Huntsville gazette., 1889-04-20
A CURIOUS RECEPTION.
One of the Morning Duties of the Police
General of st. Petersburg.

has to do with the police. In every
town where he stays night he must
report himself to the local police and
give up his passport, which is returned
to him with the addition of strange in
scriptions and polychrome stamps. for
which he of course has to pay. 1t is,
however, only on leaving the Empire
and for obtaining a permissio on of eIeat
that the traveller need present himself
in person at the police office; the mere
passport business is done by the hotel
porters. Why. then. did we find our
selves one morning hunting for the
headquarters of the Petersburg police
in street near the great Isaac Cathe-
dral? l have now but vague
souvenir. In travelling it is well to
make an effort to forget all that is
disagreeable and all the formalities
and red-tape annoyance which may
have caused one to lose sunny morn.
ings waiting in bare ante-rooms. We
had been, | remember, charmingly re-
ceived by all the authorities at the
Foreign Office; we had been given
wonderful documents which we were
unable to read, but the very sight of
which brought ordinary people to
their knees; there still was something
wanting to make our happiness COM
plete, and to render our liberty of
action as absolute as we could desire
For this purpose we needed a docu-
ment from the Petersburg police, and
so between ten and eleven one morn
ing we discovered the entrance of the
offices, situated in an ordinary house,
of which the groune-1oor windows
only are barred.
We walked in, and found a number
of mild-eyed policemen ready to oblige
us. Really the Russians are phenom-
enally obliging and suave. toward
foreigners at least. Through many
! bare and cleanly whitewashed pas
sages filed with pale and sad lights
we passed and then mounted flight
of stairs, at the head OF which was the
lofty room where the Police General
received. To the right was a tall
window; in the corner to the left a
monumental porcelain stove; near
the window desk, and clerk sitting
on high stool; to the left of the desk
door leading into the Police Gen
erals private office; and, as one reads
in the mise en- scene of a play, "two
other doors, a bench, two chairs, and
on the wall portrait of the Gar"
There were several people waiting
when we arrived. A big and fero-
cious-looking official, with heavy
mustaches, medals on his breast and
round his neck, military epaulets on
his shoulders, and a generally martial
air, received the visitors. inquired
what was their business, and babe
them wait or dismissed them. But
those who waited might not sit down,
for the military Police General, the
Grand Master of the Petersburg police,
hid entered the room, and with him
the civil Police General, the latter an
amiable and smiling gentleman with
diplomatic whiskers and skewer-
full of decorations on his dress-coat
The Police General, very tall, slender.
and grave in mien, with his two sub
ordinates standing behind him, listens
to each one in turn, while the others
stand round the room silent and re-
srectful, great and small, rich and
humble, all more or less equal before
this man, whose power over liberty
and even over life is terribly unlimited.
The scene was interesting on account
of the novelty of the place, of the strong
character of the types, the chic Of
the uniforms. bearing and manners OF
the officials, the variety of the persons
present, the mystery of the conversa-
tion which we did not understand, but
which we felt instinctively to be grave
and perhaps tragic. We were partic-
ularly struck by one well-dressed
woman in mourning, who with pecu-
liarly winning voice and feline grace
of movements and gestures presented
petition of some kind to the Police
General while we were waiting. The
General seemed embarrassed; the lady
pleaded volubly; her handkerchief
Greet tear; her black cloak and her
black veil thrown back over her head
set off the contrasting whiteness of her
pale and delicate face.
In the midst of her pleading, the
other Police General took charge OF
us, and led us to another part of the
building, where he gave us all we
asked, and entreated US most courte-
ously. So we were about to go on our
way rejoicing, but the lobby leading
to the street was all in confusion;
heart-rending cries and convulsive
sobs interspersed with words of de-
SPAR and of supplication reached our
ears; woman in black was leaning
against the wall; stalwart and kindly
policemen were vainly trying to per-
suade her by words and gentle violence
to go; from adjoining rooms curious
and sympathetic faces peered out to
see what was going on. But the poor