The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-03-08
RUSSIAN SPIES.
They are Ever at the Elbow Of
Students in Germany.
Furnished by the Governments With
Money-They Manage to Get
Almost Everywhere.

2PsSS 4Se&3EE-
AL Russian students at the German
universities ara carefully watched by
the spies of the car. These spies re-
ceive liberal salaries from the Russian
government in order that they may
not be deharrad ny lack of money from
associasing with young Russian noble
men. They mingle as much as posi-
bic with all foreign university students.
They register generally. as do the ma
jority OF their countryinen. in the de-
partment of law. They attend all the
drinking bouts to which they can get
invitations, and note with care what
their eountrymen say about politics
and the government OF the cxar They
play billiards and drink coffee in the
same cafes with the other Russian
students. They make many acqaaint-
ance- in the university, IS they spend
their government funds literally. and
their real mission IS unsupported by
| their fellow-studeDts.
They have considerable difficulty,
however, in gaining admission 10 the
exclusive social circle of their eoun-
trymen. The Russian spy Is usually
| u man of humble birth and name
Most OF the other Russians at his uni
versi'y are noblemen of the most stiff
necked and conservative type As
they are sill wealthy and free with
their money, they are not 50 accessi-
BILE 10 display OF wealth as the orSii-
nary Continental nobleman. There
fore, only IN exceptional cases is the
spy able to buy his way into this no.
bic circle
Usually he picks up his information
as TO the politics ana political conRec-
tons of his fellow counfrymen from
unwilling German go-betweens. And
even these crumbs of hearsay are Sc
cured only with considerable pains,
for all Russian students at German
| universities know there Is spy among
them, though his identity is unknown.
They often say. even when such abb
stract political subjects as constitu-
tional liberty are preached to them in
public places: "Na-a-a, my friend,
but the walls have ears "
But like most Jolly good students at
German universities, the Russians
often take drop TOO much in public
beer cellars, and then the spy gets q
chance to earn his wages. In q social
an uncompromising aristocrat. In
| politics, especially after he has passed
year or two abroad, he is full of
radicaiism. This latent radicalism is
| just what is apt to get him into peck
OF trouble when he becomes garrulous
over his wine The omnipresent spy
overhears the young nobleman's ex-
preston of radical political prejudice,
reports it to headquarters at ST. Pc
| tersbnrg, whence IL is communicated
to officials on the Russo-German
border, and when the imprudent
young nobleman starts home
with his brand new PHI. ID. and
foreign airs he il snapped up on the
border by government officers, who
escort him to ST. Petersburg. His
fate then depends, of course, upon the
enormity of his crime. Ii be called
| the car ''meal sack he is liable to
dose in Siberia. Smaller offenses,
like complaints of the absolutism OF
the st. Petersburg court, are punished
with a year or two in Siberia.
A SPECIMEN CASE.
OF course the one important remark
in question is not always the excuse
for this punishment. The spy can
generally get together a good lot OF
more or less relevant evidence at his
university TO prove that the young
Russian nobleman was not a loyal
Russian or was guilty of general
cussedness."
In 1881 young Herr Micalowski of
Moscow, studied Jurisprudence in
Leipsic. One evening in the Boersen-
keller restaurant he and his friends
discussed the last financial crisis
through which the Russian govern
ment had passed. Young Micaiowski
said: THE whole concern Chat is,
the Russian government) would go to
the devil shortly ii the financial meth
DDS were not reformed Eighteen
months later, as he crossed the Rus
sian border on his way home, an OIL
cial quoted to him the above deroga-
terry remark concerning the Russian
government, adding: You said it in
the Leipsic Boarsen-keller on Novem-
Der 10. 1884," Young Micalo wski
eventually got short sentence for ST.
IBERIA.
Less tha1 three years ago q Russian
spy got very drunk ut students
kneIpe in Jena and confessed his bus
mess. He was thrown out OF the room
by the students, and two days later
was driven out of the town. Gener-
ally. however, the spies do their work
quietly and un>uspected, and Rus
sian student OF liberal political tenden-
cies nutt keep his mouth pretty tight
shut ii be wishes to escape q winter or
TWO In Siberia on his return to Russia.
OUR TEN NEW ARMORCLADs.