The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-11-21
Select Storp.
OLGA'S ESCAPE.
From Snort Stories.

In November, 1879, Olga fell into the
hands of the police. 1t should be ex-
planned that when these succeed in arrest
ing a nihilist they always leave in the
apartments of the captured persons few
men to take into custody any one who may
come to see that person. In our language
this is called trap. Owing to the Rus
sian habit of arranging everything at home
and not in the cafes, as in Europe, the
nihilists are often compelled to go to each
others houses, and thus these traps be-
come fatal In order +" diminish the risk
safety signals are generally placed in the
windows and are taken away at the first
sound of the police But owing to the
negligence of the nihilists themselves, ac-
customed as they are to danger, and SO
occupied that they sometimes have not
time to eat mouthful all day long, the
absence of these singnals is often disre-
garded or attributed to some combination
of circumstances difficulty, or perhaps
the typographical impossibility, of placing
signals in many apartments in such man
ner that they can be seen from distance.
This measure of public security frequently,
therefore, does not answer its purpose, and
good half of all the nihilists who have
fallen into the hands of the government
have been caught in these very traps
A precisely similar misfortune happened
to Olga, and the worst of it was it was in
the house of Alexander Kviatkovsky, one
of the terrorist leaders, where the police
found perfect magazine of dynamite
bombs and similar things, together with Il
plan of the Winter palace, which, after
the explosion there, led to his capital con-
viction. As may readily be believed, the
police would regard with anything but ia
vorable eyes every one who came to the
house of such man.
Directly she entered, Olga was imme
diately seized by two policemen in order to
prevent her from defending herself. She,
however, displayed not the slightest desire
to. She feigned surprise, establishment,
and invented there and then the story that
she had come to see some dressmakers
(who had, in fact, their names on the
doorplate below and occupied the upper
fioor) for the purpose of ordering some
thing, but had mistaken the door; that she
did not know what they wanted with her
and wished to return to her husband, etc.,
the usual subterfuge, to which the police
are accustomed to turn deaf ear. But
Olga played her part SO well that the
pristav, or head of the police of the dis
trict, was really inclined to believe her.
He told her that anyhow, if she did not
wish to be Immediately taken to prison,
she must give her name and conduct him
to her own house. Olga give the first
name that came into her mind, which,
naturally enough, was not that under which
she was residing in the capital, but as to
her place of residence she declared, with
every demonstration of profound despair,
that she could not and would not take
him there or say where it was. The
pristay insisted, and, upon her reiterated
refusal, observed to the poor, simple thing
that her obstinacy was not only prejudicial
to her, but even useless, as, knowing her
name, he would have no difficulty in send
ing some one to the Adressui Stol and OBJ
tanning her address Struck by this unan-
swerable argument, Olga said she would
take him to her house.
No sooner had she descended into the
street, accompanied by the pristav and
some of his subalterns, than Olga met a
friend, Nine Maria A., who was going
to Kviatkovsky's, where a meeting of ter
rorists had actually been fixed for that
very day 1t was to this chance meeting
that the terrorists owed their escape from
the very grave danger which threatened
them, for the windows of Kviatkoysky' $
rooms were so placed that it was impossible
to see any signals there from the street.
Naturally enough, the two friends made
no sign to indicate that they were ac-
quainted with each other, but Nine. Maria
A., on seeing Olga with the police, ran in
all haste to inform her friends of the arrest
of their companion, about which there
could be no doubt
The first to be warned was Nicholas
Morosoff, as the police in short time
would undoubtedly GO to his house and
make the customary search. Olga felt
certain that this was precisely what her
friend would do, and therefore her sole
object now was to delay her custodians so
as to give Morosof time to ''clear' his
rooms-thatis to say, destroy OF take away
papers and everything compromising and
to get away himself 1t was this that she
was anxious about, for he had been ac-
cused by the traitor Gcldenberg of having
taken part in the mining work connected
with the Moscow attempt, and by the
Russian law was liable to the penalty of
death.
Greatly embroidered by this lucky meet