"FROM TORTURE TO FREEDOM."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3209, 8 June 1909, Page 5

" FROM TORTURE TO FREEDOM."

DR. BORANOPF'S LECTURE. There was a fair attendance at the Town Hall, last evening, to hear the lecture by Dr. Boranoff, the Russian exile, on the experiences of his incarceration in Siberia, from which he escaped on three different occasions. •The Mayor (Mr P. L. Hollings) occupied the chair. Dr. Boranoff, In bis opening marks, dealt at some length with the life and condition of the Russi&ti people. The Russians on the wlftie were unfortunately Vel'y ighSrant, and only about 6 pel- c6rit. or 8 per cent, of them could read or write. Education Was hbt desirable in Russia, as With it would come enlightenment, and theri the people would rise to their pslhon and immediately throw bit the garment of slavery. In spite of his poverty and ignorance the Russian peasant was a m~st kindly soul- a simple child of nature, Who would welcume and treat a stranger with the utmost hospitality. This ignorance was taken advantage of by the Czar and his followers to the very utrr.ost. The lecturer then gave a graphic and drama!ic description of his awful experiences in prison. On the first occasion he was impmo.ied for ri'na months behind iron doors, with rats as only companions and worm p^,(; en bread for food. After, f rom Siberia the lecturer was* present in St. Petersburg on the memorable "Red Sunday," when hundreds of j innocent men and womer were | slaughtered by the artillery tot' merely asking for more On another occasion fo^ monthd Chained" to a wheel barrow fUid given food not fit for pigs. There was not one to take the chains off except the blacksmith, - and that was not done until the Gay of liberation. Frightful tortures were converted to extort secrets and names of those championing the cause of freedom, and the speaker described his own experiences, and what

as an eye-witness saw infiir men and women. In conch' lecturer showed the und>of the medical ' Polowsky Regime was made to se v sian-Japanes*' knout wastage, scri*-

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