The sun., 1908-05-03

about myself as q child who has been locked
in the nursery to repeut Of his sins,
Il was once a professor at the Unlver..
sity Of Moscow. II you look up the record
you will not find my name there, however.
I was professor Of economics and the phi
losophy Of government. ! prospered as
professors may be said 10 prosper and was
happy with my wife and one child.
'0f sudden came the news Of the as
sassination OF Car Alexander ii. AZ |
remember IL was at the breakfast table
that | heard il first. That night ] was in
the hands OF the police. ! never saw the
inside OF my home again. Some OF the men
who were believed TO have been in the plot
10 assassinate the Car were killed; !, who
was believed 10 have been in some way an
accomplce, was sent TO Dui for life. was
not sent 10 a penal colony for political
prisoners, but 10 Dui. the place where all
of the scum OF Russia the murderer,
blacklegs and thieves, are bamshed. was
cassed as a murderer.
when first arrived at the Sakhaln
prison colony | was chained with aSpOisoner
10 a wheelh1rrow and put 10 work IN the
mines which are owned by the Government
and worked by the convicts. That posoncr
and | were chained together for two years;
we had 10 work side by side and sleep within
a chains length Of each other, That
He admitted that he had taken life but the
circumstances OF his crime were such that
|, who in the eyes Of the Cars Government
had conspired 10 take life also, was not the
one 70 sit in judgment. particularly on man
who was chained TO me.
My fellow prisoner died almost IN the
chains beside me. A new governor OF
Dui came about that time. He was much
more reasonable and charitable man than
his predecessor had been. He took me
away from the wheelbarrow and allowed
me TO become his clerk had a cabin Of
my own, which built with my own hands,
and most OF my time wss my own. was
free 10 go and come outside the boundaries
Of the village where the prison huts were.
Il then began TO write books, knew
that none Of them would ever be published.
| wrote for my own amusement. believe
/ put the whole experience and thought
of my lifetime in those books, they we're all
books upon the subject that | was ac-
quainted with, written without reference
TO Libraries and without an eye to oTjtlcise.
The governor read them, but he was not
competent 10 Judge Of their merits.
sIwrote and stored away the manuscripts
in q big chest made for myself. During
the long winters when Il was 10 cold that
nobody but the men who we're forced TO
work dared 20 20 out into the forest and the
mines. | spent my time over my manu-.
scripts ! believe that | saved myself
from insanity. also grew 10 he kind OF
lay priest for the prisoners; they came 70
me Tor advice whenever they could and
sometimes they even approached me az
one who had the power 10 give spiritual
advioe. ] tried TO do 80 even though ]
was not ordained.
~We only heard the fainteet echo Of the
war between Russia and Japan when II
started and from that time on our guards
and the governor gave us TO believe that
Russia was sweeping tho japanese into
the sea Imagine our surprise, therefore,
when one day we heard the sound OF firing
from the harbor and very shortly We saw
all Of the prison settlement guards nun into
the woods. We felt as the Indians must
have felt when they saw Columbus and his
ships In the harbor at San Salvador.
sThe rest you know. We are here that's
all. We expect 10 be sent 10 Shanghai,
where the Russian Consul will do with us
as he thinks best. Maybe we are all begin
ming life over again; maybe this ls merely n
change Of prison keepers. II 1t Is, at least
we can welcome the variety
That was the end OF the interview that
Prof. Vladislav Kopientschk gave at the
little japanese hotel In Yokohama. Three
days afterward all Of the refugees from
Sakhaln save the professor were put
on a steamer for Shanghai, where they
may OF may not have been delivered TO
the Russian Consul The genial French
Consul at Yokohama seemed 70 have wnked
at the professors case and 10 have allowed
bim 20 disappear without noise. AT any
rate he was heard from few months later
when the news Of his residence In Gotemba
orept into the Japanese press.
Whether Prof. Kop.sntsch ever published
the books that he said he had written never
became known, at least 10 those foreigners
in Japan who were interested In his case.
He knew that he dared not return TO
Russia and IL is evident that he chose TO
become the man Of mystery about whom
the peasants Of Sagami province In the
mountains At the foot Of Fuji could spin
talss for their OhildNns hearing.