Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-02-05
Sensational Treason
Trial of an Aged Woman,

We put on peasant dress" writes
Nine. Breshkovsky. TO elude the TO-
lice and break down the peasants
cringing diStrust / dressed in enor-
nous bark shoes, coarse shirt and
heavy cloak / used acid on my face
and hands: I worked and ate with the
peasants: 1 learned their language; [
Travelled on foot. forging passports:
lived Illegally"
This work came to an abrupt end in
1874, when she was arrested, and after
spending 40 months in a Russian prison.
was sent to Siberia, There she re-
mained % years. In company with
other exiles she made daring attempt
to escape and succeeded in travelling
600 miles toward the Pacific. Arrested
again. she was condemned TO fou-
years hard labor at Kara. Some Of
her friends there fed and those who
remained were punished for not giving
the police Information as to their os-
cape. One morning Cossacks entered
her cell. tore off her clothes and forced
her to put on a filthy convict dress,
alive with vermin.. Then she was lock-
ed UP In a black hole" For thrss
years she never breathed the outer air
and the horrors OF the life were
doubled by the terrible scenes she was
forced to witness. One woman. Madame
Sieida. died bleeding and moaning
from the lash. Her crime had tce1
that she had struck an official who
had forced his hateful and insulting at
tentlons upon her
SHOT GOVERNOR
To avenge the murder of this beauti
full woman. Il friend of Madame Bresh-
kovsky's who was also In the Kara
prison, determined, when her term oi
exile was over, to murder the governCr
haI aI Sba lpf bll hI mi
and walked hundreds OF miles on h.r
terrible errlnd. Arrived at last at the
governors house, shc shot him.
From Kara Madame BreshkovsSy
was sent TO a hamlet inhabited by
BuriatS near the Chinese frontier.
There, In utter loneliness, hundreds OF
miles from any educated European.
she spent seven years She was al
lowed Sc month by the government.
Her hut rent was so cents, wood $3.50
and food 81 The money she received
from friends abroad or in Russia she
sent to cXlles at Kara, who were in
n stin more hopeless condition than
herself. Sometimes she became almost
frantic with loneliness. ITO keep my
sanity.v she writes. II would run out
on the snow shouting passionate ora
tions. or even playing the prima donna
and singing opera arias to the bleak
landscape. which never applauded."
BACK TO RUSSIA.
In 1896 she received permission TO
return 10 Russia 1t might be thousnt
that the terrible punishment OF 70
wears exile In Siberia would have con-
ouered. her restless spirit On the
contrary, she began again to work with
extraordinary energy, as II TO make up
for the years wasted in exile Again
began a new series of adventures anu
hair-breadth escapes.
ON one occasion the police came IN
to q house where she was iiNng qt
Odessa In q twinkling she hao
changed Her shawl had come up over
her head. her hands were claspeu III
her lap. her head nodded. a bent. de-
crenlt old peasant woman with
vacant grin on her face was what
tho polIce found. The plan succeeded,
and later she went to live at another
place in tile south. posing as French
woman, a role she was admiraoiy
gifted for playing as. like many kus-
sian aristocrats. she knew French long
before she knew Russian.
In 1903 she was living Mt kien with
n young girl of Il, also revolutionist.
After she had been there week the
suspIcIons OF the police were reused
and they came to make inquiries
| and the girl got rid of the police by
! eayIne that her grandmother mad
L
come TO stay When they had gone
| she ran out In the rain to secret
| revolutionary meeting at which her
frirnd wns Speaking. They at once
transformed the fugitive into a fash
ionably-dressed woman of the world
| She drove TO the station In grand style
| and made good her escape
PRESENCE OF MIND.
One of Nine. Breshkovsky's personal
| friends told me she never lost her
| presence OF mind for moment when
in danger. To Illustrate this he men
TONED that she once arrived at u coun-
try railway station and found II hlled
with gendarmcs, whom she knew were
searching for her. Without n moments
hesitation she went up 10 the sacred
! icon always to be found In Russian
railway station. and began to bow low
and cross herself with apparently the
Continued on page fourrccn.)