The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-03-18
SOUNDS KNELL OF
EXILE IN SIBERIA
Car Expected To Issue Manifesto
and End of Four Centuries of
Terror Is in Sight.

the action OF the budget committee IN
cutting down the appropriation for
the administration OF the system Of
Siberian exile the end OF what has
for so many years been regarded rs
Russia's chief shame before the civil
ICED nations Is In sight. With only n
bare $4,000 To pay expenses which
have called hitherto for as much AZ
$1,000. 900 yearly the system Is bound
10 become only hideous memory.
The appalling inquisition that has
lasted more than tour centuries Is
doomed.
In coming TO it's determination the
Duma Is but rejecting the enlighten-
cd opinion of the Russian nation. The
senate and practically all the leading
government officials are against the
system. and IL IL now predicted that
the Gar will soon Issue a proclama-
tion which will officially strike the
exile law from the criminal code.
The history of Siberia for several
centuries has been one OF blood and
tears The practice OF sending dan
gerous criminals and the enemies or
autocracy TO the Siberian wilds was
instituted by Ivan the Terrible. who
banisned not only officials suspected
OF harboring revolutionary principles
but also priests who refused to sane
ton his acts OF terror.
Hundreds Have Died.
The practice thus begun has been
followed by subsequent monarchS
down TO the present time. Many or
the most prominent and patriotic
members of the nobility. and writers
of international fame have endured
the horrors of Siberian Punishment to
return to their families and friends
physical and mental wrecks II the
~igors of their punishment did not
end In a mcrciful death Count Men
schikoff. one of the foremost OF Rus
sias statesmen. died in Siberia. Ex-
Chief of Police Lopukhin. once known
as the Cars protector. Is now poor
exile in the village of Samodurovka.
The famous writer Dostoyevsky spent
more than eight years amid the nor
rors OF the Siberian wastes and hun
dreds of others have literally starved
to death ia that wilderness.
While the truth may never be
known, there is rumor that Gar
Alexander L. died disguised as
monk in one OF the Siberian monas'
terry prisons. where he was exiled by
his brother Nicholas l. Officially. II
was stated that Alexander died OF
heart disease, but the fact that the
coffin was not opened 10 exhibit the
body I'm St Petersburg before IL was
put in the imperial vault In the Caths'
dral OF SIS. Peter and Paul has always
been looked upon as suspicious. Then
too, a prominent general. who kne"
the Car well. told a story of having
seen a man in Siberia, dressed as
monk. who marvelously resembled
the monarch
$4,000 In Exile.
According TO documents communi
Gated TO the Duma By the police de-
partment, the number OF eXiles In 81
IBERIA is about $4,000. The Russian
Premier Stolypin. once told an Eng
lish Journalist that the administia
ton exiles. that is. those banished Dy
the government. numbered only l2,O"6
but little credence was placed on this
abatement. During the last revolu
lion those exiled reached the total ot
I5.5OO. classified as follows: Working
men. 1862: peasants, 3.s79; students.
$40; teachers. 1872; tradesmen, 100;
officials OF the zemstvo. 3l5; UNKNOWN
2.S57. These figures show that tho
governments wrath extended tar be'
yond the original limits, for Whit
'ormerly the administrative exiles
we're made up largely of students ana
persons OF the educated classes. the
bulk Of them recently has been MADE
up of workingmen and peasants.
The conditions under which THESE
wretched exiles lived have not been
improved since they were so harro"
q on
nan II ANYTHING, they are said TO be
worse, as only such desoiate regions
ns Tprukhansk In the far north, at
tho mouth Of the Yenisei, described as
totally unfit for human habitation'
have lately been used by the govern
ment for the purpose.
Many Stsrve to Death.
The government allowance to the
exiles was until January. 1908, sl.65
month. But since then IT has been
reduced TO 80 cents. However only
the administrative exiles receive that
allowance. Those exiled ny courts
yet nothing The communes OF the
villages to which they are sent are
bound TO give them some land, but as
the exiles have no tools and no cattle
and most of them are townspeople
they starVe $50
Amid such misery the only bright
feature 10 that the political exiles do
everything possible to maintain each
others courage and prevent democrat
ization. They have organized socie-
ties for mutual help. to which every
one who gets any money from nome
contributes. In one OF the remote
settlements of the Obdorsk region FIVE
exiIes ended their lives by suicide last
January.
A report of Gen ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
n member OF the Duma. made recent
ly. reads: ,,
Last year more than six hundred
man were hanged. shot or otherwise
deprived of life by horrible methods,
without trial or after mock trial. This
Agure is appalling. and 1t shows us
once more that the chief motive OF
capital, punishment in Russia Is san
culinary vengeance.