The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-09
\ RUSSIAN CONSPIRATOR.
RETREAT OF Nv EXILED PRIEST
NEAR SAN FRANCISCO.

Holy synod and Plotter AgninHt the
Great white CZar-His Grave Already
Dug While He Prints Tracts, Gnth-
ers Honey and Dreams of Spies.
80. II you please. we will go to my grave"
It was an unusual remark to be made at the
end OF a meal In the open air on q placid hill
side within eyeshot OF San Francisco: but none
OF the surroundings could well be classed as
commonplace and usual. II was a day in
March. yet the air was so balmy that n meal
out OF doors in the shade OF a spreading live
oak WIS by no means out Of place. On the
breeze came the odorous revelation Of a spread
ing field OF mignonette blooming Ike weeds.
Near by was a stretch OF acres OF the racy
clover OF the Attic hills. "clover from
the warm slopes Of Hymettus." the gar
dener explained. "for I sent for the
seed at the same time that I sent to Hybla for
the bees which made this honey: 1t is tho
honey Of Greece The meal itself had been
out OF the m There had been caviare OF
the roe OF sturgeon that had swum the Volga.
there had been anchovies from Archangel
picked by the monks Of the Troitsa. there had
been mead such rs put courage into the hearts
OF the Cossacks Of the Don iltheir long strug-
gle against the Varangian, there had been tea
broken from a brick which carried the seven
seals Of Kiakhta on the dessert confines o!
Mongolia, and the tabacco with which the host
wound UP his meal was grown In Russia and
his cigarette he called q pdpfros. 30 It was
quite In keeping when he cheerily pro-
posed a visit to his grave. Yet on the hori-
zon was tho smoke OF San Francisco with
it's intense American life: In the nearer
view were the farms Of fruit growers who were
altogether American along the shore Of the
bay. not four miles away. we're the industrious
fishers OF shrimps. Chinese. Dalmatinns and
Maltaaa. tho land tfaalf m rria5 tho an n (, a aiupa
OF national admixture in its name. for 1t was n
part OF the old spanish Rancho del Nueces y
Bolbones. With such surroundings II seemed
more natural to sit at meat after the unfailing
hospitality OF the Russian bread and salt and
then 60 to the grave Of the host. Unfamiliarity
may predicate a certain grimness about such n
proceeding: really it was very simple.
The host led the way through an orchard OF
gnarled and stubby olives, with every branch
weighed down with the purple fruit He and
the bees were on good terms. for he brushed
the industrious swarms aside as they flew
heavy back to the hives. Here and there he
turned aside to avoid crushing some one Of the
wild flowers which encroached on the we'll
worn trail. 1T came to my hospitality he
remarked with natural simplicity: Il cannot
make the flower | might crush with my tread.
but l can walk around it," Around an outcrop
OF rock the path was steep and narrow. lust u
little difficult Of passage. Thinking OF the
goal to which the path led. he said: Per
haps | shall not pass here easily some
day. but. after all. what matter? The
road to the grave is not easy for anv
of us. But keep TO the right and YOU will find
my path passable keep always to the right
and the path to the grave is not so difficult, and
here is my grave. | have dug it here where
the sun may shine forever and the breezes
blow and nv Attic bees come ana make honey.
II Is all arranged when | shall die. My wife
shall dress me in my robes OF priest. the men
from the ranch below shall carry mo here and
lay me in this grave and cover me up. and the
spies shall report TO the Chief Of the Third Sec
ton tho end Of Agapios Honcharenko. priest
and hereto. nlotter for liberty and exile"
All OF the things thus briefly scheduled this
simple mouiik has been before he found a ref
uge in the hills at the back Of Haywards. on the
road that leads across the Contra Costa range.
and not more than n dozen miles from San
Francisco across the bay. Here In almost un-
neighborly solitude he has made his hons a
refuge and an asylum for the tricklinG stream
OF "politicals' who find their way out OF Sibe-
ria and OF Saghalien. The purpose is plain to
all who can spell out the Kyrillic letters OF the
signboard which extends across the gable OF
the little cottage and can interpret its single
word "Svobo1a." the LIBERTY which Rus
sia seeks. 10 which this exile with n
price upon his head has devoted a life Of
enthusiastic and peaceful propaganda. For
he is not a Nihilist. although the few who
know him for more than a peddler Of the most
savory honey in all California call him such.
They DO not know. but | an really not
Nihilist he calls il Nigilist-"I am Deka-
brist. what in English you call Decembrist. ="
That does not seem to make it any clearer. but
the fact remains that he is ono of the many
who fight against the Great White Car. and
with the egotism OF the Russian race and Of the
plotter. no matter what the race may be. he
feels that heaven may be far and the Car may
be high vet his plotting In the California hills
is duly reported to the autocrat's own ears in
the Winter Palace.
II calls for enthusiasm even up to the point
OF insanity TO have the thoughts which have
carried this man through a life SO picturesque
and complicated that only the half-tamed
Scythian can compass it. According to his own
story. which he will tell when he has assured
himself that the visitor is not a police agent.
he has been An innocent and peaceful POTTER
all his life. The details he communicates to
few. He fears the secret police. and he knows
their many guises. There is a Russian Consul
General in San Francisco. and this lonely exile
in the hills sees his agents in the tramp and
the farmer and tho few others who pass along
the lltfle-usad road wnlrh leads over the divide
to the sparsely settled country beyond. There
ia. too. in San Francisco a Bishop Of the Or
thodox rite. and the spies of the Consul NAV
also be the spies OF the Bishop. for the Car
wants to keep the right paw Of the bear within
reach Of the plotter. and the Holy Synod has
the left paw forever clutching at the hereto.
1t is all a m~elodramatic idea of living in plot
and counte rplot, but It ia very real TO the man
himself: he believes it. and it may be true.
The exile is a native NJ the richest plains Of
Russia. the Tchernosiem or Black Earth. and
he never forgets the luXuriance Of the flowers
which carpeted the fields OF his childhood. a
pleasant memory and n simple one. for despite
the completely Of his plots and his fears this
intriguer is almost childlike In his simplicity.
He was reared in Kiev the Holy. and there is
an ancient hostility between Kiev and Moscow.
which makes it easy for the man OF Kiev to plot
against the Muscovite and the whole imperial
system. He was educated in the service of the
altar and under the painted eyes Of the sacred
icons ot the byzantine saints and martyrs.
Nnk,~olIB Iva kaaop a n nriaa a ,,illu,K Ano