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Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2677, 7 September 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

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DivSORIISINO tho march of a convict convoy for Siberia, ii writer in llic Century says : At length the whole party, numbering 300 or 400 men, was assomhled in the street. 15very prisoner had a «rey linon has; in which were stored his scanty personal effects ; many of them were provided with copper kettles which dangled from the leather belts that supported their leg fetter chains, and one convict was carrying to the mines in his arms a small brown dog. When the whole party had again been counted, and while tho grey bags were being put in telgas, 1 availed mvself of what seemed to bo a favourable opportunity to talk with tho prisoners. In a moment, to my great surprise, I was addressed by one of them in good English. " Who are you ? " I inquired in astonishment. "I am a vagabond," he said quietly and seriously. " What is your name?" "Ivan Dontremember," ho replied; and then glancing round and seeing that none of the convoy officers were near ho added in a low tone, "My real name is Jahn Anderson, and I am from Riga." How do you happen to know Euglish ?" I asked. " I am of English descent; and besides that, I was ouce a sailor, and I have been in English ports." At this point the approach of Captain Gudeem put a stop to our colloquy. The number of " brodyags," or vagabonds, in this party was very large, and nearly all of them were runaway convicts of the "Dontremember" family, who had been recaptured in Western Siberia, or had surrendered themselves during the previous winter in order to escape starvation. "I have no doubt," said Captain Godeem to me, " that there aro brodyags in this very party who have escaped and been sent back to the mines half a dozen times. Boys !" he shouted suddenly, " how many of you are dot going to the mines for the sixth time?" "Mnogoyest" (there are lots of them) replied several voices; and finally one greybearded convict in leg fetters came forward and admitted that he had made four escapes from the mines, and that he was going into penal servitude for th e fifth time. In other words, this man had traversed eight times on foot the distance of nearly 2000 miles between Tomsk and the mines of Kara. " I know brodyags," said Captain Gudeem, " who have beeu over this road 1G times in leg fetters, and who have come back 16 times ascross tho steppes and through tho woods. God only knows how they live through it." When ono considers that crossing Eastern Siberia 32 times on foot is about equivalent to walkinsr twice tho circumference of the globe at the equator, one can nppreciatn tho indomitable resolution of these men, and the strength of the influence that draws them towards home and freedom. In tho year 1884, 13G0 such hrodj-ags were re-captured in Western Liberia and sent back to tho mines of Trans-Baikal, and hundreds more perished from cold and starvation iu tho forest. M. I. Orfanof, a Russian officer who served many years in Eastern Siberia, says that he once found 200 "Ivan Dontremembers " in a single prison—the prison of Kaidalova, between Chita and Nerchinsk. Some of the brodyags with whom I talkcd]wcrc men of intelligence and education. One of them who was greatly interested in our photographic apprratus, and all about tho "dry plates," "drop shutters," and " Dallmeyer lenses," asked mo how convicts were treated in tho United States, and whether they could, by extra work, earn a little money so as not to leavo the prison penniless. I replied that, in most American penitentiaries thoy could. "It is not so," ho said, " with us. Naked wo go to the mines, and naked wo come out of them ; and we are flogged while there at tho whim of every nariadchik " " Oh, no !" said Captain Gudeem good naturediy, " they don't flog at the miuesnow." '• Yes, they do, your nobility," replied tho brodyag firmly but respectfully. "If you are sick or weak, and cau't finish your stent, you aro given 20 blows with tho cat."