RUSSIAN STATE TRIAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 778, 30 March 1910, Page 10

RUSSIAN STATE TRIAL.

MADAME BRESHKOVSKY'S STORY. LIFE OF ADVENTURE. THE "GRANDMOTHER" OF THE: ■REVOLUTION. . No .woman" has played a more important.'or .more "romantic part in the Russian Revolution than Katharine Breshkovsky, -who-is to be tried,; early in; company with ,Mr. Nicholas .Tchaykoysky on. a,"charge of belonging to the Social Revolutionary Party (writes tho St. Petersburg-correspondent ■ of. the News'.'); The latter was liberated. on. 'bajl more than a"*year . ago, but' Mine.' Broslikovsky, lias been, less fortunate. For the last two'years this old woman—she "is now sixty^eight—has been;, kept' in solitary confinement in the Fortress of St. Peter and : St. Paul. The broad Neva' separates two worlds. Oii its : right' bankus the gloomy prison where men and women, who have given up all in the sacred cause of liberty, cat out their hearts in loneliness. "Opposite - lies 'the.- Winter Palace. of .tho Tsar; and every afternoon the sledges of the fashionable Women of St. Petersburg glide swiftly, aiid silently past its tasteless * roc'cqc& Had she chosen., Katherine "Breshkovsky might have [had her-' place in .that brilliant 'world.'.'. 'Her choice was made'long ago, and now the frozen river and a prison wall,.'separate her-from it. ' ,'V As,-ia';'yojihg girl.'-rKatharihe Bre'shkovsky' 'saw' 'the wretchedness of ' the' peasants round her home. Her father, a man of enlightened views, taught her •to' think, and she early' became ; convinced of the necessity of reform. "To seek guidance"—l;' ;am :quotilig h'er words—"to find what older heads wero thinking, I went . 'at nineteen', with- my mother-and -'sister~td"rSt7~ Pp.tersbnrg. Into on tl|e train '• returning 'from ofeial'duties "m Siberia. For hours he discussed with, nie the. problems; that were rushing upon 'us. His words -■ tlirilled dike '. fire. ' Our excited voices rose, steadily 1 highei-, until my mother begged-me. to; speak , low.. The [ youngv Prince is .now .an", old- man 'in pxile. His narno is Pet-er Kropotkin.'? •The Creat Renunciation. In St.-' Potei-Sb'urg,- Katharine Bresh-' kovsky entered the ~ central group of Liberalists.-.. Six years later she. married a:'hoblemaii,!. and;they' began to educate the' peasants. on their. estate, rousing in-Viieid'tlie desire for reform.. As ;she herself ' iias'put'it: "It is a poor patriot that .will not. thoroughly try .his Goycrnment.-befbre'fhoArises against;it," of tho'efforts of. husband arid ■ wife was to; find themselves checked* at every .'point, denounced to the Minister of the Interior 'as.' conspirators, and finally : placed under police surveillance. This,'was .tho. turning-point, in..'Mme".'. Breshkpvsky's career.-: "I-was at this time 26 (yeata old. . My husband, like me, ha da whole life" before • hirii, arid, therefore,'-'! ' thought it fair . to sgeak frankly. ."I-asked him .if- he. woro willing, to, suffer,.exile .and death in this cause of freedom. ■ He said he .was riot. Then'l-.'left^him."

• -Having mad£":the great she ..went forth , to preach revolution' to the. peasants.' -.'/' I wtafc tp Kioff, joined a revolutionary;group;'? and travelled from town to town' spreading our ideas. 1 put on peasants dress to elude - tho police and .break the peasants', cringing': distrust:.if •y.in--'.eiior-:' mous bark shoes, coarse shirt and heavy cloak, I used acid oil my hands ana face; I worked and eat with the peasants I ispeech ;:,'I travelled on foot,"forging passjiorts •' I lived .illegally.'" .f fr s,g: i' In. 1874 Mme.; Breshkovsky .was ar-rested.'After'a-night.iii a "black hole," swarming with vermin^- she ; was placed in a cell of a St. Petersburg prison. It measured ; 9f£. ; by was 7ft. high.- ; "This- cell I never left for over, two years." Her trial did not take place until 1878,' and she. was condemned' to i exile inSiberia;': .The ' journey ; ••of' 5000 miles' was made'■ 'ill springless" wagons. ; - Sometimes the exiles were rattled along for. an entire week without halting for sleep. Some died on the journey. Baok,to, the. Sttuggle.; i After ten months at tile Kara mines, Mme. Brcshkovsky. was transferred to Barguzin, ■ a hamlet. near the Arctic circle.- She and >some other exiles made an attempt to escape, and .wandered 600 miles towards the-Pacific. But the fugitives'were caught, and Mme. BreshkoYSkyi. was .-sentenced to four yean; hard.'labour at Kara..- \ . ; A few 'weeks after she-arrived there eight men escapcd. "For this we wero all punished. : Cossacks entered our cells, seized us, tore off our clothes, and dressed us in convict suits alive, with vermin. Taken to an old prison, we' were -thrown.- into the 'black holes. Each of .us had.a stall-:6ft.*.by. sft.'l:.For three years,(we did the ,outside air.-'.We' • constantly against' the' outrages' Inflicted- on us; After one outrage-we lay like a row pf dead women for jiine days without touching food, until certain promises were finally extracted from the warder. The hunger strike was used repeatedly: To thwart it we".were often bound hand and foot while ■ Cossacks tried ,tp force food down- our throats." J Ono woman who struck an official;-after, an intolerable insult, - died under' the 'lash. it was only, in 1896 that.iMme. Breshkovsky- received permi'sskm- to return to Russia.-: Undatinted:'by suffering," she joined tho Social Revolutionary, party. 1 Then began' a new series <.f amazing adventures. At one ,timc she was' living in the south as a French woman.' .Tracked down by the police at Kieff, where she was posing 'as',..a peasant woman, she escaped to tho station in a carriage and pair' dressei.in tho height of fashion. Over two years ago heT 'work was ended by arrest—: the Babushka, or Grandmother, as she is affc<;£ionaiely!;called}."was thrown into prison.::- ?•" » i:*: ■ -I' . : : ! At', her'trial she.J'will J , not. attempt -to deny the charges' brought against her. It is iextremcly .'unfortunate.-. for ~M Tchaikovsky that his case should be united to -hers..' He stoutly denies any connection witli the Social Revolutionists, and 'it is evidently hoped that | the' Court will be prejudiced against him by connecting: his name with that of 'so -famous a' revolutionist as Mme; BreshkovskV.. . . In- studying the career of this indomitable woman it is impossiblo not to admire her courage and, force ,of character. * .The sufferings she -endured at the "hands of'agents of';-tho Russian Government move- one to indignation. She has played her game and lost; Autocracy remains triumphant. It is to be hoped that her great ago willgain -a lenient sentenco for her.