In the waiting-prison at Tyumen
Ostiaks
Among these semi-barbarous people cultivated men and women are forced to spend long years in exile
room, and the few books neatly arranged on a crudely fashioned table.
“Free” exile is allowed to only certain privileged exiles, and mostly to those against whom there are only trivial charges or undefined “suspicions.” When we arrived our friend was composing a letter presently to be forwarded to St. Petersburg, detailing the pressing needs of the revolutionary Red Cross committee. In reply to questions I asked he told us how the revolutionary Red Cross Society has its committee in every village, settlement, and hamlet where exiles are sent. In Russia and abroad its agents are always actively collecting money for food for the starving and clothing for the needy. He cited many instances of heroic sacrifices of men and women of smallest resources sharing their little with their comrades in distress in Siberia. Exiles who have well-to-do families and friends receive contributions, but these are almost invariably shared with those who have no such resources. Were it not for this work of the revolutionary Red Cross Society, the suffering in Siberia would be infinitely greater than it is, and the number of deaths from starvation would be appalling.
While waiting for one or two others to join us he gave me a little sketch of Siberian exile history and life:
“Siberia began to be used by Russia as a place of exile about three hundred years ago, but at that time very cruel and terrible punishments were meted out to civil as well as political offenders. The bodies of men were frequently mutilated, their limbs amputated, and hideous tortures applied that left lasting scars. In order to dispose of these maimed and now worthless creatures they were dumped into this remote region of northeastern Asia, which was at that time a recently acquired possession. A hundred years later, that is, just before the beginning of the eighteenth century, bodily mutilation was officially abolished, and simple banishment was introduced on a large scale. Exile soon came to be the usual punishment for a long list of crimes, covering practically the whole criminal list. Men were exiled on every conceivable pretext, or merely to get rid of them. About this time the mineral resources of the country began to be known, and the government conceived the idea of utilizing the labor of exiles for developing these resources. This policy continues in force to-day. From time to time the exile system has sunk into such a condition of disorganization and barbarity that the escape of death was sought by scores and hundreds. Pestilential prisons, incredibly crowded, were allowed to become fairly putrid with filth, while the men and women confined in them grew foul with disease or lost their senses through suffering.