The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03
MANY YEARS IN
RUSSIAN DUNGEON
Terrible Suffering of Nine.
Figner In Prison
CONFINED UNDER GROUND
Was in Prison for Twenty-three
Years-Nobody Has Ever Walked
From This Prson-All Are
Carried Out.

From the Philadelphia North American.
| Nobody has yet walked out OF this
prison; they have all been carried out"
] This was Vera Figner's greeting from
| the commandant OF g. Russian prison
built in the River Neva. There she spent
| % years practically under water
Once a beautiful, high-mrnded girl. she
became the leader of the Nihilists,
brought about the death of Gar Alex
ander III. and was betrayed into the
hands of the authorities.
| After almost incredible sufferings she
was transferred from the river prison In
to Arctic Russia, whence she escaped
| to London.
Tolstoi never conceived anything more
wonderful than this woman's life Strong
men by hundreds went down under less
terrible hardships than she survived
Scarcely another of those she plotted
with remains.
Yet her spirit remains unbroken. She
| is still heart and soul with the revolu-
tionaries She would brave another such
living death as she escaped to aid their
cause.
Forty years ago Nine. Figner was one
of the most beautiful women in Russian
society and most active revolutionary.
While she was still a student the condi-
ton of the ignorant. impoverished and
down trodden Russian peasants had
aroused in her such a deep feeling of
pity that she determined to devote her
life to uplifting them
With other self-sacrificing students she
went into the villages and by teaching
and example tried to raise the peasants
to a higher social level. Although the
revolutionists were not at that time ter
rorists, it was considered a crime even to
educate the peasantry and the workers
were harshly treated by the government
Thousands of Russas noblest young
men and women were exiled to Siberie
on the fiimsiest pretexts. Since no i'm
mediate change in the attitude of thu
government could be brought about b,
gentle methods the reyolutionists haC
recourse to violence
Vera Figner soon became the leader o.
the Nihilist party, which was organized
to bring about the assassination of the
Gar and many minor officials. Always
at the head of some conspiracy, she
showed stupendous gifts for organiza-
ton. With reward of 5000 offered for
her capture, she was hunted high and
low, night and day, by the police. The
manner In which she outwitted them
was marvellous.
She accomplished her end when the
Gar Alexander II. fell a victim to her
bomb plot Her triumph was short-1ived
however, for the police worked with re-
1entless vigor. and one by one the men,
bers of the Nihilistic circle disappeared
into the oblivion of Siberia, or fed until
Nine. Figner alone remained.
This beautiful young girl continued at
her post despite everything. At last she
| was sold into the hands of the authori-
ties by the traitor Degaieff and brought
before a Court-Martial. Even then her
dignifed and courageous manner, in the
face of the terrible fate which awaited
her, made a powerful impression upon
| the Court. AS an act of mercy they
/ committed the customary sentence of
death to one of perpetual penal servi-
| tude.
Then began her awful atonement
| Weighted down with heavy chains at
tached to her wrists and ankles she had
| to walk the whole of the 5000 miles from
/ st. Petersburg to Kara in Eastern ST.
beria where she was to work in the
| mines