Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1875-02-17
Russian Romance.

Russia has not, it appears, escaped
the epidemic of scandal In high life,
which seems latterly to have been
making tour of the world. A great
trial has just been brought to a close
at st. Petersburg which throws much
new light upon Russian character and
society. Even in these days of en-
lightenment, it is astonishing how little
is known of Russia, its social customs
and events, beyond the frontiers of the
Cars territory. The trial of the Alb
bess Mitrofsnia, reveals, especially,
a degree of religious fanaticism
hardly suspected. Her conviction
for q series of forgeries which, for
their long duration and impunity and
vast extent, can scarcely find a
parallel in the records of criminal
audacity, has been attended by the
unfolding of tale as startling and sem
sational as it is unprecedented. The
Abbess, it seems, is lady of patrician
blood. The daughter of Baron Rosen,
formerly Commander -in-Chief In the
Caucasus, her first appearance In pub
lie was as lady of honor to the En-
press of Russia. Impressed, probably,
with the Czarina's own religious zeal,
Baroness Rosen soon resolved to devote
her life to the service of the Church.
Brilliant, full of energy, enthusiastic
to fanaticism, she attracted the atten-
ton of the venerable and beloved Phil
arete, Patriarch of Moscow. He in
duced her to become the abbess of
convent and soon after she herself.
using her influence at the Imperial
Court, founded a new order of Sisters
of Mercy at Moscow, with branches at
st. Petersburg and Pokoff. Into this
project she entered with a vigor and
persistency which were amazing. Her
great need was money; to procure this
she employed methods at first cunning,
then criminal. An especial favorite at
Court, she procured offices and titles
for rich and. d..ambitious merchants, who
In return contributed literally to her
order. Sometimes she borrowed large
sums and refused to return them.
Sometimes she csjoled merchants to
lend her their names on blank promis-
sorry notes, which she filed up at will
She employed such crafty articles and
carried them out with such consum-
mate skill as to stamp her as a woman
of remarkable intellect and resolution.
But a tiI2e came when artifice could
no longer avail her, woen she had ex-
hausted her credit with the merchants,
and her schemes to secure funds by
mere stratagem. In her fanatical zeal
the Abbess was drawn into the domain
of crime. Hospitals, almshouses, con-
vents, retreats had risen rapidly under
hnr 1Iraat,a,, et,l1 oh aar,lI
satisfied. Her first criminal act was to
forge the name of rich lumber mer-
chant to bills reaching the sum of %,
900 rubles. Then she pitched upon a
wretched lady who, owing to her disso-
lutte habits, had been placed under
trustees by her wealthy husband, in
sinuated herself into her confidence,
received her in the convent, and eX-
tracted from her not only large sums,
but signatures to blank promissory
notes. Thus the husband soon found
bills in circulation against him, signed
by his wife, to the amount of 270, 900
rubles. The Abbess Mitrofania be-
came emboldened by success. Her
schemes took a more audacious turn
than ever. A rich old Skoptsi mer-
chant had been thrown into prison at
Moscow, where he died. In no long
time food of bills purporting to have
been signed by him appeared in circu-
lation. They were drawn in favor of
the irrepressible Abbess. She stated
that the old merchant had given them
to her as payment for her efforts to
procure his release from prison. His
heirs resisted the bill and declared
them forgeries. The developments
which succeeded brought the Abbess
under suspicion, which speedily took
the form of an arrest, indictment and
trial. The Abbess conducted her own
case with amazing skill and nerve. She
examined the witnesses, and proved
herself perfect mistress of the ninu-
test details. But Notwithstanding this
her friendship and influence with the
Czarina and her success in packing the
jury with religious zealots, she was
brought in guilty on every count. She
was sentenced to an exile of three years
at Yerisei, and to confinement in Sibe-
ria for eleven years thereafter. 1t
would be hard to find SO strange q
story in the criminal records of any
country. 1t indicates, however. that
Russian Justice, once aroused to self-as-
sertion, is inexorable, and bears as
heavily on the patrician as on the
peasant; and not that not even
cherished familiar of the Palace, and one
protected by the priesthood, can vio-
ate the Imperial laws with impunity.