New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-20
A VICTIM OF THE NIHILISTS.
ASSASSINATION OF GENERAL sELIvERsKOrF. A
RUSSIAN AGENT IN PARIS

RUSSIAN AGENT, IN PAhlS.
Paris Nov. 19.-GeneraI scverskoff, q Russian
agent in France, died to-day from the effects of a
bullet wound in his head, inflicted in a manner
which is at present a mystery. Conflicting reports
current as TO how lie shot One report says
that stranger called upon him yesterday at his
residence at the Hotel Bade, and that half an hour
after his visitor had departed General Seliverskof
found by his valet lying unconscious in his room,
shot in the head. Other reports state that the Gen
eral received no visitors. No weapon was found,
and the furniture in the not dsarranged.
The police attached suspicion to the valet and
lie was watched at first The further the authorities
inquired into the case the more tho evidence tended
to prove that the murder committed by a
Nihst, and that 1t was an act Of political vengeance
The police became convinced that the valet had
nothing to do with the shooting Of his master. and
they therefore withdrew their watch on him. The
valet much attached TO General SclverskOf
The evidence clearly points to assassination
A clcw has been obtained which will probably leai
TO the detention OF the murderer a few days ago "
Bernof, the owner Of the Franco-Russian Rooms OF
Rue ROyae, engaged an employe a Russian Poe
named POdlesky. POdlesky intrusted by hs
employers with an invitation TO ball which he was
10 deliver 10 General Severskof This enabled hin
to obtain access TO the Generals room. Podless
The police believe that the murder was committed
while General seiverskof was answering the note q
invitation which delivered TO him by Po1Iesky. ami
that Podesky left the hotel unobserved. The repor
of the revolver drowned by the noise OF the trafir
in the street. PoGlcsky was in Paris at the time
the Nst arrests in February last but he escaped .
Calcia. The police have visited the lodgings OF all
the Russians who implicated in the February
| affair, and have discovered that Podesky one u
them In Podlcsky's lodgings they found cartridges )f
the calbro the revolver used by the murderT
Although the CABLE dispatch does not say as a
certainty that Nihlists had anything to do with tie
death of General Sclverskof, that such the Gaze
seems probable, in the light of wellknown circun-
stances. Russian political refugees in Paris mnit
have been angcred by the wholesale arrest and punsl
ment OF some Of their number, light as it was, lat
summer, on the plea that they making explosive
bombs. Their anger must also have been increased
on hearing of the death sentence passed four days ao
upon three Of their former friends in Paris by Il.
Petersburg tribunal 1t Is likely that they have sought
| revenge in killing the chief OF the Russian secret
police in Paris who had furnished first 10 the Frenc
and then to the Nuscovte authorities the necessary
information which led to the arrest OF Nihsts at Pari
and st. Petersburg. Tho obligations Of international
comfy, even X FraEc, lad nCt jten at present con
nected with Russia by special bonds Of friendship
would have compelled her judicial authorities to act
upon information furnished by the Muscovitc secret
police.
1t known that the st Petersburg Government keep
in London, Zurich Geneva and Paris a special corp
Of detectives whose duty is TO watch the Nhillsts
| Moreover after the fall OF Napoleon H. many mel
cHpOyeu III ponce Oi scCoio
Empire went into the service of the Gar. and some
were detailed TO watch the revoutonsts living ir
France. VI. HyrvoiX, the chief of the "personal'
detectives especially ntrused with the duty of shadow
ing Emperor Napoleon wherever lie went, was en-
ployd to reorganzc the secret police service at st
Petersburg NJ. Lagrange, the chief Of the politica
department in the Paris Prefecture Of Police, also
passed into the service Of Russia, but with his home
! in France where he and his men worked under -,
direction Of The Russian generals who. like the recently
murdered General Senver,ko were successfully place.
at the head of the foreign detective agency Of the
| st. Petersburg Government.