A Hoosier in Russia. The only white tsar--his imperialism, country and people

Preface

In the compilation of this little volume I have avoided tedious and tiresome descriptions of palaces and places, such as are customary in books of travel. I have also abstained as far as possible from the use of foreign words, which are meaningless to most readers. There have been few references to guide-books and histories, the aim being to give plain, practical descriptions of things seen by the writer. Believing that few readers care for my individual opinions upon the customs and laws of the country, I have attempted to refrain from incorporating herein expression of my own sentiment, although it must necessarily be found to a greater or less extent in a work where the personal pronoun is employed.

The intention has been to tell, in a natural way, what I saw in a summer's travel through a remarkable country, among a strange and interesting people — a story such as one would narrate from his lips to a friend, without any effort to literary merit, and with the view constantly before me of giving the reader a clear idea of Russia, her people, their customs, the oppressions they bear and the pleasures they indulge in ; so that they will be retained in the mind, and not forgotten in an attempt to charge the memory with the technicalities of history and description and the butterflies of poetry.

To Mr. Charles E. Sickels, the directing artist of the Lorborn Publishing Company, the credit for the artistic effect is due. His faithful illustrations were largely conceived from the descriptions contained in the body-matter, together with his personal knowledge of

Russian character.

The; Author.

Mitncic, Ind., August, 1888.

Chapter I

Difficulties Encountered on the Frontier— Examination of Passports and Baggage— Officiousness of Customs Officers, Gendarmes and Soldiers— Duties of the Censor, and How They Are Performed— Suspicious of All Printed Matter : Rifling Books— Hatred of Englishmen— The Black List— An Introduction to Chic, the Popular Beverage— The Hebrew Money- Changers— Some Characteristics of Frontier Life 1

Chapter II

An American's First Impression of the Country: A Topographical Description— Russian Railroads, and How They Are Conducted— An Experience With the Native Tongue— The Drosky : Its Driver and Its Sensations— Warsaw, the Capital of Poland— A Linen- Duster and the Commotion it Caused at a Railway Station— Running the Gauntlet a Second Time— Russians Do Not Speak English II

Chapter III

St. Petersburg, " The Tsar's Window," Capital of the Empire : Description of the City, Her People and Their Institutions— Life in the Hotels, the Palaces and the Hovels— Natives Not Necessarily Linguists — A Night at the Summer Garden and the Winter Theater— Diversity of Race— The Cossack, the Revolutionist, and the Nihilist 33'

Chapter IV

Russia's Dungeon : The Fortress, the Most Dreaded and Interesting Place in the Empire — Why Russians Are Nihilists : How They Are Suspected, Apprehended, Given Trial,. Sentenced, and Exiled— The Detective System, and Despicable Practices of the Gendarmes—Education Leads to Revolution, Nihilism— The Empire's Universities, and Outbreaks of the Pupils — House of Preventive Detention — Surveillance Upon Strangers— Native Thieves, and Some of Their Exploits . 30

Chapter V

Two Supreme Personages— Imperiousness : The Unlimited Power of the Tsar and Prefect of Police— Peterhof, the Home of the Tsar— How Laws Are Made and Enforced— Absence of the Habeas Corpus and Other Common Forms of Law and Justice— A Modern Court and Lawyer— Trial by Court-Martial— An Illumination in Honor of the Tsarina's Birthday— Life Guards of the Tsar : Their Immunity from Punishment for Crime 30

Chapter VI

The Winter Pa Lace- Its Unlimited Treasures and Grandeur— The Hermitage : A Glimpse at its Contents— Greatest Diamond in the World, and Other Precious Stones— Followed by Detectives— Russian Art— The Empire's Church and Her Monks— Street-Paving in St. Petersburg : The Part Women Take in This Work 41

Chapter VII

A Popular Coachman : His Characteristics and Life— Ignorance and Illiteracy—" Much Ado About Nothing: " An Encounter With the Gendarmes— The Censor of the Press : Piebald Foreign Publications : Why There Are No Local Newspapers— The Tobac Fabricker: A Box of One Cigar : Evading Internal Taxes— John's Counting-Machine, and the Part it Plays in Commerce— Tax Collectors and Their Remarkable License .... 47

Chapter VIII

Muscovite Sports— Big Game, and Plenty of It— A Hunt for Wolf Scalps at Thirty Copecks Apiece: Many Killed, But Few Secured— The Danger Incident to Russian Gunning 56

Chapter IX

Winter in St. Petersburg : Rare Frigidity, and Precautions Taken Against its Dangers— tJH How the Natives Enjoy the Cold Months— Horse Racing on the Ice— Securing a Water Supnly Under Difficulties— The Caucasian Garbage-Man— Street Scenes in Spring- Time— Rural Hardships in the Winter 62

Chapter X

Life Among the Peasants— Serf s : Their Present Condition, ami That of Their Recent Slavery— Landlords and Rulers Stand Together— Primitive Farming: The Absence of Agricultural Machinery and Improved Implements— Harvesting Crops— Educational Facilities— The Throne Opposed to the Education of Poor People, Especially Peasants 67

Chapter XI

Village and Commune Life— The Mir, and Its Limited Self -Government— Functions of i he Governor-General, and His Performance of Them— Rudiments of Political Economy- Relations of the Church to the People and the Government : You Pay Your Money, But Have No Choice 72

Chapter XII

Thieves 1 Market : Honor Among Thieves Unknown— A Sunday Morning in the Rogues' Market at St. Petersburg— Tradition Concerning Thieves, and Witchcraft as an Aid to Crime Detection— Some Incidents of Adroitness 76

Chapter XIII

The Army and Navy— More About the Cossacks : Their Mode of Living and the Terrorism Attaching to Them— Strength of the Tsar's Military and Naval Forces— Their Expense and Commands— Sham Battles on a Realistic Scale— Sufferings of the Soldiery in Winter Encampment— The Crimean War : Balaklava Charge Described by an Eye Witness . . 82

Chapter XIV

From St. Petersburg- to Moscow, the Old Capital—Difficulties in Securing a Berth in the Wagon Lit— Desolate Scenery and Lovely Homes— Country Places of the Noblemen- Architecture in the Past and Present— The Slavainski Bazaar, and Its Patrons .... 91

Chapter XV

Moscow Compared With St. Petersburg— The Kremlin, and Its Stores of Treasures and Interesting Superstitions— The Great Bell of Moscow: Its Checkered Career— The Churches : Napoleon's Occupation of Them as Barracks— A Drop of Our Saviour's Blood— Zoological Gardens, Picture Galleries and the Riding School 96

Chapter XVI

An Adventure Within the Kremlin : Suspected of Being a Nihilist— Shrines the Staple Article of Trade— Versatile Shopkeepers and Manufacturers— Street-Car Service: Its Cumbersome Character— Promiscuous Osculations of the Natives— The Latch-String Removed— Expensive and Troublesome Passport System— In the Shop Quarters : What One Sees and Buys There— Niijiii Novgorod, and the National Fair 101

Funerals, and the Superstitions Surrounding Them— Reverence for the Dead— Iron Coffins and Ostentatious Floral Displays— The Part Played by the Clergy—'* A Passport for the Dead"— Queer Announcements of Demise— Comparisons With Obsequies in Other European Countries 116

Chapter XX

Off to Siberia— The Exile's Last Look at Moscow— Scenes and Incidents En Route to Exile— Across the Boundary-Line Between Europe and Asia— Appearance of Prisoners—Final Parting With Friends— Siberia : Its Physical Characteristics and Its Development—Sympathy of the Soldiery With Nihilism— How the Exiles Employ Their Spare Time 123

Chapter XXI

St. Petersburg Markets : The Table Staples : Caviar as a Relish and an Article of Food— Strange-Looking Vegetables— Hot-House Fruits from the Crimea— Fish Alive and Frozen— Scarcity of Native Meats— Continental Markets Generally— How Produce is Disposed of in Vienna and Dresden— Sickening Scenes in the Markets at Rome— The Butcher in the Pulpit— Fish and Vegetable Markets in Venice, London and Paris . .128

Chapter XXII

Moving Day : The Headpad Instead of the Express Wagon— Remarkable Simplicity and Endurance— Men as Beasts of Burden— Street Scenes on Moving Days in Naples, Genoa and in the Alps of Switzerland— Utilizing Cow and Donkey Force— Severe Tests of Italian Mules , 133-

Chapter XXIII

A Visit to the Home of the World-Renowned Nihilist, in London— Nihilism Defended by Stepniak— A Demand for Education, Free Speech and a Free Press—" Liberty Won by Assassination ! "—The Killing of Tsars a Part of the Campaign for a Constitutional Form of Government— Nihilists Atheists 13&

Chapter XXIV

The Other Side : Defense of the Political Status of Russia by Count d'Arnaud— Why a Constitutional Form of Government is Impossible— The Different Races in the Russian Empire and Their Diversified Interests — Alexander III. as a Philanthropist— Exile to Siberia More Humane Than Capital Punishment or British Exportation— An Explanation of the Passport and Spy Systems, and Why They Are Essential 146

A HOOSIER IN RUSSIA.

Chapter I

An American will never forget the strange sensation which possesses him as he crosses the frontier and enters Russia.

There is something in the very atmosphere telling him he has reached the border-line of the realms of the Tsar the moment he approaches it. Unlike any other portion of Continental Europe, a cordon of gendarmes, mounted Cossacks and cavalrymen guard the entrance to Russia, and exclude all who do not pass the scrutiny of the diplomatic and customs officers, as certainly as though the countty were enclosed by a stone-wall mountain high.

As the train from Vienna, Berlin, or an} T of the other cities contiguous to the Tsar's domain, approaches the frontier the passengers are seized with a nervousness amounting to little less than fear.

They have their passports in hand, and families huddle together like flocks of frightened lambs. Frequently a father or mother, brother or sister, in alighting from the train shows traces of anxiety that are painful. Especially are the English and German people possessed of unusual trepidation. The reason is manifest: there is more than a possibility that they may be taken into custody by the officers and hurried away from each other, never to meet again.

The moment the train stops a buzz of voices is heard ; a rattle of spurs and a din of sabers clinking. A swarm of officers flock about the carriages. The doors to each compartment are hastily opened, and harsh voices scream in various languages —

' ' Frontier ! ' '

The minor officials are dressed in light gray suits, with dark, heavy braid. Those next in rank have white canvas coats, and instead of dark canvas caps those of a little larger pattern and white material. The gendarme in command is decked in pure white. On his shoulders are great epaulets, with an abundance of gold braid.

There is an alarming display of side-arms. They begin with sabers of extraordinary length, and so hitched on the belts that every time a step is made the end of the scabbard strikes the floor and keeps tip-tap time with the tread of the wearer. In the belt is a powerful holster and cartridge-box, and oftentimes a dagger. All wear hightop boots, into which are tucked their pantaloon-legs. The officers run at their work with stentorian exclamations.

The flinging open of carriage-doors is immediately followed by the gendarme in command, who snatches the passports from the passengers, and frightens them, especially if they be timid men or inexperienced women, beyond measure. I have seen women thrown almost into hysterics upon crossing the frontier because of the excitement.

On the heels of the military or police officers come the customhouse lackeys. Without a word they rush into the compartment, and jerking the passengers' parcels from the racks, command every one to alight and enter the official quarters, which are little less than an outpost house of detention.

The fastest trains entering Russia are detained at least two hours on the frontier for the examination of passports and baggage ; yet the officers go about their work as though there were but fifteen minutes within which to do it.

All of the railway stations are similar in general and external arrangement. They were built on the same architectural designs. They are wooden structures, about sixty feet wide and from one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet in length. All are one-story high,

CROSSING THK FRONTIER. 9.

and along the side next the track runs a platformiwhich is frequently covered with planking.

The atmosphere of the general arrangements in the customs officers' rooms is not different from that found on other frontiers, but the procedure of the officers bears no resemblance to that elsewhere. There is no consideration for the passenger's sensibilities. The moment he enters the large room where the baggage is examined, he is told to stand there ; and the language employed in delivering this command is neither mild nor courteous. Sometimes he waits but ten minutes before he sees his luggage thrown on the great counter, and is asked to produce the keys, that the officer may make examination. But it may be that he will stand two hours without the least knowledge of when his irksome wait will end.

Having passed through a score or more custom-houses in other countries during the last two months, I offered, r as usual, to assist the officer in his examination of my effects ; but the instant I put my hands in the satchels to empty them and display|my possessions the officer placed the palm of his good right hand~against r my breast and pushed me back. It was a hint that he was capable of performing the official act without help or suggestion. I had heard of the difficulty of entering Russia before I left Vienna, and sent my trunks from that city to be stored in Paris, as I wanted as little baggage for inspection on the Russian frontier as possible.

The officer hastily pulled from the satchels pantaloons, and turning the pockets inside out, and in one or two instances the legs, dropped them on the floor. He squeezed envelopes, in which there was nothing but private correspondence, into crumpled k masses ; and socks which were turned one over the other were torn asunder and dropped on the counter or floor. Scarfs were pressed and opened with the closest scrutiny, for the purpose of seeing if there were any valuables secreted therein. A pair of slippers were hammered over the counter, and the greatest possible attention was given two or three memorandum books and novels. The latter were finally sent to the gendarme, who' had packed away from the station to his private quarters as soon as he had secured the passports of the passengers.

After an investigation which appeared to be far more searching than was absolutely necessary, the officer, without saying a word, looked at me, threw up his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and walked away, indicating that he had finished his work, and that I could pick up the effects and repack them. An hour later the officer returned with the books he had taken from me.

io A HOOSIER IN RUSSIA.

There is a very stringent high-tariff protective law in Russia which almost excludes the products of other countries ; but it was not for the purpose of ascertaining whether I had dutiable goods that there was all this extraordinary and superserviceable display. The laws against the dissemination of literature in Russia in opposition to its form of government must be enforced at all hazards ; and this was the primary object of the officers.

The train on which I first entered Russia was not loaded with many passengers, and the examination of baggage, passports, etc., was concluded within a half hour ; but we were not permitted to emerge from the station under four hours.

After I had repacked my satchels I carried them into an adjoining room, where were congregated in a buffet the most motley crowd I had ever seen. Elbowing each other about the lunch-counters, with glasses of steaming chic (Russian tea) in their hands, and munching great meat muffets, were Turks, Germans, Norwegians, Jews, Russians, Austrians, Frenchmen, Greeks, Persians, Slavs, and representatives of almost every nationality except the American and the English. The American is a prime favorite in the country of the Tsar, but the Englishman is ostracized and despised.

Instantly as I entered the buffet two great, powerful Jews approached .me. They were money-lenders, and in every feature resembled the creatures our Saviour turned out of the temple at Jerusalem. One was probably eighty years old ; the other sixty. The first stood six and a-half feet in height; he had an enormously large head, the top of which was destitute of hirsute covering, and a full white beard quite two feet in length. His beak — it was not a nose — would have measured five inches, and the hump rivaled that on the camel's back; his ears were as large as my hand. His companion was almost his exact counterpart, except that he was twenty years younger, and his beard was black.

These two men were attired in suits which were a fair compromise between the costume of the Russians and that of the Jews ; they wore long ulsters. In their hands the}' had great rolls of paper roubles. They were linguists, and after addressing me in four or five languages finally struck the English tongue. They solicited an exchange of money, for which they first asked five per cent, discount, and finally dropped to one per cent. They were good samples of the population which has flooded certain portions of Russia from the Holy Land. The Jews are a despised race in Russia, because their wits have made them rich and the people they have preyed upon extremely poor.

EXAMINING PASSPORTS.

Now

After some time in this room I picked up my luggage and started to emerge. At trie door three or four gendarmes presented themselves and commanded me to remain where I was.

It was a dreary hour that I spent there. Finally there was a great clatter on the outside ; a new din of spurs and swords, and another army of officers. The commandant had returned with the passports, which are too sacred to be intrusted the doors were opened and the passengers carriages and prepare for a continuato a subordinate.

were permitted to re-enter the

tion of their railway journey.

When we had taken our seats and readjusted our luggage, the officer in charge re-entered our compartment, and to my great surprise recognized evety one from whom he had taken a passport, and, without error, handed back to each his papers.

Fortunately I had taken the precaution before leaving Washington to have my passport vised by the Russian minister, which saved me the trouble of applying for the countersign of an American minister or consul abroad. The best endorsement an American can secure on his passport in embarking for a trip to Russia is the signature of the Russian minister to the United States — if he can get it.

There were others on the train who were not so fortunate as I.

A couple of ladies and four or five men were detained. Two of the men, I subsequently learned, were suspected of having designs on the government, while the others had not procured the proper vise on their passports.

One of the men detained was an Englishman, who had shown some officiousness in the customs officers' room during the inspect on of his baggage. He was from London, and carried with him two great leather trunks, which were dumped into the cage — a large compartment surrounded by wire or lattice-work, in which technical examinations of baggage are made — and he insisted upon following them. The officer pushed him back and demanded his keys. The Englishman produced them, and opened the trunks, in which was evidently nothing of objectionable character; but when the man saw his effects poured out on the floor he protested, and his objections caused him a detention from which I have often wondered how he extricated himself.

A wise man never complains at the acts of a Russian officer. To complain leads to detention ; for the Russian officers are as suspicious as they are officious, and all stand in together and have such unlimited license that the stranger is completely at their mercy. If you want to growl, keep your mutterings to yourself and swear when you get back.

A more complete black-list system could not be prepared than is found here. Every year the government issues a book for the use of its officers, in which are given the names of all persons, as far as can be obtained, from all parts of the world, who have ever by word or deed antagonized the Russian government or its forms or institutions. The first thing the officer does when he gets possession of the passport is to examine the black list and see if the name is recorded. If it is not, he then scrutinizes the form of the passport ; and if it is found correct and the vise is proper, the duties of that officer end and

OFF FOR THE INTERIOR. 13

those of the customs officer begin. Should the effects of the traveler be found passable by the customs officer, there is then no objection to an entrance into the country.

Many of the passengers were deprived of reading matter. It is very unwise for a traveler to take with him into the Tsar's country any works of sentiment. If a book is found in his possession or a letter is discovered' on his person, in which there is any criticism of Russian institutions or comment made upon the laws or manners of the empire, or a constitutional form of government is suggested, the possessor is instantly suspected, detained, and possibly sent in exile to Siberia.

Many of the Russian officers neither read nor speak English ; and if the color of the cover of a book or an illustration strikes them as unusual the volume is confiscated.

I learned at the frontier that it was not safe to make a memorandum of my travels, and trusted everything to memory, so far as the expression of facts or feelings was concerned.

It was early in the morning when the frontier was reached, and almost noon when the station agent ran out of his office with a dinner bell in hand and began rushing up and down the long platform, ringing and yelling like mad, "Aboard!"

After this exciting exercise had progressed a full minute, the engineer of the locomotive screamed out on the escape-pipe, the fireman pulled the bell, the guardsmen blew their whistles ; there was a response from the baggageman ; the conductor, rigged like a Napoleon, emerged from the station, and having heard the various signals, cautiously drew from his pocket a long metallic whistle and gave it two or three fierce blows. The train was now ready to start ; but it waited some seconds. There was a slight tinkle of the station agent's bell, a toot from the locomotive, little whistles from the guardsmen, a response from the baggage-car, and the corpulent conductor again drew forth his whistle and gave a shrill blast.

Now the locomotive snorted and the train started. The agony was over — I was in Russia.

Four hours in a dull, uninteresting border town had not particularly impressed me.

Chapter II

There is no monotony in traveling through Russia. The character of the people and the conveyances offer variety enough for any one.

As the train pulled away from Wierzbolow, the frontier inspection-place, not only were the strangers to Russia thrilled with the surroundings, but also the natives. There were congratulations on every hand over the happy escape from the officials whose omciousness and disregard for persons nearly always ruffle one's feelings. The face of this portion of Russia is similar to that of Wisconsin, less the lakes and beautiful streams ; Northern Michigan, without her largest pine trees ; and New Mexico, with the absence of warmth. The pineries are stunted, the fields covered with wheat — in harvest during August or September — and the villages are of small wooden buildings, covered with straw. Nowhere is there architecture, taste or cleanliness displayed ; while everywhere may be seen barbarians, traces of ignorance and downright brutality. The advancement of the country may be illustrated in the statement that, though Russia is one of the greatest in wheat producing, the cereal is sown broadcast, harvested with the sickle, threshed with the flail, and three-fourths of the work is done by women. The forests are infested with wolves and other wild animals ; the fields, when not carpeted with wheat, are covered with Jean-Marie, with a yellow rattle and a plume of blue leaves at the top. Mushrooms and all the fungi of a cold climate are seen ; and one's bewilderment increases as the slow train goes further and further into the empire.

It was the first of August when I passed over this scope of country, and the scenery, though primitive and in many respects familiar,

RUSSIAN RAILWAYS. 15

when compared to that of portions of the United States, was deliciously refreshing and interesting. As the train rolled on from the frontier toward Warsaw, the Capital of Poland — now ruled by Russia — and to St. Petersburg, the Capital of Russia, I could not drive from my mind the proverb : ' ' The gates of Russia are wide to those who enter, but narrow to those who would go out. ' '

The Poles are, in general character, like the Germans ; but the}^ are in some respects more enterprising. Their dties have many modern improvements, and in their factories and shops are found traces of the American inventive genius in the way of labor-saving machinery. Some of the older cities in Poland, and especially some of the little old towns, are quaint beyond description.

There have been no improvements made in the railroads of Russia, although their construction was begun more than a quarter of a century ago. They were built under contract for the government by Winans, a Baltimorean, who preferred railroad construction to participation in the American civil war. The parent lines were constructed in the form of a triangle from Warsaw to St. Petersburg ; thence to Moscow, and back to the Capital of Poland. There was a dispute among the civil engineers who were designated to survey the route of the road ; some of them insisting that the line should worm around in its course, so as to reach all of the cities and villages, which would make it circuitous.

Finally there was a dead-lock, and the officers went to the Tsar for arbitrament. The Tsar was greatly perplexed over the situation. He saw the necessity of making the railroad lines traverse the thickly-populated sections of country and of reaching the trade marts. In the frenzy of the situation Alexander took a straight-edge rule, laid it down on the map, and drew a direct line from terminus to terminus, without any regard whatever to the face of the country, the population or the trade centers. The Emperor had decided, and his mandate was obeyed.

This accounts for the absence of cities and villages along the railroad lines through old and well-improved portions of the country. Sometimes the traveler sees from the carriage dozens of little cities and hamlets before the train stops at one of them. Those in the distance range from one to ten miles from the track, and are old places. They were simply left out of consideration in the arbitrary determination of the route of the railroad, and the improvements were too valuable to warrant the impecunious population in moving up to the line.

i6

A HOOSIKR IN RUSSIA.

The Russian passenger carriages are a compromise between those in America and those in England as to length, and between France or Switzerland as regards arrangement. The} 7 are longer by one compartment than the European carriages, yet internally are identical.

But one wagon lit — sleeping car — is run between Vienna or Berlin and Warsaw. At the latter place international communication is cut off, the German and Austrian railroad companies not being permitted to run sleeping-cars or passenger coaches into the Russian Empire. There is nothing like international amity or comity with Russia. Everything must be Russian and for Russia.

There are the first, second and third-class passenger carriages, the same as are found in other portions of Europe, and the consequent

A RUSSIAN VIELAGE — EXCHANGE OE COMMODITIES.

variations in rates of transportation. The speed is much less than in any other civilized country through which I have traveled. The locomotives are the old-fashioned wood-burners. They are fed with cotton- wood, or white pine ; and as they have a spark and cinderarrester, do not trouble the passenger with smoke or any disagreeable particles.

Twenty miles an hour is an excellent average for the express trains, of which class there is only one each way ever}- twenty-four hours. A freight train follows with passenger accommodations. This

RAILROAD RESTAURANTS. I 7

makes an average of about ten miles an hour. It requires sixty hours to run from Vienna or Berlin to St. Petersburg. The distance would be covered in the United States within forty hours.

It is probably fortunate for the traveler that there are so few stations where the trains can stop, as from three to fifteen minutes are given at every village or city. Directly the train comes to a halt the guardsmen rush along, and opening the doors of the compartments cry out the time which the train will remain. There seems to be a conspiracy between the restauranr-keepers and the railroad officials, for no sooner do the doors open to the compartments than vendors of chic, and all kinds of drinkables and eatables, flock about and make a display. Natives usually jump out of the train and into the buffet. An ordinary Russian can drink a glass of tea every time a train stops, should he travel continually. The tea in Russia is probably the finest in the world. It is brought directly overland from China and Japan, and the natives claim that it retains all of its natural fragrance and flavor by not being subjected to ocean travel, which they insist ruins the tea taken to America. It is made in a samovar — a brass or copper tea steamer, heated by the burning of charcoal in a cylinder through its center, or by an alcohol lamp at its base.