Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-07-04
''I do-doup. IT,

IT DO -doups IT,
"They have been sent to Siberia, aft
er ALI"
"Ah, madam, there are worst places
than Siberia. In Siberia there is a
chance. In the dreadful Trogzmon-
dof there is none"
"What is the TrogzmondoffY
"a bleak rock in the Baltic, madam,
the prison in which death is the only
goal that releases the victim"
Dorothy rose trembling, staring at
him, her lips white.
"A rock in the Baltic! Is that a
prison and not a fortress, thenT
"It is both prison and fortress, mad
am. If Russia ever takes the risk Of
%arresting a foreigner, it is to the Trogz-
mondoff he is sent. They drown the
victims there-drown them in their
cells. There is a spring in the rock, and
through the line Of cells it runs like a
beautiful %rivulet, but the pulling Of a
lever outside stops the exit of the wa
ter and browns every prisoner within.
The bodies are placed one by one on a
smooth inclined chute of polished sand
stone down which this rivulet runs,
so they glide out into space and drop
200 feet into the Baltic sea. No mat
ter in what condition such a body Is
found or how recent may have been
the execution, it is but a drowned man
in the Baltic. There are nc marks Of
bullet or strangulation, and the cur
rents bear them swiftly away from
the rock"
"How come you to know all this
which seems to have been concealed
from the rest Of the world?'
II know 1t, madam, for the best Of
reasons 1 was sentenced this very
year to Trogzmondof. In my youth
trading between Helsingfors and New
York l took out naturalization papers
in New York, because 1 was one of
the crew IN an American ship. When
they illegally impressed me at Helsing-
fors and forced me to join the Russian
navy, 1 made the best of a bad bar
gain and, being an expert seaman, was
reasonably we'll treated and promoted,
but at last they discovered 1 was in
correspondence with a nihilist circle
in London, and when I was arrested
I demanded the rights of an Amer
lean citizen. That doomed me. I
was sent, without trial, to the Trogz-
mondoff in April Of this year. Arriv-
ing there 1 was foolish enough to
threaten and say my comrades had
means Of letting the United States
government know and that a battle
ship would teach the jailers Of the
rock better manners.
"The cells hewn in the rock are
completely dark, so 1 lost all count Of
time. You might think we would know
night from day by the bringing in Of
our meals, but such was not the case.
The jailer brought in a large loaf Of
black bread and said it was to serve
me for four days. He placed the loaf
on a ledge Of rock about three feet
from the floor which served as both
table and bed. In excavating the cell
this ledge had been left intact, with a
bench Of stone rising from the floor
opposite. Indeed so ingenious had been
the workmen who hewed out this
room that they carved a rounded stone
pillow at one end of the shelf.
Il do not know how many days 1
had been in prison when the explosion
occurred. 1t made the whole rock
CULVER, and / wondered what had hap
pened. Almost Immediately afterward
there seemed to be another explosion,
not nearly so harsh, which 1 thought
was perhaps an echo of the first.
About an hour later my cell door was
unlocked, and the jailer, with IN
other man holding a lantern, came in.
Ny third loaf of black bread was part
" consumed, SC I must have been In
prison nine or ten days. The jailer
took the loaf outside, and when he re-
turned | asked him what had happen
ed. He answered In a suriy fashion
that my American warship had fred
at the rock and that the rock had struck
pack, whereupon che sailed away
crippled"
Dorothy, who had been listening In
tently to this discourse. here interrupt,
ed with:
1T was an English warship that fired
the shell, and the Russian shot did moi
come Within half q mile Of her"