The Progress., 1888-12-15

s1lnlster boris. who persuaded ii the
Gar that, for the complete security Of
his reign, there was an absolute me-
cessity fn' the taking off, the
squelching; the Wiping out, the assas-
! oination. or by whatever name it
might be called, of the younger
Demetrius, who was a man of some
strength of intellect. Demetrius was
accordingly murdered. A few years
later Theodore died, and it was.
shrewdly suspected by poison adminis-
tered by Boris. With the death OF
Theodore the line Of Ruric, which had
reigned over Russia for something like
seven hundred years, became extinct,
and the ambitious Boris, in the un-
settled state of the nation fol-
lowing upon the death of Theo-
dore, caused himself to be proclaimed
the Gear. Some few years after
the occurrence of these events, a monk
named Ostreief, bearing remarkable
likeness to the murdered Demetrius,
made his appearance and declared that
he was Demetrius in very person; that
he had the good fortune to escape, and
an individual substituted for him had
| been assassinated. This was in 1904.
This Ostretief had all those qualifca-
tions which go to make up a personal
popularity, the people believed in his
story and were with him. Many peo-
pie of the highest standing, who had
known Demetrius from certain marks,
declared that this pretender was in
reality the Prince Some of the
wealthy mobiles encouraged him. and
the King OF Poland supplied him with a
small army, wherewith to assert his
rights. The government of Boris was
greatly disliked by the people, and
thousands flew to the standard of the
supposed Demetrius, who was crowned
in Moscow in 1905, Boris, in the mean
time, having poisoned himself.
Demetrius sent for his widowed
mother, who had been sent into ban
ishment, and with tears in their eyes,
they recogized each other the moment
they met. Thus far all went swim
mingly with the monk, and he might
have continued to reign and
founded dynasty had he
been as prudent as he had
hitherto been fortunate. He married
Polish Princess, and showed so great
a partiality to the countrymen of his
wife, and so great a desire to establish
the Catholic religion, that shortly a
conspiracy was organized against him.
The dowager Czarina, if she may be
so termed, was compelled to recant her
belief in him as her son, and during
the rebellion which arose he was as
sassinated. After his death five others
pretended to be the true blue De-
success.
But it is in courts of law that the
question OF mistaken identity plays the
largest part, and there the instances
have been numerous and curious. Life
has oft-times hung upon a question Of
identity, and decisions as to heritage
and afflliation have depended upon its
establishment. In all criminal cases
the greatest caution should be en-
ployed in pronouncing upon cases of
doubtful identity, for the fact has been
established that several innocent per-
sons have suffered death through
their identity having been mis-
taken. 1t has been mooted
question as to what degree of
| light is necessary to enable a witness
to swear to identity. The French In
stitute decided, after numerous ex-
periments, that the degree of IL
| Elimination furnished by the flashing
! OF a pistol was not sufficient for the
purpose; yet in 1899 a Bow street Off
Ger identified a robber by this means,
and a lady obtained a sufficient view of
robber during flash of lightning to
be enabled to recognize him again
In New York, in 1904, a singular
case occurred. A man was tried for
bigamy under the name Of John Hoag.
He declared that he was not the man
and that his name was Parker. A
number of witnesses swore to his
identity as Hoag, and, among others,
the woman Hoag had married and
deserted. Moreover, Hoag was said to
speak quick and with a lisp, to have a
scar on his forehead and mark on his
neck, all of which were observable in
and on the prisoner. There were two
witnesses who distinctly swore that
Hoag had a very visible scar on the
sole of his foot, produced by treading
on a knife, bat this mark did not ap-
pear on the prisoner. The result was
an alibi.
That was a strange case which was
brought to trial in Toulouse, in France,
in 1860. Martin Guerre had been alb
sent from his home for eight years,
when an adventurer named Arnauld
Dutille impersonated him and took pos
session Of his property. He had chill
dren by Guerre's wife, but neither she,
nor her sister, nor brother-in-law sus-
pected the deceit for three years, when
some suspicious circulnst arising,
the case was taken before the fri h,,nalo