Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-02
OLGA. MICROSCOPES G A
An Interesting Episode Of Nihilism
in Russia.

In November, 1879, Olga fell into the
hands of the police. 1t should be ex-
planned that when these succeed in ar
resting a Nihilist they always leave in
the apartments of the captured person
a few men to take into custody any one
who may ONE to see that person. In
orr language, this is called a trap.
Owing to the Russian habit of arrang-
ing everything at home and not in the
cafes, as in Europe, the Nihilists are
often compelled to go to each others
houses, and thus these traps become
fatal. In order to diminish the risk,
safety signals are generally placed in
the windows, and are taken ava at
the first sound of the police. But, ow-
ing to the negligence of the Nihilists
themselves, accustomed as they are to
danger, and so occupied that they
sometimes have not time to eat a
mouthful all day long, the absence of
these signals is often disregarded, or
attributed to some combination of cir
cumstanccs-the difficulty, or perhaps
the Typographical impossibility, of
placing signals in many apartments in
such a manner that they can be seer
from a distance. This measure of
public security frequently, therefore,
does not answer its purpose, and a
good half of all the Nihilists who have
fallen into the hands of the Govern
ment have been caught in these very
traps.
A precisely similar misfortune hap
pcncd to Olga, and the worst of it was
i was in the house of Alexander
k~yiatkovsky, II of the Terrorist
leaders, where the police found a per-
feet magazine of dynamite, bombs and
similar things, together with a plan of
the Winter Palace, which, after the ex-
plosion there, led to his capital convic-
ton. AS may readily be believed, the
police would regard with anything but
favorable eyes every M who came to
the house of such a man.
Directly she entered, olga was i'm
mcdiately seized by two policemen, in
order to prevent her from defending
herself. She, however, displayed not
the slightest desire to do so. She
1eigned surprise, astonishmcnt, and in
vented there and then the story that
she had come to see some dressmakers
lwho had, in fact, their names on a
door-plate below, and occupied the up
per tloor) for the purpose of ordering
something, but had mistaken the door;
that she did not know what they want
cd with her, and wished to return to
her husband, ETC.; the usual subter-
'uges to which the police are accus-
toned to turn a deaf ear. But Olga
played her part so well that the Rris-
'aV, or head Of the police Of the district,
was really inclined to believe her. He
sold her that anyhow, if she did not
wish to be Immediately taken to pris-
on she must give her name and con-
Duct him to her own house. Olga gave
the flrst name which came into her
mlnd, which naturally enough was not
mat undo which she was residing in
the capital, but as to her place of resi-
N'nce, she declared, with every demon
'tration of profound despair, that she
could not, and would not, take him
shere OF say where it was. The pristav
insisted. and, upon her reiterated re-
.nSal, observed to the poor simple thing
mat her obstinacy was not only preju-
alclal to her, but even useless, as, know
lhg her name, he would have no diff
Hctlty IN sending some one to the
,Adressni Stol, and obtaining her ad-
dress. Struck by this unanswerable
argument, Olga said she would take
nm to her house.
NO sooner had she descended into the
"srect' accompanied by the pristav and
come OF his subalterns, than Olga met a
!rlend' Madame Maria A., who was go
ing to hvlatkovsky's, where a meeting
OF I%errorists had actually been fixed
ior that very day. 1t was to this chance
meeting that the Terrorists owed their
escape from the very grave danger
which threatened them; for the VIM
vows OF Kviatkovsky's rooms were SO
placed that it was impossible to see
any signals there from the street.
naturally enough the two friends
"aoe no sign to indicate that they were
acquainted with each other, but Mad
ah1r Maria A., on seeing Olga with the