The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1904-07-27
their Way
In STA,
Copyright, 1904, by c. B. Lewis. !

- ASN'''''Ass
on strictly lawful business-to look for
the heirs to some property in the west
ern part of the United States. and my
intor nation led me direct to the city
OF Nai'va. Before | had been in the
place two hours the chief of police
called and let me know that was CON
sidered 'suspicious.''
He told me that Peter Bogotf, whose
/. heirs | was seeking had been strongly
4 suspected of nllilism before he died
/ and that warrant would have been
served had he lived das longer This
was as good as telling me that would
| get into trouble if prosecuted any in
| quiries, but foolishly determined to
| beard tie lion in his den.
Thinking l might better carry on the
business from st. Petersburg. l depart
, ed for that city after /, few days and
at once called upon a lawyer He was
| sharp enough to realize that | would
not have taken tie long journey unless
+, the property was of considerable value
and without any beating around the
! bush he told me that he would find the
heirs and put the matter through for
the sum OF $1,000. This was rank rob
| berry, and i refused to submit to it,
and as q result soon discovered that no
lawyer would have anything to do with
the case ut all.
Not only that, but l was soon sum
moned to the office of the chief of po-
lice. He was very polite, but at the
same time it was easy to read his
hypocrisy. He first secured possession
I of my passport, which, he claimed
needed some slight amendment, and
then began to question me- He kept
me Oh the rack for three long hours
and then had the impudence to offer
me his hand as l departed
went straight from his office to
that OF private detective agency to
set inquiries on foot. The superin-
tendent entered into the matter With
considerable earnestness and agreed to
dispatch man to Narva that evening
to secure the wished for Information
returned to the hotel feeling rather
juDilanr at outWittinS the police, but
this state of feeling did not last long.
Within an hour the superintendent of
the agency called to inform me that he
must drop the case, turning me OFT
With the excuse that he was too busy
to attend to it.
He had scarcely departed before the
proprietor of the hotel came TO my
room and politely asked me to vacsste
it. He would not admit that it was the
work OF the police. but / had no tu,u-
Bile in coming to that conclusion.
| | finally got rooms in a boarding
house after being refused at every
! other hotel. ans; for a week the police
| let me alone. had made the long jour
| ncy to find the heirs of Bogotf and.
close a deal for the land. | had not
been provided with money to bride any
one, and | must either defy the police
| and work up the case single handed OF
return and report a failure.
| Being firmly convinced that Mrs. Bo-
| goff was in Narva, | secretly left the
| capital for that town one night Secur-
| ing rooms in Il boarding house after
| my arrival and Disgusting my personal
| appearance to Il considerable extent, |
| prosecuted my inquiries under one ex-
cuse ana another until | at length dis
| covered the woman. She was living in
her own house and in poor circ,lln-
stances and was rejoiced ut the pros
poets of selling the land
| now had to give my case away by
| calling on notary to make out the pa
pers, and in less than half a day the
police were at my heels again. They
not only warned every notary at Mar
| va, but the widow was obliged to flee
the city and go into hiding.
Things might have stopped there had
been cool and placid man. When
found the police bounding me again
lost my temper and gave the chief my
candid opinion of things in general and
of his own conduct in particular. AS a
natural sequence l was promptly ar
rested. though just what the technical
charge was | never learned.
was taken to Jail and confined in a
cell with man waiting trial for rob
berry. He seemed to be thorough
villain, but as he could not speak a
word of English nor a word of Rus
sian we hit it off by letting each other
severely alone AS soon as incarcerated
| asked to communicate with the Amer
lean minister, but was refused.
On the third day the chief of police
sent for me and asked me if would
leave Russia if given my liberty. | re-
piled in the negative and was returned
to prison My threats that the matter
would be thoroughly sifted by our rep
resentative only made him smile. and
he quietly informed me that he would
keep me in prison for the rest of my
life IT did not agree to his terms.
On the seventh day he sent for me
again. | had now changed nv mind.
realizing that | could even be sent on
TO Siberia If the police so desired and
that there was no longer the slightest
hope of accomplishing my GRAND. |
therefore answered him that | was