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Show I EXPOSES CnUELHf 1 RUSSIAN JAILS Famous Dutch Lawyer and Poet Rouses Officials of St. Petersburg. H SYSTEMATIC TORTURE Victinis Subjected to Imposi-tions Imposi-tions With Absolutely No Regard for Health. Special Cablo to The Tribune BERLIN. April Hi Official St. Ptcra-burff Ptcra-burff probably vrlll be startled by the rov-olatlons rov-olatlons made here by lr. Jacob Jsreal de Haan. n famous Dutch lawyer and poet, -who lias been studying conditions In Russian prisons. Dr. dc Harm tmyn; Bestial cruelty is Inflicted cvnn mml upon political prisoners. For a man mm of Intellect to be deprived of bis Hb-mwt Hb-mwt erty for proclaiming views which are 1 distasteful to the ruling classes is In ltKfilf sufficiently rcpulBlvo to nil ldas of modern civilization and jus-tlco; jus-tlco; but when systematic torture Is I ndded on the scale practiced in the BBS prisons of the czar's dominions, it is 1 high time for lovers of humanity throughout tlm world to band togcth-cr togcth-cr and say these things shall not be. Confined in the prison of Eret which, mm In the refinements of cruelty prac-mW prac-mW tlccd bv the jailors, rivals of old star chambers of the Spanish Inquisition, was a political katorgist (ono snn-tenced snn-tenced to penal servitude to bo fol-lowed fol-lowed automatically by exile to SI-bcrla) SI-bcrla) named. Ivan Socdlg. On his arrest In the Baltic provinces he had been Inhumanly treated, and the marks of that treatment were rcpcl-lently rcpcl-lently visible upon hla body when I saw him. Infernal Cruelty. Hj Through a thoroughly trustworthy source, he told mo In detail of mcth-odH mcth-odH of violence that had been In-fllotcd In-fllotcd on him. a utory that sent a shudder of horror and Indignation through me. J heard the rest of hifl 1 story months later. It was as fol-lows: fol-lows: Soedlg ultimately could en-dure en-dure the torturo no longer, and ono evening ho u:hl to the other occu-pants occu-pants of his dungeon: "Friends, allow me to hang myself. I am exliausted with suffering." Soedlg's body was taken next morning from the noose which ho hnd made out of htn clothes and hnd tied to the wall; his com-rades com-rades who had permitted him to leave the hell of Orel were treated mcrcl-lesely. mcrcl-lesely. Prisoners sometimes go to the doc-tor doc-tor with mutilated faces, or that of-ficlol of-ficlol is called by the warders to In-spect In-spect a torn tympanum or broken Jaw. Othor who go to him spitting blood as a result of Ill-treatment, of which the marks are visible all over their bodies, are treated for pneu-1 pneu-1 monln. Many Lives Lost. It Is tho dreaded black cells, where thore Is no light, and beyond the nolseeomc walls of which no shriek of victim can penetrate, that prison -urs are abandoned to all the exquisite savagery in which the Russian prison official specializes. When they die from their Injuries, their fellow prls-oners prls-oners only know that cell number blank Is vacant again, and the offl-j offl-j clal report gives "pneumonia" as the caiiso of death. While the control of prisoners Is apparently provided in part to enable the warders to seo how near brute beasts they can approach, at the same time the state extracts all the profit it can out of the labor of prisoners. Their health Js not considered. Thus, the deadly task of cotton fleecing In a small closed space claims a largo number of victims through consumn-tlon, consumn-tlon, phthisis or pneumonia. It is a singular fact that those prisons which are most profitable arc identical with those where the greatest cruelties j arc practiced, namely, Jaroslav, Orel and Pskov. An International protest is In course of preparation, and it is hoped that this will bo an effective Instrument j In convincing the Russian autocracy 1 that the time for reform can no long-r long-r bo delayed. Jt Is scarcely credible that the present shameless violation 1 of the elementary rights of humanl-1 humanl-1 ty has the sanction of tho czar, and 1 it Is to hlu august clemency that Russian democracy now turns. |