Note 31 — VII

Mehtus was sent to the Nertchinsk kátorga with the special mission to “discipline” the political prisoners. The régime which he established was beyond human endurance. For the least trifle they were beaten, put in chains, and kept in the kartzer for weeks. He was the first in recent years to order the flogging of politicals. Both he and Borodulin were later assassinated by the order of the Party. Mehtus was shot at a restaurant at Chitá by a woman whom the crowd hid from the police. Borodulin was shot near his house at Algatchí. After this the régime in the hard-labor prisons changed somewhat for the better, and continued so until 1910.