Page:Siberia and the Exile System Vol 1.djvu/429

year 1885, have been treated at these three étapes ^[1]—not, however, in the army lazarets, but in the common cells of the étape buildings. There they have been kept, not only without separation according to age, sex, or nature of disease, but without any of the conveniences and appliances that a lazaret should have. In the cells set apart for sick exiles there were neither nurses, nor hospital linen, nor beds, nor bedding, nor even dishes for food.^[2]

A sick exile who reaches one of the étapes named in this report, and who is put into a common prison cell where there are "neither nurses, nor hospital linen, nor beds, nor bedding, nor even dishes for food," cannot reasonably entertain a very sanguine expectation of recovery. Most of them do recover, but, nevertheless, the death-rate in exile parties during their march from Tomsk to Irkútsk, if carried through an entire year, would amount to from twelve to fifteen per cent.^[3]

It is not surprising that exiles sometimes endeavor to escape from a life so full of miseries as this by making a break for liberty between étapes. The more experienced brodyágs, or recidivists, generally try to get away by exchanging names and identities with some forced colonist who is soon to reach his destination; but now and then two or three daring or desperate convicts attempt to escape "with a hurrah"—that is, by a bold dash through the line of soldiers. They are instantly fired upon, and one or more of them is usually brought to the ground. The soldiers have a saying that "A bullet will find a runaway," and a slug

1. The distances between these étapes are as follows: Áchinsk to Birusínskaya, 352 miles; Birusínskaya to Sheragúlskaya, 200 miles; Sheragúlskaya to Tirétskaya, 90 miles; Tirétskaya to Irkútsk, 139 miles. A marching party of exiles makes, on an average, about 80 miles a week. The results of the state of affairs described by Mr. Gálkine Wrásskoy may be seen in the official reports of the sickness and mortality in the lazarets of these three étapes. (Appendix G.)
2. Report of Mr. Gálkine Wrásskoy, chief of the prison administration, for the year 1885.
3. In 1883 seventy exiles died between Tomsk and Áchinsk, in the course of a journey that occupies about twenty-one days. This rate of mortality, if it had been maintained for a year, would have resulted in the death of 1217 exiles out of the whole number of 7865 making the journey. (Vide Report of the Inspector of Exile Transportation in Western Siberia for 1884, pp. 32, 33.)