The Portland daily press., 1900-09-15
THE RUSSIAN POLICE.
Its Secret Service Spies Work
All Over the World.

OmciaIs In Russia on Plots That
May BE Matching Abroad.
"The Russian secret police have always
been popular stock characters in sensa-
tional novels" said a man who generally
knows what he is talking about, ''but, of
course, the average reader has his private
doubts about such people really existing
That, let me inform you, is where the
average reader is mistaken. During the
reign of the late czar, when nihilism was
rampant and refugees were coming here
by the shipload, the imperial govern
ment had a small army of spies all over
the world to keep track of the movements
Of exiled revolutionary leaders. 1t was
their business to ingratiate themselves
with the suspects, pretend sympathy with
the cause and post the officials as to any
mischief that might be Matching abroad
"a number Of years ago, to cite a case
in point which can't harm anybody at
present 1 made the acquaintance of
a little Russian matchmaker who lived
on Bourbon street and was a remarkably
well educated and interesting fellow. We
meet so many we'll educated foreigners,
however, in all kinds of stations that /
never suspected there was anything out
Of the commonplace in this mans history
until one day when we were taking din
ner together he suddenly burst into tears.
/ was astonished, and he told me, in
much agitation, that the day was the an
niversary Of the death of his brother and
that he had been trying in vain all morn
ing to control himself. The brother was
hanged at St. Petersburg for completely
in the assassination Of the car. Once
the ice was broken the little man made
me to some extent his confdant, and
learned many curious things about the
nihilst refugees. He was the son of n
Russian gentleman of wealth; but, like
most children of the upper classes, he
had been taught a trade Consequently
he had matchmaking to fall back on
when he was forced to fly with many 9TH
er reyolutionists after the ear was killed.
However, to get back to the secret
service: There were at that time ten or a
dozen nihilist refugees in New Orleans,
and they used to meet regularly in a
room on Cont street to talk things over.
One day a new exile turned up in the per-
son of a young man who claimed to have
been run out of Moscow as a suspect.
He was not a member of the order, but
he professed warm sympathy for it and
was gradually accepted as a comrade by
the others. / used to hear great deal
about him from the little matchmaker,
who was naturally generous and unsus-
picious and had been impressed by his
zeal and enthusiasm. That sort of thing
: went on for four or five months. Then
one night my friend, the nihilist, came to
me in great excitement and told me the
new recruit was a Russian spy.
couldn't believe it; it sounded too melo-
dramatic, but he showed me q letter that
was convincing. 1t came from a reliable
correspondent in Germany, inclosed the
fellows photograph and gave his COM
plete record. He was n secret agent Of
some note. Luckily he hadn't been taken
into full confidence, so he had learned
nothing worth telling, and while the 9TH
ers were debating what to do with him
he suddenly took the alarm and decamp-
cd between suns. Had he remained he
would undoubtedly have met with an ac-
cident, and ! suppose / would have been
an accessory before the fact. That was
the case that came under my personal OBJ
servation. On another occasion q Rus
sian spy came here to locate n couple of
nihilsts who had been journalists in ST.
Petersburg. He found one of them work
ing in n shoeshoD disclosed his identity
frankly and told he refugee to be per-
fectly tranquil. He said he was sending
in fake reports to the government simply
they work up a big nihilist scare and de
vide what they could squeeze out Of the
secret service bureau. The proposition
was politely declined. / saw the fellows
papers and credentials myself they were
undoubtedly genuine.
1.-THE expense Of maintaining such a
service must have been enormous, and
since New Orleans was so closely watch
ed, one can imagine the elaborate espion-
age that was no doubt maintained in
some of the northern cities which have
large Russian colonies. There were very
few traitors among the nihilists them
selves and during my acquaintance with
the local group / knew of but one in
stance Of that kind. 1t had n most dra-
matte denouement A man who had be-
trayed several Of his comrades in Russia
came to this country for safety, and, IL
remember rightly, first settled in Mobile.
His presence was known to the brother
hood, which simply ignored him, and, as
a matter of fact, he was in no danger
whatever, but the villain was tormented
by the fear of retribution, and the idea
finally developed into an absolute mania
lie left Mobile and went from one place
to another, occasionally appealing to the
police for protection and finally landed
at Galveston. / heard Of the case through
the newspapers and asked my friend con-
fdentially whether the man was really
apt to be molested. Not in the least he
replied. We cannot afford to get into
trouble over him, and, besides, we feel
safe in leaving him to his Conscience
AS events proved they were quite right.
/ The badgered, phantom haunted wretch
crept into the corner Of a vacant lot and
shot himself through the heart. So, you
see, there is a good deal Of unsupported
drama and tragedy beneath the prosaic
surface of everyday life, and if we knew
only a fraction of what is going on all
around us ] dare say we would lose our
taste for the theater and the novel. /
speak somewhat freely of these expe-