The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-07-31

went on for four or five months. Thel
one night, my friend the NihiIist cam
to me In great excite nnent and told M
the new recruit was a Russian spy.
cOuldn' believe it; it so unded too melo
dramatic; but he showed me letter thal
was convincing. 1t came from a reliable
correspondent in Germany, inclosed thu
fellow S photograph and gave his com.
plete record. lie was secret agent OF
some note. Luckily he hadn t been taken
into fuII confidence, so he had learned
nothing worth telling, and, while the
others were debating what to do With
him, he suddenly took the alarm and de-
camped between suns. Had he remained
he would undoubtedly have met with Fan
accident, and l suppose / would have
been an accessory before the fact That
was one case that came under my person
al observation. On another occasion a
Russian spy came here to locate q couple
of Nihilists who had been journalists in
st. Petersburg. He found one Of hem
working in q shoe shop, disclosed hia
identity frankly and told the refugee to
be perfectly tranquil. He said he was
sending in fake reports to the govern
ment simply to get expense and money,
and proposed that they work UP q big
Nihilist scare and divide what they could
squeeze out of the Secret Service bureau.
The proposition was politely declined
/ saw the fellow S papers and credentials
myself; they were undoubtedly genuine,
'The expense of maintaining such
service must have been enormous, ard
since New Orleans was so closely watched
one can imagine the elaborate espionage
that was no doubt maintained in some
OF the northern cities which have large
Russian colonies. There were very few
traitors among the Nihilists themselves,
and during my acquaintance With the To-
cal group l knew Of but one instance of
ha a y1l0 CT Iynr n
ounement A man who had betrayed
several OF his comrades came o.cthig
country for safety, and, III / remember
rightly first settled in Mobile. His pres
euce was known to the brotherhood,
which simply ignored him, and, as
matter of fact, he was in no danger what
ever, but the villain was tOrmented by
the fear Of retribution and the idea final
Is developed mo an absolute mania H(
left mobile and went from one place bC
another, occasionally appealing to the
police for protection and finally landed at
Galveston. | heard of the case through
the newspapers ana asked my friend con-
iidentially whether the man was really
apt to be mOlested. Not in the least, he
replied, we can t 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 Dadgered, phantom haunted wretch
Cl5pU l1lo bAG OOkIAG1 vi q NtACAAU lob dDl
shot himself through the heart So you
see there is a good deal OF unsupported
drama ana tragedy beneath the prosaic
surface OF everyday life and ii we knew
only fraction OF what is going on all
around us / dare say we would lose our
taste for the theatre and the novel
speak somewhat freely OF these expert
ences because my little friend tho watch
maker has been dead these half dozen
years. poor fellow, and l doubt whether
a single one OF his old companions IN
misfortune is still living in New Orleans.