The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 24, 1905, Page 8

LLLEP N I'i]S P L' \VHILE T TeE \E IEN. , WHICH HE \JOF PATTPING- ACEOS5 SIBERIA W VERCHOJARSK THE COLVES [)INHABITEY FLACE I On one occasion T saw dozens of bodies ver pool, where the ice haa havoc with the leprosy and ele- latter placs L floating in a from there he was conveyed to the Often I had to sleep at night in the huts of these unfortunate creatures, but even leprosy is not feared a man who Is hungry and eager for Abler, which had been sent north-to the rescue of the crew of the Barbara Hern- ster at Plover Bay. Northern Sibe: surprised me most in Siberis was the comparatively easy and com=- fortable life of the political exile. had been pictured to me as a men who in his exile from the brutality of his guards and is fore want of food Quite to the contrary I found him to the majority of cases, a man of siderable contentment, and I recall oune exile who told me that he would not_go back to Russla if freedom was As a mater of fact the status of. the political exile in Si- beria has materially past ten years: handling this class of exiles have ap- parently been abandoned. ers, if you may so call them, are now ubder the coutrol of educated men from some of the i who have been sclected by the govern: much if 1 could be carned much by habifs of the gonstantly : which, In my of the type inhospitable and treacherous. cared for me when after T had aroused their superstition to a degree where they suspected that I pos- sessed some demon-like might be exerted against them. “They show no respect for t and lttle for the aged mombers of their uncommon sight s sick, but only ask of descend- granted to him. was not an see these natives hauling a dead tribesman from his hut, him of his furs, throwing his frozen body into a stream. The prison- Jze-Kamen, arriving SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. : /AEET OUTE T0.91PZ. ol TOLL fIlFY‘j;EJI Hig ment to direct the affaive of ths exile villages, “The procedurs preseribed for the arrest and the sending of political of- fenders to Siberia’ is, however, un- changed. There is an administrative officer, in whom is reposed the author- ity to take: an offender from his house at any time of day or night and keep him under restraint until a_sufficient number of offenders are gathered in to warrant their being transported to a plage of exile in the Far East It is within the power of this officer to impose a sentence of eleven years and 4 days upon a prisoner, but' if the later’s offense Jonger sentence the case goes to of the Interior of Russia for issuance of an Prisoners sentenced to are no longer sent consigned ‘to Schluesselberg, an in Ladoga " Lake tance from St. Petersburg. an ofiender exile in Siber merits his short dis- sentenced to he has the privilege of taking his family with him, and s also : with him books and other reading matter, and all the bag- permitted to earry case he needs to establish his home In the far off country. krom the moment of his arrest, however, his letters pass through the hands of ‘the police authorities and it rests en- tirely with them if he shall receive them later. During my long tramp I saw m: trains bearing exiles to penal colonies, the coaches in whi the exiles are imprisoned being de ignated by thelr green coat of paint and barred windows. he government allows all political offenders en ute to Siberia sixteen kopeks or seven cents a day as ration oney ‘on their trip, but this may be supplemented with money of their own n their e of food on their way 0 Tomsk there that ‘the gover ment assembles the exiles before d tributing them to their futufe and re- motcr places of abode. Tomsk, which is situated on the li Trans-Si- berian road, has a popula 35,600 people and is liberally end with churches, a university and a brary and a music hall, “After segregating the prisoners those Who are to serve less than three years are sent to West Siberfa; those with ex- iles of from four to ten vears go to E Siberta, and Northeastern Siberia is made the -home of bri of longer terms. West Siberia exiles serve out their terms at Omsk, X, Kurgan, Mariensk and that v - receive a monthly allowance of tw s and live where aud how they to cngage in 1 could ju were suffering from only that of not being Trkutsk, Alexandrofs Kiren Olec where most of iberian exiles live. 'The country being more barren and the weather severer, the exile there re- ceives fifteen rubies a month. I them engaged there in the and repairing of their hou which they Spend many dr: “In Northeast Sit i Verchojansk. Sred Ve Kelymsk and Pantelicha, sreatest rrors, so often victured in tales of Si- till exist. The entire country is bleak and barren. Often in the middle >f summer the mountain lakes are cov- ered with ice and discomfort seems to prevall everywhere. I had the pleasure of bearing from Verchojansk to Sredne- Kolymsk, a manifest of the Czar, on the occasion of the birth of his son, granting amnesty to a number of nolitical exiles. These unfortunate men were of an edu- cated class, but, strangely, were not over anxious to leave the penal settlement. The supervision of the police in these places is a farce, for [ was allowed to see anar- chistie literature in Verchojansk which had been received through the regular triction, to leave. »n, Katshuga, Yakutsk are Viilages of e nail and distributed among the exik ‘Early 12 Séptember—a year ago—I iched Yakutsk. the largest and most important of the ortheast iberian towns. 1t is the most northerly tele- graph tion In the world. being at 62 degrees north latitude. It was founded in 1632 and in 1835 numbered its population at 1650. When I was there it had $00 po- litieal prisoners. “From Yakutsk I journey on to the Kaelte-Pole, or the coldest place of exile. 1 was accompanied by the district chief, Ispravnick, as police convoy to Vereho- jansk. It was a dreadfully cold spot and at times our breath actually crystallized before u: It was midnight of October 31 that we arrived at Verchojansk, hav- ing left Yakutsk October 10. The place is hardly the size of an Amerlcan village and is covered with small log huts frozen over with ice, presenting a most bleak ap- pearance. Undoubtedly this is the coldest spot vet inhabited on either hemisphere. It is sitvated 67 degrees 37 minutes north latitude and 133 degrees 51 minutes east longitude. It is at Verchojansk that one enjoys magnific sights of the polar lights, scintillating with splendor, as a light vaper of i the I i L momn:Ler legrees Reaumer, or n Vercho- r than the habi- members of the village. A officials, two ministers, twe or two merhants and it the popula- tion of rld-forsaken town, where the soecial line is sharply drawn and the food most miserable. The ordinary diet is ¢ d beef, rye bread, bad tea and the Stbertan ogauin, a preparation ul‘ chopp: ozen fish, which I am pleased a rather palatable taste by ne fact that it Is served with some sort of a mustard dressing. Here the political prisoner enjoys the same privilege as other. inhabitants and draws a Government allowance of what would amount to about §8 in American money. “Sredne-Kolymsk is even more miser- able than Ve ojansk. I reached it af- ter fhree weeks' riding in a reindeer sletgh, loaned to me as a favor for car- rying mail from Verchojansk. Sredne- Koiymsk Wi ever be rememberad by me, for its fishy odors and its remarkable howling polar dogs, that yelp through- out the day and night. So Intense is the cold in the daytime that unfortunate in= habitants of the village have to keep n t motion, and even them it is im= to remain co rtably warm. One is continually In a sense of deadly drowsiness despite the exercise he i 3 no terroy felt for death in Sredne-Kolymsk., W n one’s time to die comes he makes no attempt to stave off the end. When he passes away his grave is scooped out tn the snow. Blocks of ice are placed above his rudely structed coftiu and they mark the bu place of the departed for man after. My study of the Russian exile sa fiea my mind that he is a class that fers to lead a shiftless life. His hatred is directed toward the Go ment, and the greater the co granted by the latter to its subjects. the stronger Is his railing against the power." The trans-Siberian journey of Iden-Zel- ler had its pleasant side, for he was met and entertained b whose stgnatures and words grace the pages of his I ~ In the early part of his trip he w ceived by King Oscar of Sweden, and was also greeted by the Crown Prince of Den- mark. In St. Petersburg Ide the guest of Prince Knilkoft, is familiar to the An.e among whom he lived for a & ears in order to aveid being exiled to beria for a political offense. While In this country Khilkoff was employed on the railroads and, after receiving a par- don from the Czar, he returned to Russia and tooly a prominent part in the con- struction of the T Siberlan Railway. At Jasuju Polia the German t eje! 5 the guest of Count Leo Tols wi the latter’s son at their home, and from the two he received much valuable in- g the people and the ater, ed, and letters to important persons in Siberia that in- sured him a welcome to many homes on his trip to tie Far East. His dlary s filled with 't gnatures of various rt elnis, particularly the chiefs of distr in Stberia through which he passed, cer- tifying to Bis presence in their places of Jurisdiction and commending him to the favor of oth Although the formation res country that of Iden-Zel- pa he stiil has of miles to travel befors From here i includes Angeles Dbef s on his across the continent. In New York he wil} take a steamer for London and will visit a number of the largest metropolises of Europe before reaching Berlim.