The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-04-22
THE STORY OF A SPY.

" jacobson. the notorious Russian
agent and agitator. died this morning IN
a Budapest hospital. lonely and forsaken'
after a ten days illness. His narae wan
| be familiar TO every newspaper reader IN
Europe as the author of the famous COM
| pilat;on of secret documents in reference
to Russian plots in Bulgaria. and as Tor
a time the r;sht-hand man OF Stambulon,
and the assistant and confdant OF NJ HI
| troyo, the Russian agent at Bucharest
His origin was of the obscurest- Accord
ing TO the Russians his name was Moses
| Abramovitch, and his family IS sun 70
be found among the Jews or southern
Russia But when he first obtained en-
ployment as a clerk in the Russian eonso4-
ate in Sofa. under Consul General HI
| trovo, he called himself Michael 1Vano-
vitcr jacobson, and, il is believed. Vas
convert 10 .he Orthodox fai.1- RE very
soon acquired such an intimate knoWl-
edge Of men and things in Bulgaria tna'
NJ HItrovu. who knew well how 10 choose
his inst. uments, by degrees TOOK hini mto
his confidence, and made his reports AMI
observations the basis OF mis- own COM
| nlunications to the Asiatic department In
| ST. Petersburg Jacobson was so versa
tile. so modest. and, at the same time, so
honest in money matters, tha; when Nj.
H!trovo had TO leave Bulgaria, and was
promoted to the rank of minister in Buch-
Arrest, while the center OF the Russian asi-
tation was transferred TO Rustchuk. the
services there of a man like JACOBSON
were considered indispensable, and he was
accordinly appointed to the official post OF
dragoman to the Rustchuk consulate He
was privy, from a distance, to the Gruen-
Rendereff plot 10 kidnap Prince Alexander,
and continued his services till after the
/ failure of General Kaulbar's mission
! On the withdrawal CT all the Russian
| consulates from Bulgaria. he was petit
! toned for by his former chief, NJ. Hitrovo.
| and made dragoman of the legation IN
| bucharest. Here he was required 10 act
as a secret intermediary between the Bull
garian refugees in Rumania and Russia
and their fellow-conspirators at home, and
| To distribute subsidies among them II
| has been proved beyond all question that
! he helped TO organize the plots against
the life OF NJ. Stambuloff, and later
against Prince Ferdinand. and assisted in
/ the smuggling OF arms and ammunition,
| including dynamite. into Bulgaria In a
word. he took upon himself the d!rtest
work of the Russian propaganda, the
funds for which were placed at the dis
posaI Of n. Hitrovo, and so useful were
| his services considered that the Asiatic
department, as well as the Slavonic Ben
| eyolent society, entered nito direct cor
respondence with him
He was at one time within an ace OF re-
ceiying Russian honors and distinctions,
the appointment TO representative post
| in the east having distinctly been prom
ised TO him. But, unfortunately for his
! prospects, he quarreled with NJ. Hitrovo
| over the subsidies TO the refugees and the
money sent from St Petersburg, OF which,
he asserted, considerable portion found
its way into his chiefs pockets, while he
himself was expected 10 render detailed
account. The quarrel lasted long enough
| to give him time to prepare for his ulti-
mate dismissal His preparations consist
ed in taking copies of documents in the
archives of the legation-in some cases
only hasty copies, which accounted for the
errors in dates and names that were after
! wards singled out in Russian reply to his
~
OF the go documents he subsequently pub
lished were genuine, and they told tale
OF Russian methods of agitation at that
time which deservedly brought that pow
er into contempt.
with a number of original documents,
which he purloined, and with copies of the
rest, jacobson left Rumania for London.
where he made offers TO publisher that
were declined. Thence he went 10 VI
| enna and Belgrade. and finally to Sofia,
where, in NJ. Stambuloff, he found the man
who could appreciate him and his manu-
scripts at their true value. The first six
OF his papers were published by the Syo-
I boda, and made a sensation throughout
/ Europe before the remainder were put
| together in book form and published in
Bulgarian and French. He was prom
! ised 1000 francs by the editor OF the Svo-
| boda-that is TO say, by Stambulon-but
actually never received mpre than about
| three thousand francs, being compensat-
ed with small post under the Bulgarian
| government. HIS real position, however,
was that OF a government spy, whose
duty il was to find out ard give warning
/ of nlots: and not only did he more than
once save the lives OF Prince Ferdinand
! and NJ. Stambuloff. but he even enabled
| the latter to warn the king Of Servia- In
deed. thanks 10 his vigilance and acute
| ness. the secret police OF Bulgaria was al
! that time the best in Europe
! NJ Stanbuloa fen. and with him de-
parted the glory of Jacobson He stayed
I in Bulgaria too long. and when he fed TO
( Belgrade was arrested at the demand OF
/ the Russian minister, but released after
| the papers n his possession had been
4 taken from him and sent 70 st Peters
/ burg. About a ortnight ago he arrived
In Budapest, 81 and destitute. recognized
only by one ormer Acquaintance, a writer
! on Balkan affairs, to whom. II Is said ne
| conaded The rest OF his documents and bis
will He died ot phthisis. from which he
1 had been suffering for some time Prince
| Ferdinand in Cons,antinople. and II. HI
| trovo in Toxic. viii learn Of his death
| with curiously mixed feehnes-Fie1aA
/ CORRESPONDENT London Standard
|
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--s,-a, Miller Is easily the poet laur-