Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-07-27
DARING ESCAPES.


sdueeze Themselves through and trust
TO their luck to pass the guards.
DARING ESCAPES.
sclne escape in a more daring way.
They seize the head warder when he
comes round. gag him. take away the
keSa end after opening the doors OF
other cells. march in n body TO the
gates which arc generally guarded By
only two mon, rush them. take away
their rifles and march of In triumph.
Tho soldiers VIII not follow them
unlese an officer happens 10 come along
and orders them to--because they are
too indifferent to care about half q
dozen prisoners out of the thousand
or g they have within the walls.
Escaped prisoners have been known
10 walk boldly into the first likely house
and obtain food and clothing. II they
arc "lolticals" people are sorry. for
them; II bandits they are SO afraid
Of them that they would give them
ANYTHING they asked for
The women are generally kent in sep
arate cells. though in some prisons
there are what Is called married quar-
ters." Men and women take exercise
together when "courtinE' evidently F0es
on for there have been several mar
riages In prison lately, some in cases
when one of the parties Is going 70 pc
,exiled and wishes to have the benent
Of n Communion; others when the man
Is condemned to de; III and wants 70
give his name to his beloved before he
perishes for the cause" Such mar
rlages are performed by priest caheu
in nv he PARTIES and In presence OF one
Of the higher prison officials. generahy
the governor himself who makes q pres
ont to the bride. A collection Is also
N
many little trinket has been kept
in memory of these occasions.
VERY TALL STORY.
Thus life goes on in the Russian
prisons; people drink vodka, play cards.
make love and marry as in the world
outside But some prisoners in Rad
ON hit upon as novel way OF passing
the time and raising the wind as any:
They had been false money coiners ana
meant to carry on their trade INSIDE
th., PRISON. After a few days they
made arrangements with the head
ynrder. who agreed to bring the plant
and pass the coin when 1t was made.
Tho men had d cell TO themselves and
were warned Of the approach OF the
governor by the warden, who removed
all the implements to his own Quarters
when he saw danger ahead They
coined money for over six months, and
might have been coming II today, had
not the warder's wife been arrested as
she was passing some of 1t in the mar
ket Nobody was so astonished as the
governor, who had not the slightest
idea that the spurious money which
had been flooding the town for the last
six months came from his own prison.
How the plant was struggled into the
building seems a mystery; but the
whole system of surveillance Is SO Ink
that as a local wag said. the next thing
they would be doing in the prisons will
be making bombs and printing revolu-
tionary literature.
Such lax prison system reflects no
credit on the Russian government. But
1t is far less discreditablc than the stor-
les of horrors and atrocities which are
published broadcast as typical OF tho
way Russian prisons are run. 1t is only
fair that the other side--the normal side
-of Russian prison life should be pre-
scnted. Cruelty Is not Russian char
acteristlc even among the governing
| renctionaries.
b. S. BASKERVILLE.