The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-09-05
, THE RUSSIAN POLICE.
Their Arbitrary System of Search
ing Houses.
The Nighttime Generally Preferred-En-
frances Effected by Strategy or
Force-No Citizen Secure-A
Few Instances

From time immemorial Russian
police searches have been made by
night-deeds of this sort loving dark
ness rather than light. But it would
be wrong to infer therefrom that Rus
sian families enjoy absolute immunity
from these unwelcome visitations dur
ing the day. The police often make
searches in the daytime, when they are
least expected, when people are the
least prepared to receive, and, pos
.sibly, to deceive them. They like to
take their victims by surprise, and they
know that man whom they want
generally leaves his friends house to-
wards midnight and repairs to some
undiscoyerable hiding place. A secret
meeting will adjourn rather than con-
tinue its deliberations until late and
therefore dangerous hour. So the
police, by appearing unexpectedly,
nay make rich prizes, and they do not
restrict their visits to any particular
time. On the other hand, there are
good reasons why they should make
them mostly at night. In the first
place, nocturnal searches cause less
scandal than daylight visits. All that
the neighbors know next morning is
that somebody has disappeared. At
one or two a. M, moreover, the police
are pretty sure to find people at home
and to take them more or less by sur
prise. Hence the watches of the night,
when, in other countries, the sanctity
of the home enjoys the special protec-
ton of the law, is, of all others, the
time when the subjects of the Gar en-
joy the least security and are exposed
to the gravest perils.
EXPECTED VISITORS.
During the periods of white ter
ror,h which generally follow attempts
made against the authorities or detect
ed plots, when searches by the hun
dred are made right and left, there is
hardly family belonging to the edu-
Gated classes who, on retiring to rest,
do not tremble at the thought that
before morning they may be reused
from their sleep by the despots ennis
saries. At one of these periods CATER
the Sofoyietf affair.", the ordinary Jail
being so crowded with prisoners seri-
ously compromised that there was no
room for the many persons who were
merely suspected, without shadow of
evidence, the latter had to be confined
in the common room of Litovsky Cas-
tie. They lived together and were
rather gay, as is always the case when
prisoners meet, and they can talk
openly and freely. Before going to
bed, as one who was there has told me,
they would say to each other: "Ah, we
shall sleep soundly tonight, for here
we are in safety" A grim pleasantly,
of which none but those who have lived
under the Cars can understand the
full significance. Deceiving people by
falSehood or stratagem in order to
make them open door without mis-
trust is a common proceeding of the
Russian police. When they wanted to
arrest Donluovkin, an officer uuartered
in a suburb of st. Petersburg, they
caused the chief of his battalion to say
that he had an important communica.
ton to make to him on the business oil
the regiment. The police of Odessa,
desiring on one occasion to make an
arrest, raised a cry of "Fire!' at the
door of their victim. who, rushing Out
in all haste, only half-clad fell into
their hands and was carried off without
ceremony.
TIMELY WARNING.
But when searches are so frequent
that everybody expects them, the pc.
lice, as rule, reserve their articles fol
special cases. For as an engineer NAV
be hoist with his own petard, so may
an artifice be turned against its con.
trivers. That of a telegram brought
by dcornib in the dead of night is be,
coming somewhat stale, and when ar
alarm of fire or of any other calamity
is given you scent still greater danger
and straightway burn your papers and
otherwise prepare yourself for an i'm
miuent police visitation. Your ar
Engagements completed, you open the
door and play the part of an ingenious
innocent. The police can not vel
punish you for not making haste to re