The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1891-12-05
THE PUNCHED KOPECK.

room IN p st. Petersburg private palace.
I'VE have excellent writer's of fiction
hero in Russia two of his auditors were
Frenchmen), "and they sometimes go to
the real for material, but am sure that
the shrewdcat of them have never heard
Of the punched lzopeck which belongs to
the annals Of the police justmentionel.' l.'
The man with the whiskers emptied
his wineglass and pushed it away as he
continued:
"About fifteen years ago Count Yasil-
witch was one of the best known mobiles
Of the empire. His st. Petersburg estab-
lishment was conducted ON a style of
royal magnifcence, and he had the i'm
perial ear oftener than any other man Of
his rank. Well one morning the count
was found dead in his mansion and un-
der circumstances which went e prove
that somebody had helped hing out Of
the world. As matter of course the
Russian police took the affair in hand
and that was the last we heard Of it.
"At that time there was said to be at
taohed TO the Third section a man named
Paritz. Rumor invested him with all
the attributes Of the ideal sleuth. No
body could be found who had ever seen
him, but all the same the great discov-
cries in crime continued to be placed to
his credit He worked out great results
from impossible beginnings, and some
said that it was Paritz who was adding
most to the criminal population Of ST.
beria. Of course every one expected to
see Count Yasilvitch's enemy dragged to
light through the agency Of this secret
man hound, but as weeks and months
passed without anything of the kind
transpiring, Paritz became the laughing
stock of st. Petersburg.
Count Yasilvitch was known far and
wide as q numismatist. His collection
of coins was the most complete Of any in
the country, and had drawn from the
mint large offers of purchase. In the
collection were two kopecks which had
been curiously punched through the
center. Count Yasilvitch valued these
coins above any in his possession, and 1t
was understood that they had history
which he would not reveal
"When the police came to examine the
counts'coins after his death they discov-
cred that a number Of pieces were miss
ing, and among them was one Of the
kopeclzs. OF course the authorities did
not care to publish their discovery from
motives which you can easily understand,
and the world at large knew nothing
aboutit. The coin which was not taken
by the assassin, admitting this for our
story's sake, gentlemen, was given to the
misty Paritz, with orders tofind its mate
and the counts enemy as well.
"Paritz took the case with his usual
bow, and there the chief of police left it.
The counts coins were put up for sale,
and the numismatists who were drawn
to st. Petersburg by the event wondered
what had become Of the punched kopeck.
Half dozen bidders stood ready to pur.
= chase it at any price. Time rolled on
and everybody forgot Paritz and his
trail We did not hear so much about
his prowess now, and there were fewer
great discoveries in crime, although the
number of exiles was not lessened.
81 recollect that took considerable
interest in the trail of the kopeck at the
time. / was rather intimate with 0
member of the police, and ne told me
much about the counts death and tn,
hunt. But question him as adroitly az
Iwould, could learn nothing of the
identity Of the renowned Paritz. In
deed, 1 was more than ever inclined t
consider him a myth, and to believ,
that the name had become a genera
term for the Third section wen
abroad a few months after the Yasil
witch mystery was sprung on societ!
y, and travelled almost necessarily for tel
Sears. visited nearly every part Of tn
globe, finding wherever / went secre
representatives of our police, with whom
being native Russian myself, becaAl
as intimate as possible. tried by tlfes
means to keep track of the mythica
Paritzan his trail. The secret agent
had heard about the missing kopeck, bu
they did not know how far Paritz haJ
progressed, nor where he was then.
"There was something ludicrous i
the story Of Paritz and the punched 1zc
peck The coin had continually battle
the czar's spy, and he had heard moth
ing of it from the time 1t left Coun
Yasilvitch's possession. Your Frenc
detectives might have done better, bu
poor Paritz, he could find nothingl
"About n year ago interest in tn
counts death was suddenly revived b
the arrest Of n man who had lot Of ran
coins on his person. There was said [
be some Of these missing from the mul
dered mans collection, and they wer
subjected to the closest scrutiny. Th
fellow arrested was an honest and iii
crate mudjik, who averred that he ha
found the coins in the weed grown ga
den attached to the late counts res
dence. He was not released till the ga
den had been spaded over for more col
by the authorities, whose labors were r
warded by the finding of several raj
roubles known to have been described
the Yasilvitch catalogue.
"Now more than ever Paritz and IL
punched kopeck became objects Of der
sion Several Of the Russian newsp
pers received pasquinades on the su
ject, but as a matter Of course they wei
not published A Russian editor Is su'
posed to know just how far to go to e,
his bread this side of the frontier. Fi
fifteen years the punched kopeck h.
been missing to the Russian police. N
Yasilvitch case Is as great a mystal
now as it was then, and for once Pari
has been thoroughly bahied,
"If he IS not police fiction, he know
no more today Of the whereabouts Of q
muhlsted kopeck than does the gent
man who inhabits themoon, Ourpoli
stand baiied by one of the most insi
nihcant coins Of the world, for, un
Parltz can place the kopecl in his pC
session alongside the one he has not,
course The mystery Of Count Tasilvitcl
death cannot be solved.
Now, let me show how complete
this Paritz has been beaten, and asm
stole over the whiskered face Of the RI
sian while he reflled his wineglass al
drank it of. Il am by no means a {
tective myself, but we pick up que
things in our everyday wandering
Wherever I went during my tour /,
amined every coin that fell into I
hands, for ] was quite familiar wi
Count Yadlyitoh's collection, and
iieved I would be able 10 recognize a
parts of IL at sight 1 might even adm
that gradually grew TO be a hunter
lost coins, and of the punched kopeok
particular.
"But / came home unsuccessful. q
morning In the markets of st. Pete
burg received In change a lot Of SIN
coin which, being ina hurry at the tin
Icarred home without an eXaminati,
In my library fell to looking at
- little pieces, and what was my astoni
ment when found in my hand punoi
kopeck There was no doubt that / l
the identical coin which had baft
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