Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-03-30
RUSSIAN STUDENTS.
There Are Spies at Their Elbows Even
While They Are Studying Abroad

All Russian students at the German
universities are carefully watched by
the spies of the Gar. These spies re-
ceive liberal salaries from the Russian
Government in order that they may
not be debarred by lack of money from
associating with young Russian noble
men. They mingle as much as possible
with all foreign university students.
They register generally, as do the ma
jority of their cOunsrymen, in the De-
partment of Law. They attend all the
drinking bouts to which they can get
invitations, and note with care what
their countrymen say about politics
and the government of the Gar. They
play billiards and drink coffee in the
same cafes with the other Russian
students. They make many acquaint-
ances in the university, as they spend
their Government funds literally and
their real mission is unsupported by
their fellow students.
They have considerable difficulty,
however, in gaining admission to the
exclusive social circle of their country
men. The Russian spy is usually
man of humble birth and name. Most
of the other Russians at his university
are noblemen Of the most stiff-necked
and conservative type. As they all
are wealthy and free with their
money. they are not so accessible to a
display of wealth as the ordinary
continental nobleman. Therefore only
in exceptional cases is the spy able
to buy his way into this noble circle.
Usually he picks up his information
as to the politics and political connec-
tions of his fellow-countrymen from
unwilling German go-betweens. And
even these crumbs of hearsay are Sc
cured only with considerable pains,
for all Russian students at German
universe lies know there is spy among
them, though his identity is unknown.
They often say, even when such alb
stract political subjects as constitu-
tional liberty are preached to them in
public places: ''N-a-a-a, my friend, but
the walls have ears.
But, like most jolly good students at
German universities, the Russians
often take a drop too much in public
beer-cellar5, and then the spy gets
chance to earn his wages. In So
cial way the young Russian nobleman
is an uncompromising aristocrat. In
politics, especially after he has passed
a year or two abroad, he is full Of
radicalism. This latent radicalisn
is just what is apt to get him into q
peck of trouble when he becomes gar
rulous over his wine. The omni'
present spy overhears the young
nobleman's expression of radical po-
litical prejudice, reports it to head
quarters at St. Petersburg, whence it
Is communicated to officials on the
Russe-German border, and when the
ipGprudent young nobleman starts
home with his brand new Phi. d. and
foreign airs he is 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. If he
called the Gar a ''meal-sack he is
liable to a dose of Siberia. Smaller
offenses, like complaints of the abso-
lutism of the Petersburg court, are
punished with year or two in ST.
IBERIA.
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 nobIeman 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 Micalowski
said: The whole concern Chat is, the
Russian GOVERNMENT would go to the
devil shortly if the financial methods
weren't reformed" Eighteen months
later, as he crossed the Russian
border on his way home, an
official arrested him. When Micalowski
demurred, the official quoted to him
the above derogatory remark con-
corning the Russian Government, add
ing: You said it in the Leipsic Boer-
sen-keller on November 10, 1881. "
Young Micalowski eventually got a
short sentence for Siberia.
Less than three years ago Russian
spy got very drunk at a students
kneipe in Jena and confessed his busi-
ness. He was thrown out Of the room
by the students and two days later was
driven out of the town. Generally,
however, the spies do their work
quietly and unsupported, and a Russian
student of liberal political tendencies
must keep his mouth pretty tight shut
if he wishes to escape a winter or two
in Siberia upon his return to Russia.
-Leipsic Cor. N. Y. Sun.
1t is a notable fact that great
soldiers are usually successful when