The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-07-16
THE STOLEN PASSPORTS
New York World1

capt Sasha, a dispatcher he cried
hahdlng me one of those little officia
blue envelopes which | knew SO well.
tore 1t open and read the contents:
10 Capt. Sasha Commander of Frontier Station
on the Vistula
Detain Ivan Brosly and Vladimir Posram. The,
VIII reach you shortly. GEN. JoRKA.
ga bad night for travellers to be Oh
the road" could not help thinking, foi
the rain was falling in torrents.
was colaaander OF the Russian from.
tier station at Dana, which lies on the
great high road betwea1 Easaia and the
Austrian city Of CrGco9, and only halt
mile distant was the river Vistula. which
divides the dominions Of the Emperor
Francis Joseph and the dominions Of the
car.
IL was my duty to examine the pass
ports OF all travellers coming either way,
and to scrutinize their luggage, to see
that no Russian products were Struggled
into Austria, or vice versa.
For the last few days there had been
little to do. Warm Mediterranean at
this time of year-had set in, and the
roads were in bad condition for travel
ing.
The dispatch had just received had
been brought on horseback from the
nearest telegraph station, nearly five
miles distant, and from the signature at
the bottom | knew it must be a matter
ofsome Importance, for Gen. Jorka was
the minister Of police and his very name
terror to evil doors.
l instructed my men to watch the
roads with extra care.
The evening wore on slowly and at
midnight no one had arrived. came to
the conclusion that the expected travel
ers had either been apprehended before
they reached the frontier or had post
poned their journey ON account of the
bad weather, so I determined to go to
bed and enjoy good nights rest.
The wind and rain kept me awake q
long while, and just as l was about
dropping off into slumber the sound of
sleigh bells woke me up again. and in q
moment or two sharp tap at the door
summoned me down stairs. l dressed
and went down.
Two travellers were waiting to see me,
two big, powerful fellows, wrapped up
in furs and greatcoats, which they kept
closely buttoned, for the fire had gone
out. | judged at once that these were
the men | wanted, for though their
clothes and furs gave evidence of wealth
and refinement their faces hardly seemed
to accord.
But surprise was in store for me.
When they handed over their passports
found, to my CONSERVATION, that they
bore the names of Alexis Zamose and
Sergius Melikoff, and were properly
stamped and signed
To hide my confusion / made some in
quiries, and they very frankly informed
me that they were merchants of st. Pc
tersburg, who were going to Cracow on
business
"Had they met any person on the
road?' l inquired.
"Yes," said the smooth faced man.
"they had passed two men early in the
evening, but their horses seemed to be
lame, and they were moving very slow
ly."
/ hesitated a moment, and then or
dered an examination to be made of
their baggage proceeding to which
they offered no objection. Everything
In their valises, however, was all right,
and their linen and toilet cases were
stamped with their initials.
l felt that l had no authority to detain
them, and yet l hated to see them go.
for l had a presentiment that all was
not right. To add to my suspicious the
man with the beard was nervous and
agitated, fact which he did his utmost
to conceal
knew too well, however, what would
be the result of a blunder committed
through excess of authority, so l deter
mined to be ON the safe side; and after
delay, which | stretched out as far as
possible, / told them they were free to
proceed.
/ escorted them to the door, where a
low, one seated sleigh awaited them,
drawn by pair of horses which l saw
at glance had been hard driven.
At the last moment had half made
up my mind to detain them, but with a
hasty salute they stepped into the sleigh
and drove rapidly eastward, where dawn
was already dappling the sky.
There was nc use in going back to
bed, SO | went in and stirred up the fire
and sat down to smoke cigar and wait
for daylight.
Now that it WAS too late felt sorry
had let the men go, for the more
thought over it the more certain | felt
unar there was something wrong about
them. 1t had stopped raining and be-
gun to blow up cold, and I saw that it
would probably be busy day.
had already finished breakfast when
trampling Of horses and tinkling OF
bells drew me to the door, and, to my
surprise, / saw bearing rapidly down
upon tho station a small detachment Of
mounted cossacks, surrounding a sleigh
with two men in it, who made sure
were the parties l was looking for, an
opinion which seemed to be verified when
they drew up, for the men were rather
rough looking fellows, and wore heavy
cloaks of coarse material, and great
astrachan caps, that came forward over
their ears. was soon undeceiveJ.
"These travellers claim to have been
robbed, captain" said the cossack officer,
saluting. "They will tell you their story,
and, meantime, we await your orders"
The travellers hurried inside, and l fol-
lowed with sinking heart.
"We are the victims of an infamous
outrage, sir" said one of them. "My
name is Alexis Zamose, and this is my
friend, Sergius Melkof. We were jour
neying to Cracow, and while passing
through the forest last evening two
armed strangers in a sleigh overlook us,
and, overpowering us, they took all our
possessions, made us give up our furs in
exchange for these wretched garments
and stole our passports, and then cut
ting our horse loose they drove him off
in the darkness and took fight. On foot
we made our way back to the nearest
village, and were so fortunate as to fall
in with these brave soldiers, who pro-
cured us horse and accompanied us
thus far on our journey"
With inward rage / listened to this
strange tale, realizing only too clearly
the mistake had made, and my feelings
may be imagined when the man handed
me two folded papers, saying: "These,
sir, are the passports the villains were SO
considerate as to give us in exchange for
our own"
Itorethem open. They were made out
to Ivan Brosky and Vladimir Pogram.
1.-THE rascals have escaped" 1 CRIED
angrily. "They passed through not two
hours ago, and dared not detain them.
"And is it too late to overtake them,