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Show A NIHILIST PRISON A short account of the celebrated casemates of the Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, in which the Nihilists are confined immediately after their arrest, will, I doubt not, perused with interest by your readers. The writer, a St. Petersburg correspondent, obtained access to the casements by a special order from one of the Great Dukes. The casements are hollowed out under the Neva, and directly under the ramparts. Their only window, a little square hole protected by a thick-barred grating, rises but a few inches above the level of the river. At stated distances there are iron doors opening into halls filled with sentinels, who, with loaded rifle and fixed bayonet, keep watch and ward over the unhappy tenants of the cells which open upon them. As for the tiny prisons, they are narrow quarters, square, with stone walls and floors, and fearfully damp, the water constantly dropping about in all directions. A chair, a table, and a pallet of white wood form the only furniture. One of the pallets was found to be covered with a bed of straw horribly foul, but even this, poor luxury as it was, must be considered an exception. The visitor was allowed entrance to a few of the cells. Their tenants were pale; they rose as he entered, according to the order, but regarded him with a fixed look of despair. The writer was shown the famous cell in which was incarcerated the Princess Tarakanova, daughter of the Empress Elizabeth, who fell a victim to her rival, the Empress Catherine II, grandmother of the present Czar. This unhappy woman perished in the cell under the most dramatic circumstances. The Neva, swollen by the melted snow, suddenly rose, and the rushing torrent, dashing with overwhelming strength against the tiny window, broke in and filled the cell with water. The Princess was drowned. The cells of the great State criminals are lined with mattresses, and rings of iron are placed in the walls, to which many of them are bound when they are not strait waistcoated. The guide informed the writer, among other things, that this unhappy man were asked every quarter of an hour if they were present. Whenever they failed to reply, they were barbarously punished. He also states that in the wall of the Emperor's room is an invisible door, communicating with a little passage, very narrow, and leading to a subterranean gallery, hollowed out under the Neva. The gallery leads to the fortress, and, in case of a revolution, or [unreadable line] appear in a few seconds from the Winter Palace, and a few minutes after find himself in perfect safety in the Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, the guns of which, in a short time, could reduce St. Petersburg to ruins. The palace of the Czar, Paul I., which is now the Engineer's School, was similarly provided; but when the assassins entered his room he has not time to flee and was struck down at the very moment when he was about to disappear behind the secret door, which was already open. Paris Cor. London Telegraph. |
