The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-04-29
THE PUNCHED KOPECK.

"The annals of the Russian police, il
they could be read, would excel the most
extravagant imaginings of your Belots
and Gaboriaus," said handsome, heav-
lily whiskered man who was one of a
little party of five gentlemen in small
room in st. Petersburg private palace,
"We have excellent writers of fiction
here in Russia" 1.-TWO of his auditors were
Frenchmen), land they sometimes go to
the real for material, but am sure that
the shrewdest of them have never heard
of the punched kopeck which belongs to
the annals Of the police just mentioned"
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 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 I'M
der circumstances which went to prove
that somebody had helped him out of
the world. AS a matter of course the
Russian police took the affair in hand
and that was the last we heard of it.
cat that time there was said to be at
tached to the Third section 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.
IBERIA. 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
transporting, Paritz became the laughing
stock of st. Petersburg.
"Count Yasilvitch was known far and
wide as a 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 it
was understood that they had a history
which he would not reveal.
when the police came to examine the |
counts coins after his death they discov-
cred that number of pieces were miss
ing, and among them was one of the
kopecks. 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
about it. 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 to find 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 proves 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
member of the police, and he told me
much about the counts death and the
hunt But question him as adroitly as
would, | could learn nothing of the
identity of the renowned Paritz. In
deed, | was more than ever inclined to
consider him myth, and to believe
that the name had become a general
term for the Third section. | went
abroad a few months after the Yasil-
witch mystery was sprung on society
and travelled almost necessarily 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
as intimate as possible. / tried by these
means to keep track of the mythical
Paritz and his trail The secret agents |
had heard about the missing kopeck, but |
they did not know how far Paritz had |
PAOPlCboCus HOI W uOI6 Llc was buCIls
"There was something ludicrous in
the story of Paritz and the punched ko-
peck. The coin had continually baffled
the cars spy, and he had heard moth
ing of it from the time it left Count
Yasilvitch's possession. Your French
detectives might have done better, but
poor Paritz, he could find nothingl
"About year ago interest in the
counts death was suddenly revived by
the arrest of a man who had lot of rare
coins on his person. There was said to
be some of these missing from the muir
dered mans collection, and they were
subjected to the closest scrutiny. The
fellow arrested was an honest and illit-
crate mudjik, who averred that he had
found the coins in the weed grown gar
den attached to the late counts resi-.
dence. He was not released till the gar
den had been spaded over for more coin
by the authorities, whose labors were re-
G.. II /