- Project Runeberg -  In the Land of Tolstoi /
188

(1897) [MARC] Author: Jonas Jonsson Stadling Translator: Will Reason With: Gerda Tirén, Johan Tirén - Tema: Russia
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One day, as he was leaving the Institute to return to his
rooms, a fellow-student handed him a small packet and asked
him to take it home. This student was the son of a priest
who had been a bitter enemy of his father, but Alexander
suspected no evil, and put the packet in his pocket. When he
entered his lodgings he saw, to his consternation, that the
police were in possession of the place, and had already
arrested his room-mate. Thunderstruck, he stood still for a
while, and was immediately seized. Conscious of his
innocence, he attempted no escape, and the gendarmes continued to
ransack the rooms for incriminating documents, &c. They
found some verses containing liberal views, written by his
comrade, and then proceeded to search Alexander
personally. The traitorous packet was discovered, and proved to
contain Nihilistic literature. “In the name of His August
Imperial Majesty and because of criminal papers” found on
him, they now made his formal arrest, and without any
opportunity of explanation the two young men were hurried off to
gaol and placed in separate cells.

The consternation of his mother, when she heard of her
son’s sudden imprisonment, may be more easily imagined than
depicted in words. At once she hastened to Moscow to learn
with what crime he was charged, and to try to procure his
release. It was in vain. She could discover nothing but that
the highest authorities had ordered that all suspected persons
should be put in prison and detained there, until their case
could be legally tried and sentence pronounced. All she could
do was to strengthen herself and endure the inevitable. With
much difficulty she did obtain permission to visit her son.
When she entered his cell his appearance frightened her, so
changed had he become in a short time. A settled melancholy
was on his countenance, now pale and emaciated, and in his
eyes she read despair.

More than a year passed before he was brought to trial, and
all that time he suffered the tortures of solitary confinement.
The agony of mind this means to a young man full of life and
energy, deprived of all opportunity of exchanging the
simplest thoughts with his fellows, forbidden also either to

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