The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-04-02
THE NIHILIST'S STORY.

had ceased, no one spoke, and only
the cracking OF the open fire, as i
laughed and cracked upon the wide
hearth within, and the moan OF the
night wind roaming the lonely waste
without, broke the silence, while We
steadily pulled at our pipes; then
Tompson, the host, aroes and begsr
to brew q fresh jug of flip. and the
West Vjrginiau, Destram. turned Il
bis companion and SPOKE:
"Alex, it's your turn. Give us q
Russian story, full to the brim with
horrors. A bear hunt npon your
illimitable steppes. a wolf chase
along the Volg4, a Coesack fight in
the south, or Tartar RAID upon the
north; or better still, tell us OF your
own Nihilistic trials"
The man to whem Destrsm spoke
shivered, and his strong face, dark
and deeply cut, twitched little,
while his eye cleaned. He hesi
tated moment, then carefully laid
his pipe upon the rough table, hal
turning. replied:
Gentlemen, if it is my turn, 1 will
speak, and as my friend has sug.
gested the subject, although it is moi
. pleasant one to Toe. | will tell you
q tale of my home, Russia, and my
self, q nibilist. II il seems strange,
then grant me that strange thiDgs
and horrible ores may happen even
in Christian Europe, and ia this
nineteenth century. 1t is word 70:
word true"
We drew nearer the speaker and
listened intently. A Russian story
told in Colorado, for our cabin was
far up among the spurs of the
Rockies, in the western portion oil
the state, and that story, the history
of nihilist, was u new and strange
treat for American ears,
six years ag. l was living in
Darnowsky, in The province of Rub.
lin. in The southern part OF the
greatest of European empires, 9
young man happy as circumstances
would allow, and at the time of which
I speak, dOubly happy and contented
in nay little school, tor ! was g
teacher, aid l had just made the
sweetest and prettiest glrl in the vii
lage my wife.
marie Carlof was mine, Wor
from a score of suitors by love alone,
fo1 l had little money, and l was
content.
"Chief among the dlsconsolste
ones was the con of an ex-army
officer, Louis Lodiski by name, 8
handsome but unprotected fellow,
who for years bsd been infatuated
with Marie. However, when oul
coming wedding was announced,
Louis left the village, and l va;
spared his scoWl and muttered
threats, and coon forgot him in the
joy of home-life.
''Fur three years I was at rest.
Then came the great cloud that now
overnspgs my native land, and its
dark shadow fell across even nv
humble threshold. I had been a St.
Petersburg student, and when the
strange monomanis of communism
silent and deadly, crept through the
nation, it found me an easy prey
and became nihilist, swore to the
terrible csths, and linked myself
body and soul to their unknown and
horrible purposes. | shudder now
as l remember.
There was circle formed jn our
town. and two months after I had
joined it, there appeared one night
amongst ue, commissioned from the
Grand Circle at Moscow as our chief,
Louis Lodiski.
AZ bowed before him; but when l
saw the fierce light Of bsff1ed passion
and eager revenge CLEAN in bis
hated eyes, brightly az when last I
had met him, then the rejected
suitor of my wife, I knew and felt
for the first time into what a horri-
BILE pit I had fallen; for tree as I was
before the world, in secret I was
bound by my vows, the serf and
slave of my bitter enemy.
"But OF all this my wife knew
except that her old lover was
in town.
"For q time there was little work
for our society, bat it go happened
that toward the spring a new quar-
tering OF soldiers was made in our
tsWn, under the charge of Colonel
Jelikof, tried and true officer OF the
government, and one who had sew.
sral times incurred the displeasure of
the nihilists. Hardly had the troops
become settled when q sealed dis.
patch was received by Lodiski from
the Grand Circle at Moscow, contain.
ing the death warrant of the Colonel;
and in drawing lots for the one to act
- executioner, the came DEVILS luck
which had first dragged me into the
conspiracy, or some treachery of my
,hief. cast she dread duty upon me.
"By the rules OF our order, unoues-
iioulng obedience, at the price of
)ue's OWE life, must be given TO all
iecrees by the person 80 chosen, and !
knew it; yet the word murderer |
famed before my eyes. and my heart !
TODD still, as l held the fatal lot in
ny hands.
"And even as I gszed, dazed and |
Iuil upon my comrades, about me,
whose stern. white faces reflected /