The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-05-15
a CELEBRATED sWINOLER.
"Count Popow" and his Brilliant Career
in China aud Elsewhere.

"Count Popow" and his Brilliant Career
in China AID Elsewhere
About the end of 1888 a foreigner
giving the name of Count Popow burst
with the s~uddenness 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 a penny
rush light and finally disappeared into
the obscurity from which he emerged
after luxuriating for a year or two IN
Victoria jail. He came at a time when
the colony had, SO to speak, lost its
head. No questions were asked; no in
uuiries were made as to his antccedents
until after. His statements that he
was a Russian nobleman touring round
the world in his yacht the COolie Doc.
that had been wrecked nea PulO Obi,
and that he had reached Bangkok after
the most extraordinary adventures,
were believed by a gullible public. In
a certain circle he was received with
open arms, was Toasted and feted, and
was loaned money on the strength OF
his representations When it was dis
covered that he was strutting in bOr-
rOwed plumes and hat he had no more
claim to the title of a 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 vas a member Of a society
which was ~endeavoring to raise Russia
to a higher standard of civilization and
whose first step in hat 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 1.-The distinguished
foreigner'' know best, but even if Po-
pow be a nihilist filed 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,a ttired in the
gorgeous uniform of a French admiral,
Popow landed in Mauritius. His nom
de guerre was Wilson, his rank vice adj
miraI. Apparently his story in Mauri-
tins 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 a 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 Wilson, as
he ought now to be called, was welcomed
into the home circle of the best
families and in military and naval cir
Giles, 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 a lavish
style, fully in keeping with the profess
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
f~actOrily. 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 tOleave 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 a "cheap lot to
the entcrprising agent, who dressed an
effigy with it and displayed it in his
ShOD window decorated with an ammo
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.