Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-04-22
MICHEL AND POWLESKA.


years been accustomed to get his living by seat
ing himself every morning on beam III u. JIS III
OF the timber yards, with a wooden bowl q, n,'
feet. into which the passengers cast tnel, "H L.;
This long continued practice had msuI 70 was
well-knOwn to the inhabitants, anu, -: "a ~ Rs
believed to have been formerly o soiolel, uio
blindness was attributed 10 the numerous
wounds he had received in battle For MS own
part. he smoke little and never contraoicleu
this opinion. e-u ::
One night Michel by some accident, Tell In
with a LITTLE girI ten years old, named Powles-
"a who mas friepdless and ON the verge of
perisbing with cold and hunger. The old man
took her home and adopted her; and, from
that time instead of sitting in the timber yard,
he went about the streets in her company, ask
ing aims at the doors Of the houses The
child called him father" and they were ex-
tremely happy together. But when they had
pursued this mode Of life for about FIVE years,
misfortune befel them. A theft having been
committed in a house which they had visited In
the morning. POwleska was suspected and ar
rested and the blind man was left once more
alone But instead of resuming his former
habits. he now disappeared altogether; and
this circumstance causing the suspicion to ex-
tend to him, the girl was brought before the
magistrate to be interrOgsted in regard to his
probable place OfcOneealment.
DO YOU know where Michel is?n said the
magistrate.
=: Tie is desd!'' replied she, shedding a tor
rent of tears.
As the girl had been shut up for three days
without any means of obtaining information
from without. this answer, together with her
unfeigned distress, naturally excited consider
able surprise.
Who told you he was dead'' they inquired.
NOBODY"
:. Then how can you know il.
- saw him killed.
But you have not been out of the PRISON."
i saw il, nevertheless
But how was that pOssibIe2 Explain what
YOU meanI'
cannot. All can say is, that saw him
killed"
When was he killed and how?''
1t was the night was arrested"
That can not be; he was alive when you
were seized"
Yes, he was; he was killed an hour after
that; they stabbed him with a knife"
Where were you them"
81 can't tell; but l saw it"
The confidence with which the girl asserted
what seemed to her hearers impossible and abb
surd, disposed them to imagine that she was
either really insane, or pretending 10 be so.
SO, leaving Michel aside, they proceeded to in
terrOgate her about the robbery, asking her if
she was guilty.
"Oh, no." she answered
Then how came the property to be found
about yOu!''
Il don't know; 1 saw nothing but the muir
der"
But there are no grounds for supposing
Michel Is dead; his body has not been found. =
- IL Is in the aqueduct."
And do you know who slew him2''
1es-it is a woman. Michel was walking
very slowly, after L was taken from him. A
woman came behind with large kitchen knife;
but he heard her and turned round; and the
woman flung piece Of gray stuff over his head,
and struck him repeatedly with the knife; the
gray stuff was much stained with the blood
Michel fell at the eighth blow, and the woman
dragged the body to the aqueduct and let it
fall in without ever lifting the stuff which stuck
10 his face
As it was easy to verify these latter asser-
tlOnS, they despatched people to the spot; and
there the body was found, with piece of stuff
over his head, exactly as she had described.
But when they asked her how she knew all this,
she could only answer - 1 don't know"
But you know who killed him"
Not exactly; it is the same woman that put
out his eyes but, perhaps. he will tell me her
name tonight; and if be does, will tell it to
you"
During the whole Of the following night, with
out allowing her to suspect their intention, they
watched her, and it was observed that she never
lay down. but sat upon the bed in a sort Of leth-
arge slumber. Her body was quite mOtiOnless,
except at intervals, when this repOse was inter
ruPted by violent nervous shocks which per-
vaded her whole frame. On the ensuing day,
the moment she was brought before the Judge,
she declared that she was now able 10 tell them
The name Of the assassin.
But, stay" said the magistrate; 'did
Michel never tell You when he was alive, how
he lost his sight ~
"NO-but the morning before / was arrested
ne promised me TO do so; and that was the
cause OF his death"
- How could that he 1;'
Last night Michel came to me- and he
pointed TO the man hidden behind the scafold-
ing on which he and 1 had been sitting. He
showed me the man listening to Us, when he
sald' s' Ii Tell you all about that tonight and
Do you know the name of this man? ?''
II Is Luck He went afterward to a broad
street that leads down 70 the harbor. and he
entered the third house on the right"
nat Is the name Of the street?'
d0n know; but the house is one story
IoNer tnan the adjoining ones. Luck told Cath
HIihs what he had heard and she proposed 10
him To assassinate Michel; but he refused saw
ing II was bad enough to have burnt ont his
eyes htteen years before, while he was asleen
It your uoor and TO have kidnapped him into
lhe country. Then went in TO ask charity.
gu Oa'n1rhe put piece Of plate into nv
'Ist mat might De arrested; then she hid
herself behind the aqueduct to wait for Michel
and then killed him }"
but, since you saw all this. WHY did vop
Keep the pIate-Ehy didn't you give informa-
But didn't see it then Michel showed II
u me last night" 'no"eu II
But what should induc. C..L:
thist'' "0'narlhe 10 DO
hlehel was her husband and she had for
saAen G hlm to come to Odessa and marry again
Vne night, fifteen years ago. she saw N;cbai
VINO had come to seek her She slipped bast;Iy
tnt9 her house, and Michel, who thouobt sbs
hli not seen him lay down at her door to watch
,vs, ne lIil asleep and then Luck burnt out his
eyes and carried him to a distance ~ -''
And Is it Michel who has told Won tb;s3,,
les he came very pale, and covered with
nloo1 and he took me by the hand and showsd
me all this with his fingers. 'U
sa poh thls, Luck and Catharine were Arrest.
Nv hem rn. vas ascertained that she had actual.
Kherson ea The TO Michel in the year 1919, at