IN THE CZAR'S BASTILLES.

NZ Truth, Issue 173, 10 October 1908, Page 7

IN THE CZAR'S BASTILLES.

JRevoltiiig Barbarities.

Pricked with Red-Hot Needles.

-Some weeks ago Mary Verdiri, a young ; Russian girl; Who , had studied at the London School of Economics, was liberated from a St. Petersburg , prison where la* eight months she* had been incarcer-' ated "awaiting trial." Her crime was that she was organising the textile yfovicrs into a trade union. But for the assistance of wealthy friends, she would •have been sent to /Siberia. She was banished jpstead, and m the following article gives , first-hand information .. concerning the barbarous : treatment -of political prisoners , m Russia :— ;:.;.■: I arrived m free England I: read my countryman Tolstoy's stirring appeal t6 justice, religion, and humanity, and hii impeachment of those who- govern Russia tjy means of torture and murder.v fffiis appeal has encouraged me to fell the English public m a few, . simpler Words stirne of the* details of the sufferings unflßrgone by- ; those 7 whom - 1 can : only -call "prisoners of war" ; for Russia has-been lor ihe last two, years m. a state of civil • war, and hec prisons are crowded^ with writers, 'artists,- craftsmen! meiv^nd women of science, young girls, grandiriotb-. ers, and little .children under ten:? Sears ,, o! age, who, if thieve, is no one "elki %! to' : look after them, have to accompany their mothers to prison. People spend sometimes as much as .two years m- these remand wards waiting for trial. ■.. I, must/ pass over' . -, ; . . ; ' ';■*- "«■'*>*• /: MANY. A PRISON TRAGEDY, 0 ; BjJrfWL 1 ' a ; crying injustice sanctioned ,i}y. the. all powerful ""pblice *de surete" ; whas I want'to utter 'is a cry for justice ib.f a young,: ;; tortured - .Esthonian girjtaifcwith during 'part of . my. rerent - )m i f jmspninent, ; I shared a cell) and for^aiethousands sufferiiig in 1 the sime waj.~ 1 took, down what' she -told , me onjcif craps of paper, and before I left the prison sewed them inside my pillow, which, being my personal prppjerty, 1 was allowed tto take but . with me. This Esthonian girl of 1# -Ti^as tlfce" youngest menfljer of a revolutionary fanfiiyy ', driven ,--to' V despair by I . tbe brutalities ' of lae.inyaajrs of their country, , Thpugh she ■woul'd^. ftaye passed anywhere as an ordinary uini^r- .' sity student, she was a true type'v^-bf those who, rare ; Jcppwn tpi. the. official secutors .as "nia.;de of steel." She ;Jf*s arrested t? 6n suspicion,'' .through 'the^yadence or an '^agent provocateur/.' awjlrwas placed m the' Central Riga Prison, where bar- brother her fatger had .alxea.dy: undergone days and nights of torture* f; 'ln this prisonj' which is one of tiiose putBide /'official Russia," and, thefefor^l^o iome extent outside S, the. control .jcffpijb'-^ lie opinion, there is' a .special room set aside for.', .questioning, and, if , necessary, torturing : prisoners;' - - Three men, jPopil, the "agent provocateur" ; Gregu&,> tbe chief of the "police dfe surete'' of Riga; aud Ketekowd, the; head of the police station m the' first Mitavian district of Riga (the latter a' ! specialist m devising torture) , received the' girl prisoner, "ia"Hd ureed her Hvith coarsje threats to give frfWence agdinst her cpmijades andttic^icls; 3?nfs 'she Tefused to do 1 ; She ''wW-, then; V)y order of. Gregus, placed on ; THE TORTURE BENCH,

a wet oloth was forced into, her ; mouth to prevent, her crying; out, and they then beat her with their lists on the head and back till she lost consciousness. She was then carried into . her cell, but ag hour later wfas brought back to, the' torture chamber, laid face on the bench, and.- she was. flogged, with a "nag- ' Bika/' Her hair was torn j put, and.~she. was ' beatenvtill- she- lay .half. dead,;, hut not a , word passed her lips i " Sh|if s was then taken to Gregus's private " office,

where she was again, questioned about the doings, of her comrades, but she refused to speak. As ; the night wore on her torturers refreshed themsives freely, sritb. vodka, and their, language became. tiiQre,, horribly brutal and coarse..; 'At la'sV Gregus declared that it was tib use

ill-treating her any more, and .it was better to -let her £o, but Ketekovd refused to release his victim. "Sh.e shall not get off,", he said, "till, she has had l.<o lasii«;s , after that we shall get ouc of her the evidence we: ;want J" She was thrust, for the , '. ; REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT in'tc a dark closet, and a guard was placed outside to isee that no • entered: Asf/ she lay half-conscious after the norribhi otdeiil she had undergone she could hear the coarse' arid drunken voices ol the guard 'outside uttering threats against her, and reminding her of what she might 'expect next time 'she was taken to the torture chamber ; but strict orders given by Gregu* saved her from the cowardly Ketekowd. A few days before, her .brother had- undergone- unspeakable tortures m the same 1 'prison, and her father _had been forced, m an adjoining room, to listen to the agonised cries of his son. This poor child also told me of a woman ol 50, who, when arrested; was bfbuisht before a polic& official named Daiig. v "Your name ?" he shouted. She was too scared and confused to answer immediately, so ■'■' •'• the police-officer started' beating her with' the butt-end of his revolver till she fell down m a faint. PTw6 buckets' of water were thrown over her, and. as she did not immediately reviye'^they' ■;■■ •; ..;.■■.-.•.'/■ <, , ■ t;■ ■ ■■' ■.. . ; ' HUbTG^ HER. UP BY THE FEET ,' head downwards. She was then , removed to Gregu^'s office ,a^^the^"pqHce de.sjirete.' r :':The're / .tne 'same; questioning recommehcedi■/■ "Yqur name ? . Yqiir ' adtess^i?" lArid :- A "dg'a;liiKthrougti; fear- the' anforturiate iwoman'-faiied to r an>weir r proiiipt'ly. Gregus^ then" threw ;hejr'.on the'- flo;or"! and trampled' ofc her ? SU: after "which ; she was laid on. the bench in' the torture chamber and -pricked' wi(h red-hot 3 ' needles . Three ■days ; later she was removed to the renewned Mitavian . stition, wliere Ketiekowd and Daug both questioned her, and she was beaten, till 'her head 'and body were covered , with • blopd. ;' On her return ; to. ' the rlrst prison her fellowprisoners could hardly - recognise her ; her body was black and blue : ; . she could neithei:' sit 'nor stand, apd her'" eyes- had' the h'auited. look ot a'; mad woman.

.SPINAL COLUMN BROKEN. , j.One man bad a nail driven into his head, and then he wasoshot.; another man . had his , spinal : cplumn ; broken whilst they . were trampling on him. ..i A man of .the name >of • NeUand. , was beaten about the head with nagaikas -y: L and with an \iron ba.r,\ the, soles of ■: his feet .were burnt and r:ed;ihat -needles >eirei thrust under his finger-nails. v One man -was v tied -by ; his hands, ■ and was_ flogged day after ( day ; tiUviis. flesh began : to , rot and, smell ; spme plasters were then, applied to \'his. bWbk, and- >vhen it was : partly, healed : thtey,. flogged hini < again.: /Several -have; undergone similafe.treatment, ..and one : man, who, suffered .m- this iW.ay was allowed n^ I, change of .-, linen for ■ two months. He 'was finally taken to a village ., prison, and under the .pretext > that he , attempted ijo escape they 1 mercifully ' shot 'him. '.'...^ One girl 'was keptjOn remjiTKr for .a year m; the .prison .at^Ri'gaj.ca'nXe, put of it a; qripple 1 ,. bpth her-Jegs, hayini 'vbeen. broken the.; CJpss;ack, warders... A sobool te^ch^ er..wiaS;, brought to.: the .same prison with both ;atms"''broken,^ tne Cpssacks had tied him'. between.,! two^gallpp^ing horses. '•',:.' A young" .girl, : still at. # secondary" '.schb.pT ***' ■,•.;;•..';>:,;. iriT-.j:-i : r"- ' ■■■£r^<,;^. ;., ARRESTED ON SUSPIGION. ' not^far-ffrbm the' yUla^e ;of^'MitapaJ;. She ' was ■placed' in >- a " : carriage . with several ''dragtfpns. .' ' : %n~ '$o&f't . hearing the 6ries pr itheir- Vibtim, ap'jiroached thie carriage, and i-said- to the .soldiers, ''Let her alone, .and leave 'b'er to me !| ! .' : /When jje t dl'on'e^ ■With tbe' giri^ he told; her lie bad no; 'desire- to^ill-tfeaii' her, but m order ,t^ |: s'ave her 'from' the bands of others it was necessary that she , should cry out

and behave as if she were bein^ ill-treat-ed. Thus tl'ie cM : d was saved for the time, but when brought before Orion, who had ordered her arrest (and who was one of those "skilled in-, inventing tortures), she. . complained to him about the conduct of the soldiers. "That's a trifle," he remarked. "If you do not five the evidence, we require quickly hough, I will give ,you over to them again, and you shall simply b* torn to pieces !" . ..-. : : THE JOY OF DEATH. These stories of Riga an.d of Mitava are the truth, but not • all the truth. These are but specimens of the treatment whereby the Government of the Czar hoped • to pacify a rebellious, prpvince." Tolstoy writes that he can no longer bear S the recital of the 'daily hangings. Does he t realise what bliss death is to those fighters fpr freedom, whp.haveto undergo these tortures ? To them the supreme, honor is to be hanged for fighting for the freedom of their country. They have thrust aside not only the pleasures of life, but also the joys and. consolations 6f art, of literature, and of science. Then, count all as dross when weighed m the balance against the pure joy of struggling against tyranny. We know that barricades and street fighting are of little avail against disciplined troops; but it is none the less ( civil war that is being waged, and it is the cause of revolutionaries that must m the. end win. Land cannot be tilled with bayonets, nor industries and ?rafts carried on by soldiery. '