Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-05-17
a CELEBRATED SWlNDLER.
"Count Popow" and His Brilliant Career
In China and Elsewhere.

"COunt Popow'' and His Brilliant Career
In China aud Elsewhere.
About the end of 1888 a foreigner
giving the name of Count Popow burst
with the suddenness of a new star in
the armament upon the small world of
Hong Kong, shone with the brightness
Of a star of the first magnitude for a
few brief months, sputtered out as sud-
denly with all the odium of penny
rush light and finally disappeared into
the obscurity from which he emerged
after luxuriating for year or two in
Victoria jail He came at time when
the colony had, so to speak, lost its
head No questions were asked; no in
quiries were made as to his antecedents
until after. His statements that he
was Russian nobleman touring round
the world in his yacht the Coolie Doc,
that had been wrecked near Pulo Obi,
and that he had reached Bangkok after
the most extraordinary adventures,
were believed by gullible public. In
a certain circle he was received with
open arms, was feasted and feted, and
was loaned money on the stl cngth of
his representations When it was dis
covered that he was strutting in bor-
rowed plumes and that he had no more
claim to the title of Russian count
than a street coolie, and when he ulti-
mately appeared in the dock he still
tried the game of bluff, and held out
that he was a member of society
which was endeavoring to raise Russia
to higher standard Of civilization and
whose first step in that direction is gen.
orally to raise its hereditary rulers in
mangled fragments. How much of this
latter story was believed those who
were intimate with "the distinguished
foreigner" know best but even if Po-
pow be a nihilist filled with the desire
he professed of helping his suffering
compatriots, he has since been carrying
out his intentions in a most incompre-
hensible manner.
Five or six months ago, attired in the
gorgeous uniform of a French admiral,
Popow landed in Mauritius. His nom
de guerre was Wilsen, his rank vice ad-
miral. Apparently his story in Mauri-
thus was as absurd as the story he told
in Hong Kong, but even there he was
well received, a salute being fred
whenever his arrival was announced in
official circles. He stated that his flag
ship was at Isle Bourbon and would ar
rive in few days, but it is difficult to
understand how he accounted for hav-
ing in his possession the full uniform of
an admiral For his immediate use he
readily obtained an advance of money
from the Dutch consul For several
weeks all went merry as a marriage
bell Popow, or Vice Admiral Wilsen, as
he ought now to be called, was welcomed
into the home circle of the best
families and in military and naval cir
cles, and is said to have appeared more
than once at Government house. En-
couraged by the success of his venture,
he hired a villa in the most fashionable
resort of the island and lived in lavish
style, fully in keeping with the profes-
sions he made.
The day of reckoning came. AS in
hong Kong, he stayed a little too long,
and the continued non-arrival of his
flag ship led to the institution of in
quiries which were not answered salts
factorily. Popow was destined to see
the interior of another Jail, but people
did not care to prosecute in a case
where their own gullibility would have
been exposed with terrible baroness,
and he was allowed to leave the COLONY.
The last of his brilliant uniform was
seen in the window of the agent of a
sewing machine company. Popow has
been glad to sell it as ''cheap lot' to
the enterprising agent, who dressed an
efigy with it and displayed it in his
shop window, decorated with an appro-
pirate inscription, much to the mingled
disgust and amusement of the former
friends of the self-styled admiral.
Popow has turned up In Ceylon, but as
his antecedents preceded his arrival at
Colombo and are in the full knowledge
of the police, it is not likely that he
will find there any scope for his inge-
nuity.-North China News.