Sixteen years in Siberia: Some experiences of a Russian revolutionist

by L. G. Deich

H. C.

London, July, 1903.

CONTENTS

Translator’s Preface	Pages [v-xii]
CHAPTER I
Journey to Germany—Imprisonment in Freiburg—Episodes from the past of the Revolutionary movement	[1-11]
CHAPTER II
The cause of my arrest—Professor Thun—My defence—Plans of escape—My legal adviser	[12-20]
CHAPTER III
Uncertainty—Prison life—The Public Prosecutor—A change of cells	[21-29]
CHAPTER IV
The visit of “my wife”—More plans of escape—The Public Prosecutor shows his hand—reparations for a journey	[30-41]
CHAPTER V
The journey to Russia—In the cattle-truck—The Frankfort and Berlin prisons—The frontier-station—Through Warsaw to Petersburg	[42-48]
CHAPTER VI
The Fortress of Peter and Paul—The Public Prosecutor as compatriot—A hard-hearted doctor—A fleeting acquaintance	[49-57]
CHAPTER VII
Changed conditions—A frustrated plan—The minister’s visit—A secret of State—My literary neighbour	[58-66]
CHAPTER VIII
Fresh fears—The Colonel of Gendarmerie—Inquiry into the case of General Mezentzev’s murder—Meeting with Bogdanovitch—Departure	[67-72]
CHAPTER IX
A ray of hope—An unheard-of régime—The hunger-strike—Our club—A secret ally	[73-82]
CHAPTER X
A brave officer—My military service—The trial—Further examinations	[83-93]
CHAPTER XI
The visit of the minister—I am turned into a convict—The prison at Kiëv	[94-104]
CHAPTER XII
New acquaintances—The girl-conspirators of Romny—Arrival in Moscow—Companions in destiny—A liberal-minded governor	[105-114]
CHAPTER XIII
The trial of the fourteen—Recollections of Vera Figner—Numerous imprisonments—Agents Provocateurs	[115-122]
CHAPTER XIV
A not incorruptible inspector—Broken fetters—Resistance to the shaving process—Visitors in the prison	[123-129]
CHAPTER XV
Political condition of Russia and the revolutionary party—Our little society—Fête days—Prohibited visits—A lecture on manners	[130-137]
CHAPTER XVI
Preparations for our travels—The boat journey by the Volga and the Kama—Ekaterinburg—On the troika—“To Europe, to Asia”	[138-147]
CHAPTER XVII
In Tiumen—Parting—On the Siberian rivers—A startling proposal	[148-157]
CHAPTER XVIII
By way of the convoy-stations—A clumsy officer—The vagabond—A man-hunt	[158-168]
CHAPTER XIX
The forest—Unsuccessful attempts at escape—The people we met—The criminal world—The convoy officers	[169-183]
CHAPTER XX
From Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk—Misunderstandings and disputes—The women in Irkutsk prison	[184-193]
CHAPTER XXI
The chief of police at Irkutsk—Meeting with exiled comrades—From Irkutsk to Kara—Stolen fetters—A dubious kind of Decabrist—Another contest—Arrival at our journey’s end	[194-208]
CHAPTER XXII
First days at Kara—Friends old and new	[209-220]
CHAPTER XXIII
The organisation of our common life—The “Siriuses”—Wagers	[221-232]
CHAPTER XXIV
Some details of the prison’s history—The “Tom-cat”—The “Sanhedrin’s room“—My first Siberian spring	[233-247]
CHAPTER XXV
Humours and pastimes of prison life—Two new commandants—The “Hospital”—The participators in armed resistance	[248-265]
CHAPTER XXVI
The women’s prison	[266-274]
CHAPTER XXVII
The “colonists”—Further events in the women’s prison—The hunger-strikes—The Yakutsk massacre	[275-282]
CHAPTER XXVIII
Our celebration of the centenary of the French Revolution—Sergius Bobohov—The end of the tragedy	283-290
CHAPTER XXIX
Disquieting reports—Visit of the Governor-General—Release from prison	291-299
CHAPTER XXX
Nizhnaya-Kara—New life—Stolen gold	[300-306]
CHAPTER XXXI
The tour of the Heir-Apparent through Siberia—Our life in the penal settlement—An incensed official	307-315
CHAPTER XXXII
The death of the Tsar—New manifestoes—The census	316-322
CHAPTER XXXIII
A prehistoric monument—My departure from Kara—Life in Stretyensk—My transference to Blagovèstshensk—The massacres of July, 1900	[323-346]
CHAPTER XXXIV
My flight from Siberia—The end of my journey round the world—My friend Axelrod again—Conclusion	[347-359]
Index	[361]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

LEO DEUTSCH, IN PRISON DRESS	[Frontispiece]
FORTRESS OF PETER AND PAUL, ST. PETERSBURG	To face page	[48]
PRISONERS MARCHING THROUGH THE STREETS OF ODESSA	“	[96]
“BUTIRKI,” THE CENTRAL PRISON AT MOSCOW	“	[110]
PORTRAITS: TCHUIKOV, SPANDONI, VERA FIGNER, STEFANOVITCH, MIRSKY	“	[112]
SIBERIAN HALTING-STATION (ÉTAPE)	“	[146]
IN A SIBERIAN PRISON	“	[158]
ROLL-CALL OF PRISONERS AT A HALTING-STATION	“	[160]
ESCAPED CONVICT-TRAMP (BRODYAGA)	“	[164]
AN ATTEMPT AT ESCAPE	“	[170]
PORTRAITS: MARTINOVSKY, STARINKYEVITCH, SUNDELEVITCH, ZLATOPOLSKY, PRYBYLYEV, YEMELYANOV	“	[208]
PRISONERS GOLD-WASHING AT KARA	“	[232]
YARD OF KARA PRISON FOR “POLITICALS”	“	[254]
DULEMBA, KOHN, RECHNYEVSKY, LURI, MANKOVSKY	“	[258]
LURI, SOUHOMLIN, AND RECHNYEVSKY, IN PRISON DRESS	“	[260]
PORTRAITS: A. KORBA, E. KOVALSKAYA, N. SIGIDA, M. KOVALEVSKAYA, N. SMIRNITSKAYA, S. BOGOMOLETZ	“	[266]
GRAVEYARD OF POLITICAL PRISONERS AT KARA	“	[290]
THE PENAL SETTLEMENT, KARA	“	[300]
COTTAGE SHARED BY “POLITICALS” IN THE KARA PENAL SETTLEMENT	“	[302]
KARA PRISONERS AT WORK	“	[308]
FEMALE CRIMINALS AT KARA DRAWING WATER-CART	“	[310]
AGED ORDINARY PRISONERS AT KARA	“	[314]
THE COSSACK VILLAGE OF STRETYENSK	“	[324]
BLAGOVESTSHENSK	“	[328]
ON THE AMUR NEAR BLAGOVESTSHENSK—THE SCENE OF THE MASSACRE	“	[336]

SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIBERIA

CHAPTER I
JOURNEY TO GERMANY—IMPRISONMENT IN FREIBURG—EPISODES FROM THE PAST OF THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

In the beginning of March, 1884, I travelled from Zurich, through Basel, to Freiburg in Baden. The object of my journey was to smuggle over the frontier a quantity of Russian socialistic literature, printed in Switzerland, in order that it might then be distributed by secret channels throughout Russia, where of course it was prohibited. In Germany a special law against the Social-Democratic movement was then in force. The Sozialdemokrat was published in Zurich, and had to be smuggled over the German frontier, where the watch was very keen, rendering most difficult the despatch to Russia of Russian, Polish, and other revolutionary literature printed in Switzerland. Before the enactment of the special law in August, 1878, the procedure had been simple. At that time the publications were sent by post to some town in Germany near the Russian border, and thence, by one way or another, despatched to Russia. Later, however, it became necessary to convey them as travellers’ luggage across the German frontier, in order to get them through the custom-house, after which they could be forwarded to some German town nearer the Russian border. It was on this transport business that I was engaged.

My luggage consisted of two large boxes, half-filled with literature, and their upper parts packed with linen and other wearing apparel, that the Customs officers might not be suspicious. In one trunk I had men’s clothes, in the other women’s, supposed to belong to my (non-existent) wife; and for this reason there really was a lady present at the Customs examination in Basel,—the wife of my friend Axelrod from Zurich. She offered to take further charge of the transport, thinking she would run less risk than I if the police became suspicious. As, however, the examination of the luggage went off quite smoothly, I declined the offer, hardly thinking any further trouble probable.