MISS MALECKA'S STORY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 71, 10 August 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

MISS MALECKA'S STORY.

JWiiIHTK.' INCIDKN'TS OF L'UISOX LIF.K. sTiJAXci". love romance. Loudon, dune il. Mks .Malec-ka wasf in thft House of t.'ommons on Tuesday evening. She was taken to tea on the Tevrace by Mr. LMorrell ami a few friends, and was introduced to several members of Parliament representing all parties in the Mouse. She afterwards occupied a seat for a little while, in the Ladies' Gallery. Recalling some of her prison experiences to. the Daily Chronicle, Miss Malecka said: '■■. Naturally, it is the. latter days of my ordeal that stand out now most vividly in my memory. May IS! At 7 o'clock on that day I was told to get up. for L was to go to the court of justice to have my sentence announced. . . "On arrival at the court we were taken to a waiting room, packed with convicts and soldiers. The air was absolutely pestilent, and it was difficult to keep from fainting. . . . '•Then my name was called out, and T went to hear my sentence read out. I was met by my kind advocate, Mr. Papicki, and some friends, who could not, however, approach me. Miss Roszkowska, my fellow prisoner, was also there. We were conducted upstairs to an office where an official sat before, a large table. He read out the verdict, and I was again escorted back to the waiting-room. On my way a friend thrust two roses into my hand, 'but a soldier in the waitingroom saw them. Vie tore the flowers from my hand and threw them away.

"The sentence passed upon me took me, completely by surprise, for, although ■T felt that I was condemned in advance. I never imagined that they would dare to pass such an utterly outrageous sentence. Those awful words: Tour years' penal servitude,' rang like a death-knell through my brain." Describing the days that followed, in the prison at Serbia, Miss Maleeka writes:—

'There are in Serbia nine cells for political prisoners, all long and narrow. They have a grated window so high up that it is impossible to look out. One could get just glimpse of the sky and the top of a tree—a tiny speck of radiant nature which was welcome enough. The furniture consisted of an iron bedstead, which could be folded up against the wall during the day. a wooden bench on which to sit. and another upon which to place a wash-basin and iug. That was all.

"At six o'clock in the morning the first bell rang .and that meant that the 'rnmmals 5 must rise. 'Politicals' could sleep as long as they liked, .but after six so much noise came from the corridors that further sleep was impossible. Afbout eight o'clock hot water for tea was brought, with milk and rolls. All those luxuries are provided at our own expense, the prison providing only the hot water. Between nine and ten o'clock our cells were cleaned, and we could walk in the corridor in the meantime.

"At ten o'clock we were locked up again until one, and from that time till 2.45 we were allowed to walk in the courtyard. Dinner we had at three, and at 5.30 another hour's exercise in the corridor. At 0.30 we Tverc shut up for the night. Once in two weeks we had hot baths, and on Sunday we went to chapel, where I played the harmonium. I may confess that my playing was quite a futile proceeding, for the members of the congregation never by any chance sang in the same key. UNHAPPY GIRL PRISONERS. "'My fellow 'politicals' were all very sympathetic, some belonging to the educated classes. Others were'working women. One girl was undergoing a sentence of thirteen years' hard labor. She was caught escaping from Siberia. The authorities invented a lot of fresh evidence against her and doubled her sentence.

"She has now been three years in prison. She looked so 'broken down in health and so frail that it was difficult to believe that she could hold out to the end of her terrible term. Although she had received but little education her natural intelligence overcame the lack of instruction. Her 'beautiful unselfishness was most touching. .She was constantly thinking of others and doing kindnesses to her fellow prisoners. "Another fellow-prisoner was a girl of twenty-three years of age. the daughter of a barrister. She had been four years in prison awaiting trial. She is a'poet, and has a true poet's temperament. The accusation against her is that she belonged to the Terrorist party, and had taken part in several outrages. All the evidence in her case is provided by informers of the Sukiemiik type, and she will most certainly be convicted and sentenced to something like ten wars' hard labor. She awaits the judgment with supreme calmness, though she is weak with illness.

"On one occasion 1 wrote two postcards to friends, in which I complained of the severe way in which f was being treated. A little later T learned that they had been confiscated. A series of visits by prison authorities followed. First came the director of the prison, then the sub-l'rociiratcur. and finally the Chief Inspector of I'rixm-. (hi his second visit the last-named was most polite. Tie had heard, he said, that I bad made several requests, and he promised to endeavor to have them granted. •STORY OF IWDYINT! LOVE. 'One day T was told a most romantic story. Some years ago a young man fell in love, apparently at first sight, with a young girl then already betrothed to another. After she had been married he began to send her anonymous letters avowing his hopeless attachment. For several years ne continued to send such letters, but he did not disclose his identity

"The girl and her husband wore eventually arrested and most cruelly treated by Cossacks. As a result their health was so seriously undermined that they were released. Shortly afterwards the husband died, and the bereaved wife returned to her home believing that she was safe. She was. however, re-arrest-ed, and. on the flimsiest evidence, sentenced to two years and eight months' hard labor.

"When in prison she was greatly surprised to receive a letter from her unknown admirer, who was in the same gaol! The two began a correspondence, which ended in their becoming engaged. ■Tint, alas! he was soon taken away to another prison pending his trial, and on his return he found out that she had been removed and taken to Serbia, the women's prison, where T was. "illis despair was indescribable, especially as the sentence passed, upon him was twenty years' hard labor. When T heard the story the girl had almost completed her term in prison, and by now will be on her way to Siberia by 'etape' - i.e.. by stages. She is young and pretty, but in Siberia among the exiles there is only one woman to a hundred men.

''.Serbia, however, was a great improvement on the Citadel, where T spent nearly all my time in prison prior to ■my release on bail. The cells are damp and cold. Added to the discomforts of

tin; cell. there was the continual mental worry of bcinjj questioned by the. authorities. Tlicy (In everything {><>-.-. ito ciitiiij) anil persuade (lie prisoner into becoming one of their tools in their viciou> work ot running the innocent to earth anil ot condemning them. "Ami how cunning they are in their method*! Willi the educated classes they iK ;ii *o very politely. There is actually a school in which the gendarmes are instructed how to 'behave in the most mannerly way towards cultured people. Such prisoners are offered freedom as a reward for their giving' infonii-

ation. "All the most subtle deviees are employed to drag information out of one. They even go the length of saying that some friend, also arrested, has confessed —when nothing of the sort has happened —so that there is really nothing in the way of giving what information one possesses oneself. This continual questioning soon becomes a positive torture. "With the lower classes, however, the attitude of the authorities changes completely. These poor people are told that they must either give information or undergo physical punishment. The continuous cross-examination, the inducements held out, the fear of the future, are bound to have their effect on such weak natures as, say, that of Sukiennik, the informer, who supplied the chief evidence against me at my trial. "The worst part of the whole thing at first is the 'revision' of one's rooms. My little flat was raided late one night. Everything was examined and turned about. A little friend's toy' pistol, which was hanging on the wall, was even seriously turned round and round! "It was, of course, when they came across a piece of writing that they appeared to be happiest. Private letters, a little book with good wishes inscribed on it from a friend, the notes of a musical lecture—which no one living could read but myself—odds and ends of manuscript—upon these they simply jumped! Then all those innocent belongings were thrown ruthlessly into a basket. They v were taken away, and I was told that I I had to come, too."