THE TRIAL OF VERAZASOULITSCH.

Grey River Argus, Volume 21, Issue 3101, 24 July 1878, Page 2

THE TRIAL OF VERA ZASOULITSCH.

The London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus, writing on 25 fch April, gives the following account of this important' trial : — Vera Zasoulitsch, the young lady who recently attempted to assassinate General rrepoff, the chief of the police, has been tried at Sfc. Petersburg and acquitted. Dbe trial has excited greafc interest, especially as an illustration of the state of society in Russia. Ifc shows both the terrorism by which thab country has been governed, and the new spirit of freedom which is moving among its people. The girl's history is a romance, which would be incredible anywhere eke. The daughter of an officer in the Russian army, she completed her education in a boarding school at Moscow, but appears to have commenced her career as clerk in the office of a subordinate judge. Thence she went to Sfc. Petersburg, where she supported herself by bookbinding, while attending the lectures at the university, and qualifying herself for the posfc of mistress of a primary school. The girl-student had, however, already fallen under the espionage of the police, for she had formed at Moscow the acquaintance of a student named Natchaieff, the brother of one of her schoolfellows, who took an active parfc in a' conspiracy discovered in fchafc city; Netchaieff, affcer shooting the man who, as he believed, had denounced him, had fled to Switzerland, and Vera Zasoulitsch was suspected of being the medium through whom he maintained a treasonable correspondence with his friends in Russia. She: was at length seized and when only 17 years of a^e, thrown into prison, where she was detained for two yeara. JNo charge, was made againsb her, and at last she was liberated, but only to be re-arrested a few days afterwards, and in May, 1870, she was transferred to the fortress of Sfc. Petersburgh ; and, in March, 1871, she was again liberated as suddenly and arbibrarily as she had been, arresbed. Bub her enlargemenb wa3 of the briefesb duration. It was during the fifth week in Lent that Mademoiselle Zasoulitsch was set free. In the courae of Easter week she was again seized by the police, and hurried off at one o'clock in the morning to a prison for convicts destined to deportation. Then she was sent, in custody, to a I place called Krestzy, where she was appointed to " reside " — being at tho time almost penniless — under police surviellance. Subsequently she was permitted fco rejoin her brother-in-law, who was likewise a political exile, at Tver ; but this gentleman, getting into trouble for distributing' seditious phamplets, was banished bo the ; governmenb of Koshoma, while Vera was ' re-arrested , conducted to Sfc. Petersburgh, and thence exiled to Soligalifcch. In December, 1873, the police sent her to Kharkoff, which, ib may be mentioned, is ab leasb a thousand verats from St. Petersburgh, where she remained until September, 1875, "studying midwifery." For the last few years she has lived in retire- j ment, brooding over her wrongs, and ' watching political movements wifch the eagerness of a mind quickened by misfortune. She had returned to St. Petersburg, bufc had not foresworn her Nihilist sympathies. In the summer of last year her indignation was fired by the treatment to which a political prisoner, Bogoluboff, was subjected by General Trepoff. It is said this; Bogoluboff was her lover, bufc the statement seems founded on inference rather than facb. The inbensity of her feeling ia explained by bhe sympathies engendered by her own sufferings. The man had been condemned to penal servitude for plotting against the Government, and had been temporarily confined before undergoing his sentance in a House of Detention attached to the Ministry of J ustice. Thi3 place, which is not subject to the ordinary police, was, however, often visited by General Trepoff. He happened to see two prisoners walking and talking together in fche prison yard. This was a breach of rules — why was ifc permifced, the general wished to know. One of the two, Bogolinhoff wished to explain withoufc deigning to take his cap off while he did so, The general told him to be silent, and struck at him. Bogolinhoff let his cap fall off in avoiding the blow, coolly replaced it on his head, and leffc the general to digest the affront.- The indignant prefect of police ordered Bogolinhoff to receive 24 sbrokes with a birch — an order which was probably altogether illegal, and which seems to have stirred up something like an insurrection in bhe prison. The details of bhe punishment were described in the course of the recent trial as sickening and revolting, the rod 3 with which the strokes were administered appearing to form almost as severe an instrument of torture as the legally cherished knout. For it should be remembered, as an indication of Russian progress, in spite of this arbibrary rule, that the decree of the Emperor Alexander for the abolition of serfdom was followed by an ordinance abolishing the punishment of the knoufc, and forbidding all corporal punishment except in a few. exceptional cases, such as those of mutinous convicts. The unhappy suffere, in this instance had no hope of redressfor he was politically dead ; but his punr ishmenb wa3 inflicted in the prison-yard, and visible from all the windows of the male and female prisoners. While in the House of Detention prisoners are allowed to see their friends, and it seems that one of them, a political prisoner, a lady named Tcharonchine, gave an account of the spectacle as she witnessed it, which found its way into the Sfc. Petersburg newspapers. The facts did not pass unnoticed in the higher circles, and a commission had been appointed to inquire into the affair. Vera Zasoulitsch had nofc heard of this. She declared in her evidence that she had waited some time to see whether the higher authorities wonld take any notice of Generai Trepoff's cruel and tyrannical conduct ; but she found thafc " no one thought it worth while to call him to account, and thafc he was altogether irresponsible." Then, through fche medium _f a friend who she said knew nothing of lier plans, she purchased a revolver, asked in audience of General Trepoff, as if for the purpose of presenting a petition, aud, visiting him in hia reception room, shot [iim in fche side. There is no dispute as to the facts of ;he assassination. The excited woman — ;

now about 26 years of age — had fired at a distance of only a yard, and inflicted on him an all but mortal wound. For several weeks his life was in great danger. The case was tried in a crowded court, before a public of Borne 500 or 600 persons, ail of whom had received tickets of admission from the presiding judge. Prince Gortschakoff, and many of the most distinguished persons in St. Petersburg, were present, including literary and scientific men, high officials, and people of fashion. The trial by jury is parfc of the new system of criminal procedure introduced by the present Emperor. In this case the jury was composed of men of education and good social position— more than half were Government functionaries, two were merchants, one was a student of tae University. Yefc Vera Zasoulitsch was acquitted, and this verdict was received with applause in courfc. A crowd had assembled in the streets adjoining, and the cheering was loud and enthusiastic when Vera Zasoulitsch emerged a free woman. Bufc the rejoicing was sullied by another tragedy. The St Petersburg correspondent of the Daily News, writing the nexfc day, gives the following account of this lasfc scene :— " Without waiting fcr the departure of the caowd of Nihilists and students who blocked up and surrounded the building in which the courfc sits, the chaocellor immediately caused Mdle Zasoulitch to be set at liberty. Scarcely had she set foot in the streefc when she was loudly cheered by the mob, and the curious, who always assemble on such occasions, began to follow her, shouting all the time. Seeing this, a local functionary showed her into a vehicle, that she might return home in peace. But immediately the boldest of the students endeavored to mount upon the vehicle and take the place of the driver. Being prevented from doing this, they followed for some distance, and at lasfc the mob became so thafc the vehicle was obliged to stop. Mdle Zasoulitsch alighted from it, I then, the police endeavoring to resiore the circulation, an affray took place, amidst which two shots were fired, one striking a student on the forehead, and stretching him stone dead ; the ofcher wounding a woman. Mdle Zasoulitsch herself re-enteied her residence safe and sound, bufc this morning she had already disappeared. The police are searching for her, and the aubhorities are making enquires.