Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1891-11-24
THE PUNCHED KOPECK.

extrnyasant imaginings Of your Belots
and gaboriaua," said u handsome, heav-
iy whiskered man who was one OF n
little party Of five gentlemen In small
room in a 81. Petersburg private palacs.
I'VE have excellent writers Of fiction
here in Russia two Of his auditors were
Frenchmen), "apd they sometimes 90 to
the real for material, but am sure that
the shrewdest Of them have never heard
OF the punched kopcck which belongs to
the annals Of the police Just mentioned"
The man with tine wniskers cmpticd
his wineglnss and pushed 1t away as ho
continued; .
about ffteeu years ago Count Yasil-
witch was one OF the best known mobiles
Of the empire. His 81. Petersburg cstab-
lishment WIS conducted on n style OF
royal innguifcencc. aud be had the im-
perinl ear ofiener than any other man Of
his rank. Well, ono morning the count
was found dead In his mansion and I'M
der circumstances which went TO prove
that somebody had helped him ont oi
the world. Asa matter OF course the
Russian police took tho affair In hand
and that was the last we heard Of It.
AT that time there was said TO be at
tached TO tho Third section man named
Pari,s. Rumor Invested him with NIL
tho attributes Vt the ideal slouih. No.
body could be fOun1 who had ever seen
him, but all the same tho great discoy.
cries in crime continued 10 be- placed to
HE credit. tie worked out great results
from impossible beginnings, and some
said that il was Pari,z who was adding
most TO the criminal population of ST..
IBERIA. OF course every one expected to
zee Count Yailvitch's enemy dragged TO
light through the agency Of this secret
man hound, but us weeks and months
passed without anything Of the kind
transpiring. Parit1 became the laughing
stock Of ST. Petersburg.
"Count Iasilvitch was known IN and
wide as a numiumatiat, His collection
Of coins was tho most complete OF any In
tho country, and had drawn from tho
mint large Offers OF purchase. In the
collection were two kopccks which had
bcen curiously punched through the
center. Count Iasilyitch valued these
coins above any Ia his possession, and II
was undcrstood that they had u history
which he would not reveal.
"When the police came TO examine the
counts coins after his death they discoy-
cred that number Of pieces were miss.
ing, aud among them was ono Of the
kopocks. OF course the authorities did
not care TO publish their discovery from
motives which you can easily understand,
and the world NJ large know nothing
about It. The coin which was not taken
by tho assassin, admitting this for our
story's sake. gentlemen, was given to tho
misty PaTitz, with orders 10 fiud Its mate
and the counts enemy US well.
"PAritE took tho case with his usual
bow, aud there the chief Of police loft IL.
The counts coins wore put up for sale,
and tho nuuiismatists who were drawn
10 81. Petersburg by the event wondered
what had become Of the punched kopect.
Halt dozen bidders stood ready to pur-
chase IL at any price. Tune rolled on
and everybody forgot Paritz and his
trail We did not hear 40 much about
his proweas now, and there were fewer
great discoveries Ia crime, although the
HhAhb"A VI fAtA'A Wtsf NV t'N-FAAfAs
III reeollect that took considerable
interes, In tho trail Of the kopeok AT tho
time. was rather intimate with a
member Of the police, and he told me
much about the counts death and the
hunt. But question him as adroitly ~
would. could learn nothing Of the
Identity Of the renowned Pautz In
deed, | was more than ever inclined IA
consider him myth. and 10 believe
that the name had become general
term for tho Third section. went
abroad a few months after the Yasil.
witch mystery was sprung on society
and travelled almost incessantly for ten
years. visited nearly every part Of the
globe, finding wherever | went secret
representatives. OF our police, with whom
being native Russian myself, became
~ intimate Us possible. tried by thest
means TO keep track OF tho mythical
Paritz and his trail. Tho secret agon
had heard about tho missing kopecl, but
they did not know how far Paritz had
progressed. nor where hs was then.
"Thero was something ludicrous n
the story OF Paritz aud the punched ko
peck. The coin had continually baflled
tho cara spy, and he had heard moth
Ing OF 1t from the time 1t left Count
Nadlyitchs possession. Your French
detectives might have done better, but
poor Paritz, no could find nothlngi
about n year ago interest In ths
counts death was suddenly revived by
Tho arrest OF man who had lot Of rart
coins ON his person. There was taid &c
b. some OF these missing from the muir
daTed mans collection, aud they wcr,
subjected 20 tho closest scrutiny. Tn,
fellow arrested was an honest and illit
crate muljik, who ayerred that no had
found the coins In the weed grown gar.
uan attached TO the late counts resi-
dence. He was not released til the gar
Den had boon spaded over for more coin
by the authorities, whose labors were 70
wlrded by tho finding Of several rar,
foublcs known to have been described IL
the IG'ilyitoh catalogue.
''Now more than ever Paritz aud TIA,
punched kopeok became objects OF derl
sion, Several Of the Russian ncwspa
prrs received pasquinados ON tho sub
sect, but IA matter OF course they wer,
not published. A Russian editor is sup
posed to know Just how far to 20 to oar
his bread this side Of the frontier. Fol
fifteen years the punched kopeck hnl
been missing TO the Russian police Tn,
fasilyitch case IL as great u mystor,
now as It was then, and fot once Pariti
has been thoroughly bnfled.
"If ho IL not IL uolice fiction ho Lnn,vi