ESCAPED FROM HELL.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 24 October 1901, Page 4

ESCAPED FROM HELL.

The Adventurous Story of a Russian Noblu’s Flight from the Siberian Mines.

_ The Salvation Army “ Social Gazette,” gives tho interesting story of a patrician young Russian ex-oflicc-r of the Army, who has just escaped from the mines in Siberia. He is now fruit-picking at the S.A. Hadleigh Farm Colony. In February, 1899, after the Petersburg student riots, he was condemned with h : s brother, but without trial, to ten years’ hard labor in the mines and five years’ military service in Northern Siberian.

Ho first worked in the Kara gold mines that “hell upon earth,” as he calls it. These mines are the private property of tho Tsar, and formed part of the conco'sion which was not conceded to Mr Hooley.

Owing to the negligence of the engineers one of tho shafts caved in and sixty convicts were buried alive. Three of them, including this refugee, escaped by the guidance of an old convict through disused workings until they reached the banks of the river Shilka.

This old convict died on the way from his injuries, but the two survivors stole a boat, went down river, and walked 800 miles to Yladivostock, the Russian port on tbe Pacific.

There tho English captain of a Japanese steamer secreted them in the folds of a sail, and enabled them to avoid the Russian Customs officer. By way of Shanghai and Hong Kong, arid by the aid of contributions of the charitable at the various Eastern ports they came to England.