The Portland daily press., 1894-11-16
THE CZAR'S SWEETS.


SO far as know, no outsider had eve
been privileged to peep into the privat
notebook of Strephon Demitritoff. tn
"doyen" of the St. Petersburg secret DC
lice bureau, an institution dedicated t
the service of the czar of all the Russias
Ii was therefore with feeling of intens
satisfaction not unmingled with awe tina
hung upon the utterances of my oil
friend as he 1.-THE occasion being coz
dinner at my house in St. Petersburg
oaressingly turned over the closely writtel
pages of little volume
AS a trusted agent of the car, his lif
teemed with incidents much tho signifi
cant to be committed to any diary, SO tina
the data carefully tabulated within tn
covers Of the little volume be held in hi
hand, while of inthralling interest to ,
mystery and plot loving public, were a
nothing compared to the astounding fact
stored up in his retentive memory
took it as great compliment to m.
countrymen that he should confide in me
an alien. "Ah," he said, 'syou are al
Englishman''-I wss Scotch, but that l.
"a oOceA1 dlaea dIC Uo DO bfuSUGu SQOul(
not dare to unbosom myself to Russian.
Now that the brave Demitritoff is n,
more, having all too soon followed hi
royal master to the grave and being my
self we'll out of the reach of the "doublt
eagle, have no compunction in re
counting here, at the risk of the column.
being obliterated by the Russian pres.
censor, few Of the experiences as related
by my friend.
! A feature of his character was the grin
humor he would infuse into the rsminis,
cences wish which he from time to tim6
favored nae. well remember the first Of
these, which, under the above heading
and with assumed names, will compro
mise nobody.
Yes, he unused, Petrus Tritref, quiet
deep young man that was, now one of the
most dangerous kind, mark you. Did he
belong to any nihilist society or associate
himself with the advanced socialist parity
Not he. He was too clever for that. His
grudge against the Little Father, as we
affectionately call him-and I speak now
OF the father of the present czar-was &
private one. A medical student, his bosom
friend and collegiate, Janes Smirtsky
had been condemned to Siberia on
trumped up charge, for such cases do hap
pen even in civilized Russia, of conspir
ing against the lifeand well being of the
car. 1t was only too apparent at the
trial that pressure had been brought to
bear from headquarters, and for some rea-
son Tritref got it into his head that his
friend, who was well connected, was be-
ing mercilessly prosecuted at the instance
OF the palace autocrats, if not Of the EN-.
peror himself.
So when SPetrus heard Janos condemn.
ed for life to the mines and in due time
saw him start, one of that wretched gang,
on his long journey he swore to avenge
him.
Now, Petrus was youth of parts He
had ideas, and it would not be his fault IL
some of the residents of the winter pal
ace, preferably the car himself, did not
realize that even on this planet vengeance
was sure.
Accordingly Petrus said not word to
any one, avoided those clubs and supposed
secret societies which sought, to compass
collectively the fall of the monarchy and
I duly completed his studies Mingled with
these studies was the ever prevailing
thought of how, best to effect his purpose.
At length he made UP his mind. Learn
ing in quite casual way a fact not gen.
orally known--that the car had a great
weakness for special kind of chocolate
bonbon-he determined that through this
apparently harmless medium should his
friend be avenged.
A little patient inquiry ELECTED the fact
that bex of these special chocolates found
its way regularly every week to that part
of the empire which the car happened to
honor with his presence, and also that the
makers of the precious sweets were a well
known house in St. Petersburg famed for
its CONNECTIONS. The death of his father
at this juncture furnished him with an
excuse for earning his own livelihood, and
on the pretense that he was left penniless
and consequently unable without capital
to benefit by his medical studies he made
1t his business to get recommended by a
few friends to this highly respectable
confectioner as an inexperienced but very
willing volunteer To such lengths will
the feeling of revenge bring man.
After careful inquiry-and you may be
quite sure the investigation by the police
who are always interested in such changes,
were most rninYte-the services of Petrus
were accepted, and he set to with will
to master his new trade.
Iue privilege OIL making Ghe cars
sweets was accorded to man who had
been in the firms employ for many years,
and who was considered above suspicion.
1t was to this post that Petrus aimed to
be appointed Not till then could he put
in practice the pretty little plan he had
matured for changing the course of events
at the winter palace.
To the ordinary mind bent on destruc-
ton accessibility to the manufacture of
the royal comfts under such circum-
stances would suggest a strong dose of
poison concealed under the chocolate en-
amel. Not so did Petrus view the mat |
ter. The useful arsenic, the strong and |
serviceable strychnine, did not commend |
themselves to the young mans fancy. Be- |
sides the chance of a promptly administer
ed emetic saving the sufferer and destroy |
ing the would be assassin's hopes, there |
was lack of sensationalism in the at |
tempt by such means.
There must be NO confusing the issue |
with that of temporary indisposition
with which the public might be misled. No |
the result must be something deadly, vet |
electrifying; appalling, yet far removed
from the commonplace, and in this spirit |