The Washington herald., 1908-06-14

had speculated since first he came to live
near the hot springs IN that vicinity
nearly three years ago. Prof. Kopi-
entschk, II that was the name OF the man.
once told a small part OF his story to a
reporter who was working for an Amer
ican newspaper in Yokohama
After the japanese expedition 20 SAX
halin had followed the crushing Of Rus
sias last naval force under RoJestvensky
and the brown soldiers Of Japan had
pushed into some Of the seaport towns on
that bleak island with little or no oppo-
sJiOn from the Russian garrisOns. there
began 10 stream into Japan a sorry army
! Of noncOmbatants from Sakhalin As
fast as the japanese forces advanced into
the island they released all the Russian
prisoners in the penal colonies. and to-
gether with the few free tillers OF the
soil about the settlements these derelicts
were transported to Japan and shipped
thence to Shanghai Most OF them. says
the New York Sun. came 10 Yokohama,
and there the French consul acting for
the Russian government took charge OF
them and put them on shipboard. nomi-
nally for dellverance into the hands OF
the Russian consGl in Shanghai.
Dressed ns n Priest.
One rainy day in July, 1905 a trainload
OF these refugees pulled into the station
at Yokohama, and the draggled men,
women, and children. sodden and tumbled
from their week OF riding on steamer and
rail. were tumbled into rickshaws and
taken 70 japanese hotel IN the vicinity
to await the disposition 70 be made OF
them by the French consul AS the mot
/ ley procession walked down the length
/ OF the station platform 10 The rickshaw
stand the head and shoulders Of a great
| gray-bearded man loomed above the
heads OF all OF them. He was dressed
in a black robe that might have been the
/ cassOck OF a priest, he wore no hat on
his tumbled white hair, and his beard
| flowed down over a great FURNISHED cop
per samovar which he carried. under one
arm.
The big man with the samovar seemed
not TO be Of the rest OF the very dirty.
very british herd Of ex-prisoners. He
had an ar OF distinction, a geuteeI grace
| OF carriage and cast Of features which
| set him apart. The reporter for the
/ Yokohama paper followed him 10 the
!
Z passed by the japanese policeman. he
found the white-haired giant trying 10
I squat comfortably on the clean mats OF
a room while he brewed tea in his sam
/ ovar. In answer 20 a question IN French
4 the big man introduced himself as Prof
/ Kopientschk. once Of Moscow and cour-
| teously invited his visitor 20 sit down
and partake Of the tea.
IF my manners seem a bit gross" said
/ the professor by way OF introduction 10
/ the courtesies Of entertainment. you
must pardon not me. but the Russian
/ government. one soon forgets his man
ners when he is forced 10 live with muir
/ derers and blaCklegs. l have not lived
so by choice for the last twenty-odd
years. The government made that choice
for me
I do not know that I have anything
Of interest 10 tell OF my life as a po-
ntical prisoner at Dui." he continued.
1T was not different in great measure
from the lives Of many other men like
. myself who once came under suspicion
| OF the Cars servants. and whose lives
I thenceforth have been entirely in the
Cars keeping. Yet 50 strange seems
this freedom. temporary though Il may
be, that 1 feel as free 10 talk about my
self as a child who has been locked in
the nursery TO repent Of his sins.
Professor at Moscow.
I was once a professor at the Unl-
versity Of Moscow. II you look up the
record you will not find my name there.
however. / was professor Of economics
and the philosophy Of government.
prospered as professors may be said 10
prosper. and was happy with my wife
and one child.
"Of a sudden came the news OF the
assassination OF Car Alexander IL As
remember il was at the breakfast table
that I heard It hrst That night I was
in the hands Of the police. I never saw
the inside of my home again. Some OF
the men who were believed 10 have been
in the plot TO assassinate the Gar were
| killed; I, who was believed 70 have been
In some way an accomplice. was sent 10
Dui for life. ! was not sent TO n penal
colony for political prisoners. but TO Dui.
/ the place where all OF the scum OF Rus
. sia-the murderers. blaCklegs. and
thleves-are banished. was classed as a
murderer
When I first arrived AT the Sakhalin
prison colony I was chained with A poi
soner 70 d wheelbarrow and put to work
/ in the mines which are owned by the
government and worked by cOnvicts.
/ That poisOner and I were chained to-
gether for two years: we had 70 work
side by side and sleep within a chain s
length Of each other That pOis0ner and
I became the dearest friends. He ad-
mitted that he had taken a life. but the
/ circumstances OF his crime were such
that / who in the eyes of the Cars
/ government had cOnspired 70 take life
No he 70 cf# IN, 4rrTc
| particularly on a man who was chained
10 me.
my fellow-prisoner died almost In the
( chains beside me. A new governor OF
Dui came about that time. He was a
I much more reasonable and charitable
man than his predecessors had been. He
/ took me away from the wheelbarrow
and allowed me to become his clerk. I
| had a cabin OF my own. which I built
. with my own hands, and most OF my
/ time was my own. ! was free 70 go and
come outside the boundaries OF the vii
lage where the prison huts were.
L then began 70 write books. I knew
that none Of them would ever be pub
lished. l wrote for my own amusement.
! ! believe 7 put the whole experience and
thought OF my lifetime in those books;
they were all books upon the subject that
/ I was acquainted with, written without
/ reference 10 Libraries and without an
eye to criticise. The governor read them.
but he was not competent TO judge OF
their merits.
saved Himself from insanity.
Il wrote and stored away the manu-
scripts In a big chest made for myself.
During the long winters when it was so
/ cold that nobody but the men who were
forced to work dared to go out into the
/ forest and the mines. I spent my time
\ over my manuscripts. I believe that I
saved myself from insanity I also grew
! 20 be q kind OF lay priest for the prls-