Russia's Living Tomb

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 11, 1903

Russia's Living Tomb

THE most terrible of Russian prisons is Sakhalin, Russia's penal settlement in the Pacific Ocean. Cursed by nature, doubly cursed by man, this dreadful island is the horror of all Russia. The most hardened criminals turn pale, often faint, when they hear the word as the judge is passing sentence; for throughout all Russia, Sakhalin is feared as a living tomb. All over the empire bands of convicts are in motion, the rattle of the chain, the shuffling of convict feet, and the heavy tramp of soldier guards are heard in every town. From all parts of Russia these criminal rivulets converge toward Odessa. A convict ship awaits them there. Between decks the vessel is fitted with iron cages, like those for savage animals. From one thousand eight hundred to three thousand miserable criminals are packed into the cages, and the long voyage begins. A revolt on board is a frequent occurrence, but is always promptly subdued, for connected with the ship's boilers there are special hose appliances by which scalding steam may be turned into any cage, and the occupants parboiled.—Selected.