Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-01

Re would have ended his own life before
his arrest. The last time he sat at mess
with his brother officers his commanding
officer had whispered to him: There is a
pistol on the table in the next room. Be
careful how you handle tit is loaded
Perhaps buOyed up by some fallacious
hope. Won Landsberg had elected to stand
his trial. The case went against him,
| and he was sentenced to transportation to
the prison island of Saghalien.
Saghalien.
To most people Saghalien is mere
geographical expression. infinitely less
suggestive OF any definite idea than the
famous old lady found that blessed word.
Mesopotamia." We know it as it lies ON
the map, like the stranded body of some
weird sea monster off the rocky and In
hOspitabfe coast of Siberia, bounded by
the sullen waters of the Gulf of Tartary,
the stormy waves Of La Perouse and the
vast. foggy expanse of the Sea of Ok
hotsk. But to the Russian it is a word
Of dread significance. 1t indicates the
Ultima Thule of human misery. 1t is the
one word which falls on Russian ears
with more terrible sound than Siberia -
For it is to Siberia what Siberia is to
Dartmoor-What hell is to purgatory.
There are people alive today who have
escaped from Siberia, but no man has
ever escaped from Saghalien except by
the gate of death.
To this dread bourne was relegated the
one-t time pet of the dandy brigade Of the
Russian Imperial Guard For close on
thirty years he lived there. rising from
grade to grade in the grim hierarchy of
convict society. AT first. "Katouchnik'
"a convict chained to wheelbarrow !;
after free settler under police super
vision: at last. free man-free in all but
that most passionately desired liberty
which would have permitted him to quit
the scene of his long expiation There
are hearts in which hope and the capac-
ity of effort die hard. Now, under a
luckier star. Won Landsberg might have
achieved true greatness Crippled and
hopeless as his effort was. he forced his
way TO recognition and consideration. He
organized big sand prosperous business
as the agent of navigation company
and when the final summons came 1t
found him wealthy man.
A Benevolent Shylock.
\ commonplace story. after all, one
might say. But under its rather banal
tragedy lies a terror and a mystery What
Tailyrand said of the execution the
Prince d'Euehia-that it was worse than
a crime-a blunder-was terribly true of
the murder of Wlassow. The old Shyiock
Of ST. Petersburg was man of humor
His jokes were often of a rather caustic
kind. and there must have been may oc-
casions on which he was the only me who
laughed. But. under all, he would appear
to have possessed heart capable of af-
fection-capable even Of forging that
dearest Of triumphs to the usurer, the So
lidification into gold of the very problem
atical I O Us Of a pennless client. He
had stuck loyalty by Won Landsberg had
taken a strong interest in his career, had
SO to speak, backed him in the race Of
life
When Won Landsberg had become en-
gagged to the daughter of the great gen.
eral, he had announced the fact to Villas
SOW. The old man had professed himself
greatly del GIFTED. II have surprise In
store for YOU" he said. "Wait-just wait
till your wedding day" Possibly. the lieu
tenants name had been stained by even
sraver troubles than those of which Villas
sow was the depository. That can never
be known. but the old ma s words would
seem to- have shocked him with terrible
sense of ensuing disaster. AS he read
them, they conveyed veiied threat. He
fancied that Wlassow meant to send in
a detailed statement of his debts to Gen.
Won Tcdlehen. Such proceeding would
wreck his marriage which was his one
chance of social redemption. At any cost.
that must be prevented. What happened
we know. He killed the old Insurer. and
In a hurried search found in his desk the
bonds for the repayment OF the sums he
had borrowed
But what he did not find, and of which,
Tor many years of terrible exile in Sag
halien, he remained ignorant. was letter
written 10 him by Wlassow i'm anticipation
OF his wedding day. The surprise" which