The San Francisco call., 1907-01-27
SEEMED SILENTLY DYING

On the fourth night she was also
beaten She was weak and faint; it
seemed to her that she was dying.
The blows were raining fast, they
pinched her and pulled her hair. Sud
denly Green ordered his men TO stop,
and for few moments she was left to
lie quietly on the table. Then she
was dragged on the floor and put on
her back. Her executiOners climbed
on the table and began jumping on
her with their boots They jumped on
her chest, on her abdomen; they
trampled on her face. She started to
bleed from the mouth. She did not
cry out; she had no more strength;
she seemed silently dying
In this condition she was taken back
into her cell and the prison feldsher
nurse and Orderly) was called to her
Her face presented a shapelesS mass
of red and blue bruises. The eyes were
closed by an enormous swelling; the
cheeks, chin and mouth were big
bruised mass. The stomach and
bowels were upset. there was con-
slant vomiting, which frustrated treat
ment This vomiting greatly augment
ed her suffering Her body was covered
with red and blue wheals and wounds
and bruises The wheals were Tester
/ ing. Looking at this enormously sWOl-
len body, at this shapelessly dislsured
face of the young girl, the nurse felt a
horrible shame that human being
could be so inhumanly brutal. For two
months shs lowered between life and
death, but youth conquered, and she
slowly began to recover. At the end OF
two months she began to walk little.
All this time no one was admitted to
her, as the Government was afraid
to let her relatives see her in the con-
dition she was in. That was to be kept
a secret, not to escape from the prison
walls into the outer world. so it would
not cause any stir, as SpiridOnOva's
case did.
AGED BY TORTURES
An acquaintance. of mine met her
after six months had elapsed, in
north prison, where she was taken
after she began to walk little. And
this acquaintance of mine gave me her
impression. At the first moment my
friend thought that she CRothkopf)
was an elderly woman with an enOr-
mousIy large face of indefinitely out
lined feature The face was pale and
covered with red and blush spots.
But her eyes-her eyes spoke for
themselves. Looking into them, my
friend was dumfOunded-there was so
much suffering, so much sadness in
those eyes, My friend understood that
this old woman must have lived
through some great calamity in life,
something enormous, some disaster
that is beyond human endurance She
tried to engage her in conversation.
She learned what this seemingly
elderly woman had gone through. She
was aged not by years, but by execu-
TONERS. She is not an elderly woman,
but a young, beautiful girl who has
been manned and broken by suffering
She told my friend with tears in her
eyes that her brother was shot after
being tortured. without having gone
through any form of trial. but solely
upon the behest of General
ScallOn. q
This woeful tale of the sufferings Of
the unfortunate girl. ROthkOpf. is not
yet known to any one. The Russian
public could not learn of it, as the
Government takes all precautions that
the secret should not get into the
press. And that is why it was re-
solved TO arrest me and take the data
away from me.
But having successfully reached the
frontier of hOspitable France, and
knowing how warmly the western
friends have taken up the protest
against SpiridOnovas tOrtures, thus
saving her life, I have decided to tell
the sensitive American nation this tale
of another victim of the Cars despOt-
ism, hoping that the indignation it
will arouse will compel the Russian
Government to abolish medieval tor
tures, to bring the hangmen, Green
and Ivanof, to public trial in open
court, and to release the poor girl,
Rofhkonf who is still imprisOned.