The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-12-24
LOVERS BEFORE
THEY HAD NET
Romance That Began In a
Siberian Prison.

khA@SA' DNS NSHA yS"AS VAAs "
the very threshold Of life, and con
demned to spend twenty years-fron
youth to the beginning of old age-il
confinement.
Tick, tickety, tick.
Some one is rapping on the heatin;
Spfpe which runs up to the floor above
All political prisoners know the code
and l was not long in spelling out tn,
remainder Of a sentence. The begin
ming + had lost.
so lonely"
must condense two years into a few
Antences. The rapper, occupying a eel
directly above mine. was a girl, Anna
vronsliy, the daughter of a university
professor. She had been sent to Sibe
ria, for teaching the peasants. She had
becn placed in solitary confinement
and ut the time she made my acquaint.
ance was on the verge of insanity. To
save her | eXerted myself to the ut.
most, encouraging her, telling her of
escapes of which | had heard and of
escapes l invented. For this sympa-
thy she was grateful. and l was not
long in turning her gratitude to love.
There is nothing like love to stimu-
ate both hope and endeavOr. | spent
ali my time in planning an escape both
for her md me. Escape was not I'M
possible. for the prison system was bad
and the prison officials corrupt. 1t was
recapture that | feared. To gain time
after leaving the prison and by time
distance hit upon the plan of having
dummies in u cells.
This plan l communicated to Anna,
suggesting that when the guard brought
her meals she should always sit in the
same position and answer no questions.
This was to get the guard used to what
a dummy would he. Anna began the
process ut once, as | did. BY our rap
1ing code other prisoners told MS that
there was an hour, supper time. when
one might walk out of the prison un-
seem; but, as Anna and could not
rely upon escaping at the same time.
We were to meet. If possible. at q dis
fant town where exiles having served
their. terms were permitted to live.
I7made a"du,nmy out of my mattress
and my bedclothlng. Every time my
guard appeared l sat with my head
lHntf on my bed as though In mclan-
ehely. arranged by the code with a
prisoner at the end of the corridor
that ut three coughs from me he was
Shrek. One evening l gave the sig
nal. The guard. without relocking my
cell, buried to the prisoner. l set up
10Y dummy and walked out. I sue
ceedRd in getting out of the prison
without being seen except by n man.
who supposed l vas a privileged con-
xhh. RI was very dark. and l hid In a
rorner Of the. wall. had noticed from
my, cell window Il place where n
rpuld get on Il low building with a
chance Of escape. Finding a piece of
scantling in the prison yard. l used It
xrst tn climb On the building and next
10 reich the top Of the wall. from,
which l jumped down and escaped.
My dummy must have worked sue
tessfully, for l was not pursued. and
Il pursued ! should surely have been
eaptured. went to the rendezvous
and waited there as long as dared for
Anna Vronsky. but she did not appear.
Then l reluctantly made my way to
Russia, stopping just beyond the Dor
der, where l remained under an as
suned name. Indeed. my identity with
NY, former self was unrecognizable. ]
made a living trading In furs and kept
II lookout for escaped prisoners. from
some Of whom. | hoped to hear some
thing Of Anna Vronsky.
II seems strange that Il man should
ayc and continue to love Il girl he has
never seen. but. there a o be-
tween me-and my fellow sufferer than
between most lovers who had been
drought up together. And this is the
reason why l remained III what to HE
Russia, near the Siberian border.
SIX years passed. One day I Went up
to Kara bay to make purchases and on
ny way back stopped for supper and
the night at ii little farmhouse. the
aHsy occupants being an old woman
and her niece. From the moment |
saw the. niece l felt that she alone
,ouid take the place OF my imprisoned
sbve. chattcd with the two women
tKAthe aunt went to lied. The girl was
about to follow her when l. fancying
from q sadness stamped on her face
that she might have suffered as a polit-
zeal prisoner. tapped with a lead pencil
en- the table from force of habit. spell
Msg words that I had often spelled in
prison:
"Anna, l love you"
The change In the girl before me was
astonishing. She turned first white,
then, a rosy red.
"Are you
"Yes, and you?"
L started forward and clasped her In
my arms. Oh, the happiness Of that
embrace! Except for our hearts beat
ing against each other there was 81
Renee. Then I asked her If she would
3dre.the real as she had loved the ideal.
She said she would.
The woman with whom she lived
was no relation to her. and she had
been with her only a few months. I
took Anna away with me, and we have
nved In a comparative wilderness for