RUSSIAN CONVICTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 21 November 1911, Page 2

RUSSIAN CONVICTS.

Never until he reaches Siberia does a Russian convict know what sort of life is in store for him; for in pronouncing sentence of hard labour the judge makes no mention of mines. If the convict has money or influential friends, he had better use the time between his sentence and transportation in buying a warrant which consigns him to the lighter kinds of labour above ground-; otherwise he will inevitably be sent under earth and never again see the sky until he is hauled up to die in the infirmary.

The convicts are forwarded to Siberia in convoys, which start as the the snows have melted and left the ground dry. They perform the whole journey on foot, escorted by mounted Cossacks, who are armed with pistols, lances, and long whips; and behind them jolts a long string of springless wagons, to carry those who fall lame or ill on the way.

The start is always made in the night, and care is taken that the convoys shall pass through the towns on their road- only in the dark. Each man is dressed in a gpay blouse, having a brass' numbered plate fastened to the breastj knee boots, and a sheepskin cap. He carries a rug strapped to the back, I a mess tin, and a wooden spoon at his girdle.. The women have black- cloaks and hoods, and march in gangs by themselves, with an escort of soldiers, like the men, and two or three female warders, who travel in carts. In leaving large cities, like St Petersburg, all the prisoners are chained with their hands behind their backs, but the fetters are removed outside the city, except in the case of men who have been marked as dangerous. These have to wear leg chains of four pounds weight all the way, and some of the more desperate ones are yoked by threes to: a beam of wood, which rests on their shoulders, and is fastened to their necks by iron collars. Nobody is permitted to approach the men to inspect them. The Cossacks crack their whips loudly to warn persons off, and scamper up and down the line with lanterns tied to their lance points, which they lower to the ground at every moment to see if letters have been dropped. Murderers, theives, nihilist conspirators, felon clergymen, mutinous soldiers, and patriotic Poles all tramp together as fast as they can go and perfectly silent. Then .come the women, shivering, sobbing, but not daring to cry, because of those awful whips.