The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1893-07-15
A NARROW ESCAPE IN RUSSIA.
How the yigiisut Officers Of the Ca,
Were (Ieseriy nutwl,tad

| How the yigtiaat Officers Of the Czss
| Were Cieveriy Outwitted.
| On the SECOND day after our arrival in
krasnoyarEk we narrowly escaped getting
into what might have been serious trouble
as the result Of an unexpected perquisition
| In the house Of the acquaintance with
| whom Sbamarin and Peterson were stay
| ing This acquaintance. it seemed, was
| under suspicion, aud late in the evening.
during The absence Of the two young men
from their quarters. the police suddenly
| appeared with orders to make a house
search. The search WAS duly made, but
nothing Of suspicious nature was found
| except the two locked trunks Of Shamarin
and Peterson.
| la reply TO question as TO what was In
them the proprietor of the house said that
he did not know, that they were the prop
erty OF two OF his acquaintance who had
stopped for few days with him on their
way from lrkutsk TO st. Petersburg Upon
being asked where these acquaintance
| were, he replied that he did not know; that
they usually went out after dinner and re,
turned between II and L! o'clock After a
brief consultation the police officers de
cided that as they had no orders to search
the personal baggage Of the houseow ner' q
1 8bNsLs tuf1 noulu Ubt tDfce the locks OIL
the trunks. but would merely cord and
seal them. 30 that the contents could not
he tampered with, and leave them until
| morning
When Shamarin and Peterson returned
TO their quarters about midnight they
found their trunks corded and sealed so
that they could not he opened In one Of
them were many letters from political ex-
lies and coDvicts in eastern Siberia and
| friends and relatives in European Russia
| letters describing my Investigations and
the nature of the material that was col.
I ieetlng. aud asking the friends and rela,
| uses in European Russia TO co operate with
| me-and photograph of myself that
had given 10 Shamarin with dedicate ion
| or inscription on the back that would re-
veal to any intelligent police officer the in
Innate nature Of my relations with polit
| ical conyicts
| What was 10 lie done, To break a police
seal under such circumstances would he a
penal ofiense, and would probably lead 10
| Imprisonment aud an inyes, cation. To
| leave the letters and photograph in the
/ trunk would Ire 10 insure their discovery
aud conlscttion on the following morning
| and that might create a very embarrassing
/ situation for me, as well ~ for the authors
/ OF the letter, and their friends The TWO
young men finally concluded to make an
attempt 10 get the trunk open without re
moving the cords or breaking the seals, and
as the letters and photograph were near
the bottom, and as the lid could not lie
raised even II the trunk were unlocked
they decided 70 take out a part Of the bot
tom and a!terward replace il.
BY working ali the rest Of the night
3 0 a,.
! bottom boards obtained the dangerous
letters aud The Photograph. but the board
back without disturbing any Of the seals.
and when the police came ia the morning
stood 10y with uuruffiel serenity and saw
! the trunks searched o. course nothiu.
more dangerous than hairJrGsh and
nothing more InC.lnliuat.ug than a hotel
bill could be found George keunan IN
/ Century