The sun., 1899-02-05
CAPT. PRICE A L1NGUIST.
HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN, CERTAINLY, AND
HE LEARNED 1T IN ALASKA.

E1perience as Private in Uncle SANS
Arny-His Meeting Here with Rus
sian Onicer Two Indian Outbreaks.
A big man built like an athlete entered the
| Teuderloln police station one plight last week.
The mans clothes and bearing stamped him
as n foreigner. He wore hRh-heel boots and
cap that might have been worn By United
States army officer whom on duty II II wasn't
devoid Of gold braid. The mans light brown
beard was cut In peculiar fashion. and us
he approached the SerGeant's desk he at
tracted tho attention OF half dozen plain
clothes men who we're chatting In corner OF
the room The embryo detective came for
ward as tho newcomer removed his cap and
stood waiting the SerReants attention.
Bet he's been touched for his roll" said
ono OF the plain clothes men.
Il guess it's 'squear all right" whispered
another.
what do you want. slr?" asked the Sergeant
btusquey.
The newcomer spoke In u strange tongue
that bafIled his listeners. After deal OF talk
ing and ResticulatinR on both sides the stran-
ger managed to make known that he was lost.
Detectives never lose chance to show their
cleverness, and here was an opportunity too
good to be neglected. They threw broad
sides OF east eide and Mulberry Bend iarRon
at the stranger. but to their surprise he did
not understand
Hes not Yiddish." said one OF the deteo-
hves.
Nor he isn't 'Rlnny," said another OF the
amateur llnguists.
The stranger was still Gesticulating and
trying to make himself understood when
the station house door opened and Cant.
Price. accompanied by several frends. en-
tered. Capt. Price looked at the unknown
hafp ho la nnnrpnnhnd
to the surprise of the other men present and
the intense delight Of the. stranger. addressed
him in the tongue he had been trying to make
others understand The stranger literally
hugged the Police Captain as .ho poured forth
torrent OF words Price talked huenty in
tho strangers tongue and at the first break in
the two-sided confab he explained the stran-
gers nationality.
He is a Russian who is visiting this coun-
try with several OF his countrymen. He is
stopping at the Waldorf Astoria and tonight
after dinner he wandered too far away from
the hotel and got lost. One OF you plain clothes
men take him over to the hotel.'
That's new one on me. Price" said one OF
the Captains friends after the Russian had
departed when did you learn Russian?"
"A good many years ago" said Price. Come
into my office and be comfortable. and II tell
you how and where learned the language
1T is not generally known by my friends"
began the Police CAPTAIN. that was once in
the United States Army. l enlisted as pri-
vate in tho Second United States Artillery
when l was 10 years old. and was assigned
to Battery H. That was in 1855. Two
years later the negotiations began be-
tween Russia and the United States as to
the purchase of Alaska. The price agreed
upon was S7.200.OOO. as some of you know
l. t1,nn
ment sent men north to take possession. Bat
terry II of the Second United States Artillery
was doing service on the coast when it
ordered to proceed to Alaska. The American
soldiers who we're sent north to place the
Stars and Stripes over the newly acquired ter
ritory were under the command OF Gen. JEFF
the military commander OF Alaska On Oct
lS. 1857. the territory formally passed over to
the United States. Gen. Lowell II. Rousseau.
receive 1t. '.'
Upon the arrival of the American troops in
then The seat OF the Russian Military Cover
nor: sitka Is on Baronot Island, the island
o4nded Us hs Town oi Sk The @
dwelling in Sitka in those days was Baronoif
Castle where the Russian Military Governor
sutoff by name. The second day after our ar
rival in Sitka a son was born to Prince Max
"The Russians are great people for having
a big time at birth or marriage or feast
day OF any Kind The @rrSa tS Of new heir
the biggest kind Of blowout.
Now | am going to skip from Alaska to
SgT IN Apr I aa Three Rmssan
warships. the Dimitr Donskoi. the General
Admiral. and the kSndS d. renresented n & the the Gar
rade. Aprl %. was in charge, of several un-
toonS OF police In forty-second street l vas
marines ana sailors from the British warshiDS
passed BY; The Russian sailors and marines
street as the Britishers came to a halt not far
from where was standing. The officer in
charge Of the fISs1ns bi eYden1y N WAS as at o
ing line / accosted him and bid him the
time TN Of ,,lp, day in his own tongue He greeted
We follow the British he said. Are we
The British are directly ahead of you.
so surprised was the Russian at finding a
New York policeman familiar with his own
he came back to talk with me. He brought
back tine-lookng young man. who wore the
uniform OF a l-ieutenant.
Captain he said to me. let me introduce
to you, my worthy friend and fellow officer
That name was strangely familiar. to me-
prise Of the two officers I knew 9i a Russian
ernor OF Alaska when the Territory was sold to
the npsd S Soes Ths second hsy nes The
\
u son was born TO the Military Governor
" i am that son. said the Lieutenant
That made us friends. They insisted on
nv paying them visit on board the Dimitri
Donskoi. ! spent whole Gay aboard the
warshlp and was treated royalty. In fact, |
don't think ! ever mad u better time. Both
officers and men treated me as II j was OF
ITO get back to my experiences in Alaska
Sitka was a Russian penal colony for years be-
fore II became our property. The majority of
the inhabitants were Indians. There We're
many Russian families liy ing In the city and
II was from them ] picked up what know of
their language II was often very useful to
me in Alaska. But the Indian jargon that |
learned was # the greatest help 10 me. Be
cause of nv slight knowledge OF the two Ian
Ruages / waR allowed many privileges that |
other privatcs did not enjoy.
There we're half dozen tribes OF Indians |
In Alaska in those days. Tho best known
tribe was the Aleuts. There was a stockade |
about the city of Sitka and the Indians in that
vicinity lived in small huts outside of the
the BOYS did everything In their power TO be on
friendly terms with the Indians.
The Hudson Bay COmpany had printed for |
the use OF its agents and employees a book Of |
the Indian InrgOn. | got hold OF a copy OF the |
book and soon learned its contents With |
what pick ed up besides | coLll make known |
my wants to the indians This pleased them |
Immensely and ANYTHING they had that / |
wanted | would get. The boys didn't get |
much fresh meat in those days from the States. |