Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-01-19
TORN TO PIECES BY
INFURIATED PEASANTS.
snncinl corresnondence

Special Correspondence
yyorsaw IAN. 5.-From a small VIII
lare In Little Russia comes grue-
some story of prisoners escape from
Siberian exile train and his snpsea
quent horrible death at the hahos Oh
infurated peasants.
Michael Fiolka had taken prom
inent part in come agrarian riots In
which a landlords house was burned
down and many of his livestock killed.
He was captured. tried by court mar
tial, sentenced to hard labor Tor nio
I'm the Siberian mines and placed III
an exile train with lot of other prls-
oners.
In the same car with him We're
several political prisoners who are al
ways objects of great sympathy IN
Russia. At way station the traih
was stopped to allow passenger tram
to 20 by While waiting here, some
pnople on the platform handed To the
political prisoners, through the car
windows, several big loaVes of rye
bread, such as peasant women in Rus-
sIa bake for festivals. AS 1t Is a com
mon thing for people to provide foou
for their exiled friends in this fashion,
while en- route. the incident attracted
no attention from the guards ana or
fcials.
But great was Folka's surprise when
he discovered that each loaf contained
revolver and several cartridges. Thus
provided with arms, the political prls-
oners fell on their guards during the
night while they were asleep, shot
them and jumped from the car while
the train was still moving, no very ar
ficult feat at the slow rate of speed at
which exile trains travel. Fiolka
jumped with them and made good his
escape. Breaking away from the
others he returned to his home and
Ii. fsaf
as night was falling, two days later
That same evening, II occurred TO
the ''Starosta' the head of the village,
that Fiolka had fine az and need
ing one, he sent his little son to get 1t,
thinking that IT would be of no further
use to the rlghtful owner whom he
Imagined was well on his way 10 ST.
MT the end of an hour, the father
went to look for him and on entering
the barn, to his horror, he stumbled
over the little ones dead body, al the
foot OF the ladder leading to the loft.
His head had been nearly split in
twain, und, as II was subsequently as
certaincd, by the AK which he had
been sent to fetch. Mounting the lad
der. the "starosta' dimly perceived a
figure trouched In u corner of the loft.
Descending hastily he ran OF as fast
as his legs could carry him 10 the
village and told the people that there
was u devil In Flolka's barn, and that
the devil had killed his child,
A large body of peasants returned
with him to the barn and discovered
Fiolka. He endeaVored to explain to
them how he had escaped from the
exile train and had hidden for safety
In the hayloft. Hearing someone
mounting the ladder. he Imagined 1t
was some soldier or policeman who
had tracked him and was bent on re-
capturing him. As the head rose
above the floor he failed to perceive
In the gloom that II was that of n child
and smOte at II savagely with the AK.
But the peasants would pay no heed
to him, In their rage. they could take
no other view Of the matter than that
foul murder had been committed
which demanded instant vengeance.
Throwing themselves on Fiollta like a
pack OF wolves they literally tore him
10 pieces. Not until he had been
dead some time and they had cooled
down, did they conclude that he had
told the truth. According 10 the Rus
sian code OF othlcs II Is quite justin
able to XIII an omissary OF the law
10 escane transportation 10 Siherla,
and had they been In Il mood 10 con
slider the case calmly they would
probably have agreed that no blnmo
attached TO FiollSn undcr tho cIrcufn-
stances because he Ind killed child
when he had intended only 10 slay a
policeman or a soldier
The homing instinct is strong in e4,
caped eYlos they nearly always re-
turn sooner or later To thor own dis-
lricts when rec 7Enuon generally lead,
to recapture, II they remained away
from their old haunts. they would IN
most cases retain their freedom be.
cause In these trouhlous time, the pos
lice are too busy TO make a specla
search for them