The labor world., 1910-12-24
BARE SKELETONS OF
WHITE CARS DOMAIN
TO GAZE Of PUBLIC

ST. PETERSBURG. Dec. 23.-As a
Christmas present to the Russian gov
ernment. a we'll known writer on
prison affairs has taken the trouble
to compile a list of the approximate
| number of men who are now pining
in the various prisons of the Musco-
vite empire.
While not complete, this compilation
are imprisoned in Russia Half Of
this number are imprisoned for being
| revolutionists and revolutionary SYM
pathizers.
This tremendous army of prisoners
has mostly been confined since the
October manifesto Of 1905, which
granted amnesty to prisoners. The
list shows the tremendous progress
the reactton1sts have been making in
Russia since the memorable days of
| the revolution of 1905, which forced
the amnesty manifesto from the czar.
The writer Of the article AYERS that
prison conditions have never been so
outrageous, even in Russia, as they
are today. Years ago a political
| prisoner commanded some respect
even from his enemy-the officer in
| charge.
! Now. by the ever increasing num-
Der Of prisoners the officers have be-
come more brutalized. The life Of
the prisoner. not to say his health or
comparative comfort, counts for
nothing. If a man is killed all the
better-there is more room.
| Years ago prisoners were flogged.
Even punishment had a certain pro-
cedure, certain legal dignity or in
dignity. Now prisoners are not
flogged. They are just simply beaten
or kicked to DEATH
Another method Of killing off the
prisoners at rapid rate is the UNDER
ground cell. On the least provoca-
| ton, or even without provocation,
prisoners are thrown into underground
cells, which are so insanitary, in ad-
dition to being devoid of light and
heat, that it takes but a short time
to break the constitution Of even the
strongest prisoner.
AS far as feeding the prisoners is
concerned the government now fol-
lows a policy of killing them off, es-
pecially the political prisoners, by
starvation. It eXiles the most hated
to the remotest and coolest Siberian
provinces, and there purposely cuts
even their prison ration in half, or
even further reduces it, thus causing
them to die Of starva ton or disease,
mental and physical, brought on by
the want Of food.
So obviously murderous are the Of
ficials in the prisons that their actions
resemble those of maniacs rather than
of sane men. Thus, one prisoner
upon reaching his destination, and af-
ter having been beaten and trampled
upon by prison attendants, received
a visit from the prison warden halt
an hour after he was In his cell. The
prisoner cheered up at the sight OF
the warden, and was getting ready to
come out with a complaint for the
brutal treatment he had received from
the prison attendants earlier. The
warden; however, told him to say
nothing, but to listen to the reading
of the prison rules.
After reading the first sentence the
warden landed the prisoner a blow in
face which sent him sprawling to
the floor. He then ordered the pris-
oner to get up and listen to the rest
Of the rules. The blows he said were
the 'punctuation' he used. And he
proceeded to read the rules, method
ically landing a well-aimed blow at
the head, face or ear of the prisoner
after every sentence.
In another instance, related in the
same article, the prison attendants
have got so tired of using their fists
in beating prisoners that they now
deal out blows with their boots.
So extremely revolving has the man
ner of mistreating prisoners become
that many of the political prisoners
and they are men of strong nerves.
simply faint at the sight of how their
fellows are mistreated, and at the
thought of their own impotence and
inability to defend them.