How They Flogged Madame Sihids.

Te Aroha News, Volume VIII, Issue 491, 23 July 1890, Page 4

How They Flogged Madame Sihids.

Of all the atrocities which have been ap pealing to the universal indignation in connection with the Russian treatment of political prisoners, none is worse than the flogging to death of Mme. Sihida in the prison of Ust-Kara, for a revolt against the indignities of penal discipline. A full account is given by Adolphe Smith, in tho ‘ Universal Review, in an article entitled ‘ By Administrative Order.’ There is in Paris a lady who knew Mme. Sihida, and was for some time her companion in exile. From this lady I have ascertained a few details which only paint in darker colours the drama of the Ust-Kara Prison. Mme. Sihida was not more than twenty-seven at the time she was flogged to death. She was the daughter of a merchant, and completed her education at the gymnasium of her native town, Taganrog. When her examination had been successfully passed she became a school teacher, and exercised her profession in the same town. In appearance she was a brunette of medium size. Her features wore of a very pronounced character, though her nose was of tho genus ‘ tip tilted but her large black eyes never failed to attract all whom she met by their intelligent and energetic expression. Jn her manners she was extremely quick and lively. Easily roused, easily agitated, her friends were wont to describe her as ‘ a bundle of nerves.’ She dressed vory simply, bub with neatness and good taste. Her general appearance did not belie her remarkable character. Even in Russia it would be difficult to find a more extreme idealist than Mme. Sihida. She insisted on the most implicit fidelity bo principle, and could tolerate no compromise ; not even in the minute details of daily life. For these trifles she demanded the same courageous consistency as in the most important moments of trial. If once a friend rendered himself culpable, in private life, of some little action, however trifling, not in harmony with his principles, he was at once lost in her estimation, and this in spite of a very great merit displayed in public life and in graver Ust-Kara, where Mme. Sihida was imprisoned, is the first of the villages which, taken together, constitute the gold-mining district of Kara. It is a large village, boasting of three shops, and inhabited principally by Russians, who lire either by agricultural pursuits or by trade. Here is the female political prison. It is a large square building, situate in tho middle of fields, and, therefore,cannot be approached without attracting attention. As usual, the "prison is surrounded by a high stockade, which forms a spacious yard. The cells are small, and give on to a passage. This passage is carefully closed and watched, but the doors are left open so that tho prisoners are free to visit the various rooms and make the most of each other’s society. The rooms are very damp and unwholesome. The prisoners complain that there is no ambulance chest provided, though it exists in the convict goals. The service is done by gendarmes, which is of course very unpleasant for the prisoners. It was in this prison that Mm. Roluzeff-Kovalaky was dragged from her bed in her night-dress, and made to walk the passage to the officer’s room. Here even her slender night garment was born from her, and convict’s robes substituted, amid the jeers of brutal gaolers. Three times the woman organised a hungry strike to obtain the removal of Masukoff, the director of the prison, who had caused this outrage to be committed. The last of these strikes lasted twenty-two days. The women were only kept alive by food mechanically forced upon them. Then at last Mme. Sihida contrived to box MasukofFs ears ; and, instead of being hung as she hoped, wa9 flogged to death. The Russian Government boasts that it has abolished the knout, but it has established in its stead the plet, a sort of birch, which, according to the testimony of Russian officers, quoted by George Kennan, can be made to cause death in a hundred blows. It was precisely to a hundred blows that Alme. Sihida was condemned, and this in spite of the protest of the prison doctor, who refused bo be present. The execution, there is good reason to believe, was illegal, since, according to law, corporal punishment should only be administered after judgment pronounced by a tribunal and after examination and approval by a medical man. Both conditions were wanting in the present case. Nevertheless, and at the single command of the Chief Director of Convict Prisons in Eastern Siberia, Mme. Sihida was flogged. This dreadful and degrading punishment is generally administered in a manner as simple as it is brutal. The victim is stripped and throwu down on a bench, some soldiers hold the arms, others hold or sit upon the legs, while the executioner flogs the naked back from the neck down to the hips. No wonder so sensitive, nervous and highly-strung a woman as Mme. Sihida died from the shock of such inhuman treatment. Nor is it surprising that all the political prisoners who had heard of this atrocious brutality joined in such a protest as would impress even the Russian authorities. Mme. Sihida's prison _ companions, Mines. Kovaleoskaia, Smirnizkiand Kalnujy, poisoned themselves. The thirty male prisoners at Lower Kara, also, it is known, took poison, though only two died, the authorities being able to administer emetics in time to save the rest.