Sixteen years in Siberia

ESSOR THUN-MY DEFENCE-PLANS

re than four-and-twenty hours without a magistrate's order. As a foreigner, however, this was

whose identity could not be immediately established, I must remain in prison. He added that, of course, I could appeal

ondition, and most prisoners have to endure it; but in my case uncertainty racked me with the most dreadful apprehensions. After three days that seemed endless, I was again taken b

sh socialistic pamphlets prohibited in Germany. The senders having given the address of the Freiburger Hof, the pamphlets had been sent back to Freiburg, as a preliminary to the search for the persons who had despatched them. Orders were given at the hotel to inform the police if they or any other suspicious characters should arrive from Switzerland. Thus it was that the hotel porter, learning that I had books in my trunk, had, after consultation w

ited in Germany; and as to the copies of the Sozialdemokrat, their possession was no offence. The question resolved itself simply into this: Whether

of nobody would have thought of arrestin

the Russian Government is kept out of the game." That was the thought 14which occupied me while the magistrate was writing out the protocol. He then sai

round at this gentleman. He seemed known to me, a

rofessor," concluded Herr Leiblen, as

me?" said the interp

" cried I in gre

before?" he asked, and did not wait for my answer,

I asked, without replying, an

But there is no need for alar

partly this that had 15attracted me to Basel. Professor Thun was a Rhinelander, had studied at Dorpat, and had then passed some years in the interior of Russia. He spoke Russian fluently, and was pretty well up in Russian affairs. When he found, in conversation with me, that I was not unacquainted with the Russian revolutionary movement, he suggested that I should help him in his work, to which of course I gladly assented; and thus it happened that we became rather intimate. In this way I learned Professor Thun's views regarding the Terrorists and their deeds. He condemned them ruthlessly; according to his convictions, it was the duty of all European governments to refuse such persons the right of asylum, and to deliver them over as ordinary criminals to the Russian authorities. In particular I had a lively recollection of the following occurrence. P

before this man, and he knew who I re

name?" I asked, trem

told me it in confidence

o I am you offer me your

ow to help you, and

convinced me that I might trust him; it was that i

in getting out of prison by lawful means, I sh

aid he simply

gallows-this same man now offered me help to fly from a German prison! He gave me, however, undeniable proof of his sincerity. As translator he was in possession of all books, letters, etc., taken fro

occurred, instruct him what steps he could take to obtain my release by legal means, and finally,

risk of thereby compromising his own position. He arranged secret meetings in Freiburg Cathedral with my friends, who had come in ha

he had taken my affairs to heart. He went so far as to offer his house as a refuge if I were obliged to attempt an escape. Sometimes he joked about the part he was playing:-"Look at me, now," he would say, laughing; "I, a German profe

but the influence of German literature had led me to join the Social Democrats, and I had determined to assist, as far as I could, in the propagating of their views in my own country.[13] When, for various reasons, I had determined to 18live in Germany, I had brought with me the publications found in my possession, meaning to sell them eventually to the country people. They were not prohibited in Germany, and their possession was in no possible sense an infringement of German law. "And now," I concluded, "in a free German town, in Frei-B

red, "Still, as Othello says, 'The handkerchief, the handkerchief!'" Herr Leiblen appeared to be quite on my side, and Professor Thun told me later that he had declared the matter seemed to him harmless enough; in his opinion here was a perfectly innocent person being kept shut up in prison, and he hoped I

himself as a comrade, a member of the Social-Democratic party, and invited me to be quite open with him, as my friends had already told him everything concerning my past career. "You think of attempting to escape?" he asked in a whisper; and when I assented he continued quickly, "That would be a most fatal mistake. I have just seen the minutes of your case; the affair is going splendidly for you.

sing a simultaneous inquiry

t. On the contrary, the law provides that your trial shall be held in public, and all documents relative to the case are without delay submitted to me as your counsel. In such documents mention woul

he police executive will not put the political and ad

es liable to prosecution by German law. If you are set free-as neither I nor the magistrate have the slightest doubt that you will be-you will be discharged unconditionally. There is nothing now to wait for bu

naged in the first instance, became more risky as time went on. Though not quite abandoning the idea, these considerations led me to set it aside for the moment, till we had some proof of collaboration between the Russian and German Governments. Apparently su