A CRUEL REVENGE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 26, 30 January 1873, Page 4

A CRUEL REVENGE.

A POLISH LADY KNOUTED. - (JFrmi the Daily Telegraph jrP A. ' Zp. '.. At a gathering of Poles in the littlevillage of Kernst, on th« Southern Niemer*, J on.the 29fch of July last, when all; thought; themflel ves sebure from the, intrusion of any of the numerous spies who keep the J

Russian officials informed of tbe malcontents among thero, Alexandrina Kossowitz, a young lady whose father, tbe youngest son of a. formerly noble Polish family, waß killed in the recent troubles in Warsaw, expressed her sympathy with the unfortunates whom Russian severity had murdered or sent into exile. The meeting was a purely social one, and none dreamed that anything said there would reach the ears of the spies, for all present were known to be Poles, and firm haters of tbe harsh rule under which they then lived. Still, as the young girl in her passionate remembrance of a father's love deplored his death, expressed her sympathy with rebellion, and her detestation of her oppressors, she was cautioned lest her loud tone should enable people at the window to hear her. With a hasty glance, as though to read in the faces of those about her who should betray ber, the young lady ceased her execrations and relapsed into silence. When ten o'clock arrived, the latest hour of Polish gatherings, tbe company separated, and Alexandrina Kossowitz, accompanied by her affianced, Julian Temeneky, went to her borne. If, in passing from tbe house of tbe gathering, she had been more observant, Alexandrina would have seen the maliciously triumphant glances cast after her by Catherine Merdoflf, a woman of about 35 years, a Pole by birth, and a sympathiser with ber unhappy countrywomen whenever her own passion was not concerned, and, from the subsequent proceedings, it seems that in this case she had beeu superseded in the affections of tbe young Dr. Temensky by the more beautiful and younger Alexandrina Kossowitz , On the following day, shortly after rising, Alexandrina was seized in her own home, a short distance from Kernst, by two Cossacks of the guard at tbe garrison, and taken before the petty Judge. The young lady of 19, handsome and trembling, produced no feeling of pity. Having at first denied the accusation, she was confronted with Catherine Merdoff, and then acknowledged her offence. In passing sentence, tbe petty Judge said tbat her seditious utterances might have warranted him in sending her before a higher tribunal, where the penalty would be death; but in view of her youth and contrition, he would merely order ber to receive thirty-five lashes of the knout. Almost benumbed with shame and terror, the girl was led away to be prepared for punishment, for in Russia, all sentences save tbat of death, are carried out immediately after they bave been pronounced. Word having been sent to the officer commanding tbe troops, a guard of 200 men were ordered into the garrison square, and the executioner of tbe troop was called upon to be ready to carry out the duties oi his office. In half-an-bour after the sentence bad been given, tbe troops had been formed into a hollow square, in the centre of which had been placed a scaffold, standing on four legs, tbe top of wbich was an inclined plane. Beside this stood the executioner, having in his muscular, band the knout. Tbis weapon consists of a stick or a handle, two feet long, with a lash four feet long of soft leather, to the end of wbich is attached by a loop a piece of raw hide, two inches wide and two feet long. In the hands of an experienced man, the piece of raw hide can be made to cut like a knife. As tbe executioner stood facing the scaffold, Alexandrina Kossowitz was brought to him by ber guard, and in a few moments her clothing was removed to her waist, despite her almost mute appeals to be saved the shame. As sbe pleaded she waß bent on tbe piano, her Bands strapped to the two upper corners and her ancles secured at tbe foot of the structure. One of tbe executioner's assistants beld her head, and the petty judge gave tbe order for the whipping to commence. Twirling the long lash in the air tbe executioner stepped suddenly backward, and with a sharp crack tbe thong fell on the back of the sobbing girl, cutting a livid streak from ber right shoulder to her waist. A terrible tremor passed over ber, and a quick low cry escaped her lips, but it was the only sound she uttered, and were it not for the blood which soon commenced to flow, it might bave seemed that the whipping was being done on tbe naked back of a corpse. When tbe last lash had been given, tbe young lady was unfastened and with her clothing rudely thrown over ber sbe was . taken to prison, and there, after thanking the Judge for his mercy according to the necessary formula, she was delivered' over to her friends. Five days afterwards the Gazette of Wilne contained this announcement: — "The Polish criminal, Alexandrina Kossowitz, daughter of the rebel Peter Kossowitz, who was knputed for seditious utterances on the. 29th of July, at Kernst,. while submitting her 'lacerations to medical treatment, in r the 'house of the physician, stole a vial of prussic acid, with which ehe ended hef days."