File:Side-lights on Siberia (1898), page 203, Alexandrovsky Central.jpg

Identifier: sidelightsonsibe00simp Title: Side-lights on Siberia; some account of the great Siberian railroad, the prisons and exile system; Year: 1898 (1890s) Authors: Simpson, James Young, 1873-1934 Subjects: Prisons -- Soviet Union Exiles -- Russia (Federation) Siberia Siberia (Russia) -- Description and travel Publisher: Edinburgh and London : W. Blackwood and Sons Contributing Library: University of California Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image: in it in good order. The road climbs slowly up aseries of wood-clad ranges of no great height, winding cir-cuitously for about fifteen versts, so that in time a pointof vantage is attained whence we look out on the city awaybeneath us. Three post-stations break the journey into asmany stages. One of the villages contains a factory. Inanother a shrewd ataman, after exploiting his fellow-villagers to the extent of several thousand rubles, builtat a cost of 400 a little shrine to commemorate the THE VILLAGE OF ALEXANDROVSKY. 203 preservation of Nicholas II. from the hands of the Japaneseassassin, and the unsuspecting peasants worship the memoryof the pious donor. After a time we begin to descend bythe same sandy road among thick woods, in which spruce,birch, and larch predominate, and eventually Alexandrovskyappears in view. The village is situated in a pretty valley : it is of con-siderable size, and at the far end, as you approach fromIrkutsk, stands the prison. As we pass down between

Text Appearing After Image: Alexaiidrovsky Central. the double row of cosy cottages, we occasionally noticea rough pole erected over a courtyard gate, and supportinga wisp of straw as pennant. This marks the presenceof infectious disease in the home. We meet a group ofhalf-a-dozen convicts trudging along under the eye of acouple of warders armed merely with revolvers. Towardsthe end of the main road we see men in convict dressstanding about outside their cabins: they are free-com-mands. We next come on a party of three or four. 204 ALEXANDROVSKY CENTRAL. who with spades and brooms are cleaning up the road fortlie day, while others pass them dragging a water-barrel:no guard overlooks their labour. A few are standing aboutidle, and respectfully remove their caps. It is, comparatively,a scene of leisure and repose. The free-commands goabout their business, and no one takes any notice of them. We drive up to the neat little house that has been builtto accommodate inspectors paid and unpaid. The outlookis broad and v

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