put me away others VIII
| take my place. i may lose my life, but
! what matters II do? The cause will live
and II is worth the sacrifice. What is left
| OF me is only IA wreck. anyhow. | am only
| d type OF many-hundreds thousands-who
| are wiling to do and endure all that 1
| have done and endured.
| That il the type that is bound to win in
| the struggle now going on in Russia.
As Cohen smoked Russian cigarettes he
| told me the story OF his prison experience.
| II WAS a story OF martyrdom. hut he told
| II without the slightest trace OF any CON
| seriousness that he had done anything
! heroic.
1T was in 1884 that | was sentenced to
| twenty years ''kartoga" or penal serritude
| In a Siberian settlement at Kara. Ii is
place to which both political and criminal
| prisoners are sent. We pollticals were all
| intelligent men and women-students or au-
| thors most OF us. Life at Kara was hard.
! but for the first five years IL enduraple
while one still had his country to live for
|
| But in 1889 there came a change. Masu-
kof appointed governor Of the Amur,
district. He was that type of despot who
rejoices in opportunities to exercise
! tyranny. And it was the political prisoners
/ on whom his iron hand fell most heavily.
| He regarded them far worse than
| thieves and murderers. They had dared to
| agitate for freedom-for the right of the
people TO govern themselves. and that
| would mean lie extinction OF the Mashu-
| koffs.
| vented his cruelest spite. They We're sub
jected to Understandable ignominies and in
| suits. Early one morning some Of our
| warders maltreated a woman In her cell.
| Then declared a hunger strike. The
| world has heard a deal of these hunger
| strikes in the last twelve months. but they
| are not the novelty some people suppose.
They are not pleasant-for the strikers But
| as means of compelling attention they
| serve.
| After we had tasted several days Mashu-
| kon arrived at the prison. He said things
| We're not as bad as we had represented them
| and invited us TO make an investigation.
! An inquiry by convicts in prison may
| be taken characteristic of Russia. but
| naturally IL could lead to no results We.
| therefore. wrote to the chief OF police OF
| Irkutsk. who came to us six months later.
and promised to inquire into the matter.
| and to remove the commander within three
| months.
| Nothing. however. happened. and when
| the three months were over We declared
| second hunger strike. abstalning from food
| for six days. They. were shown tele-
gram saying another commander was on
his way to Kara. This wire. however,
proved TO be d forgery.
-.
| I'm consequence boycotted MashukofY.
| but as all letters had to pass through
| his hands this measure deprived us of all
communication with the outside world.
! TO make end to the painful situation
a lady student. Nils. Sigida. went to the
commander. insulting him purposely, hop
ing that officer he could then no
longer retain his post. At the same time
! we made another hunger protest, lasting
| over seventeen days.
| THE gendarmes, fearing that Nile.
| Sgida would starve herself to death and
| thus escape punishment for her offense,
forced food down her throat. On the
| enteenth day however, she was removed 10
| another prison.
| Thus this hunger strike ended. but not
| without claiming its victim. Maria Kovai-
| evska. sister of the famous author, Vavan-
zoff could not be informed of the end of
| the strike. and tasted on for another two
days. In consequence of the suffering she
grew insane.
| "A few days later orders arrived from the
| governor general introducing flogging as a
| punishment for political offenders. and
| threatening 10 shoot the convicts If quiet
ness were not restored in the prison
| 1--WE decided. therefore, 10 send a petition
! to the ministry of the Interior and a copy
| of that letter to the principal foreign news
papers. But before We could write the pc
| tition we heard that Mile. Sigida had al
| ready been iogged.
| We refused TO believe it. but upon in
| quiry we received the following fateful let
ter .Sigida fogged and already dead. Three
other female convicts took poison and are
| dying.
This was a terrible shock. and We de-
| cided to commit suicide a protest, con-
| sequently fourteen of took opium. nut
| the drug was old and bad. SO we remained
| alive. We persevered, and next day we took
| morpha we fell III. and two OF us died.
but the rest recovered even after this
| ond attempt.
| There was a government inquiry as to
| how we got the poison. and why we had
| taken 1t.
| IN reply we sdlu Nlldl we Hdu tileu 10
| commit suicide in order TO create a scandal,
| so that comrades in freedom would
| lear of our treatment and take steps to
| avense our deaths upon those in authority.
| The fiogging clause was Cancelled. We
| had been victorious at last, but the victory
! had cost US six lives.
| The years of 1sS9 and 1890 have been the
| worst ones, although the suffering had al
ways been more or less acute, and we
| would never have been able to survive 1t
had not our ideals helped over many
difficulties To escape from the prisons was
then impossible. because our party was not
| so strong. and at that time the Siberian
peasants used to hunt and catch us Now
Oh the contrary, they will help "A fugitive
convict The last two years of revolution
have brought about such a change
GIVE IT TIME