"Diary of a Russian soldier who was held captive by Chechens for ten months", S. Belyaev, sheet 6

Year: 2021
Medium: Pastel dry, retouch, paper
Size: 49x61

“Special shackles are made for prisoners for whom the highlanders hope to take an indispensable ransom, like the Cossacks or others other than soldiers. On both legs, in two nuts, the width of the palm, an iron rod is worn, half a yard, tightly, so that you can barely move your legs. If a prisoner suspects an escape, two such shackles are put on, or a chain, a pood of one and a half, is chained to the leg, the end of which, when working, the prisoner throws around his neck; at night the end is attached in a sack, to a wall. In such shackles prisoners walk constantly, no matter how long they live. It is difficult to determine, and perhaps the prisoners themselves are the cause of such severity. I saw an Armenian in these double shackles and with a chain on his foot. “It was another Taras Bulba. When Morgust tuned his violin, played, the dance began, and when I did not agree to dance, the Armenian frightenedly said to me: “Eh, I am not in your place!” Tomorrow, maybe my head is off if the Chechen woman I hit died! But look at me as I go... Only the chain was removed from him, and he went amazing lezginka! The dancers retreated and a curious silence reigned! What was in it then was difficult to guess! He was not a fool: when he said that he had a mother, a wife, and all this is poor, and tomorrow his head was off, tears fell from his eyes in a hail, and no more! He jumped up and with a terrible dance alive, as if singing himself! Fortunately, a ransom was sent a day later, and Chechenka died almost immediately after he was released.”.

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