Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1907-05-23
ss4tfbaf Il fhe Trogznondofr ~


.sWhaf Is the TFogzmondoff ~
"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 Baltici Is that q
prison and not a fortress, then r
1T is both prison and fortress, mad
am. If Russia ever takes the risk Of
arresting 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 1t runs like a
beautiful riyulet, 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 riyulet runs,
SO they glide out into space and drop
200 feet into the Baltic sea. No mat-
ter in what condition such body Is
found or how recent may have been
the execution, it is but a drowned man
In the Baltic. There are no 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 worldY
Il know it, madam, for the best OF
reasons. / was sentenced this very
year to Trogzmondoff In my youth
trading between Helsingfors and New
York | took out naturalization papers
in New York, because ! was one OF
the crew on an American ship. When
they illegally impressed me at Helsing-
fors and forced me to join the Russian
navy, | made the best of bad bar
gain and, being an expert seaman, was
reasonably we'll treated and promoted,
but at last they discovered was III
correspondence with a nihilist circle
in London, and when was arrested
/ demanded the rights Of an Amer
lean citizen. That doomed me.
was sent, without trial. to the Trogz-
mondoff in April of this year. Arriv-
ing there 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 l 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 large loaf OF
black bread and said 1t was to serve
me for four days. He placed the loaf
on q 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 roundea stone
pillow at one end of the shelf.
81 do not know how many days
had been in prison when the explosion
occurred. It 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 | thought
was perhaps an echo of the first
About an hour later my cell door was
unlocked. and the jailer, with an
other man holding lantern, came IN
NV third loaf of black bread was part
" consumed, so ! must have been III
prison nine or ten days. The jailel
took the loaf outside, and when he re
turned asked him what had happen
ed. He answered in surly fashion
that my American warship had fired
at the rock and that the rock had struck
back, whereupon she sailed away,
crippled"
Dorothy. who had been listening in
tently to this discourse, here interrupt
ed with:
ut was an English warship that fired
the shell, and the Russian shot did not
come within half mile Of her"
The sailor stared at her in wide eyed
surprise
"You see, have been making in
quiries,' she explained. please go
on"
Il never heard that it was an Eng
fish ship. The jailer sneered at me
and said he was going to send me after
the American vessel, as l suppose he
thought it was. / feared by his taking
away of the bread that it was intend
ed to starye me to death and was sorry
I had not eaten more at my last meal.
lay down on the shelf Of rock and
soon fell asleep. was awakened by
the water tapping around me. The cell
was intensely still. Up to this had
always enjoyed the company of little
brook that ran along the side. Of the
cell farthest from the door. Its music
had now ceased. and when sprang up
found myself to the waist in very
cold water. guessed at once the use
or the levers 0lltSida fhp cell in the