The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-12-28

committee, that the existence Of
this underground room, far below
the street level, was as yet unsus
pected by the police. More thar
that. the existence of the Commit
tee OF Ten as an organization wai
unknown to the department, not
withstanding the fact that It had
been working quietly, seriously fol
more than a year.
The Committee of Ten repre-
sented the brains and the activity
of a rabid coterie in Edelweiss
among themselves styled the Party
OF Equals. In plain language
they were Reds" Less thar
fifty persons in Graustark were at
filiated with this particular com.
munity of anarchists. For more
than year they had been prepar.
ing themselves against the all.
important hour for public declara.
tion. Their ranks had been aug.
mented by occasional recruits from
other lands; their literature was
circulated stealthily; their opera.
lions were as secret as the grave
so far as the outside world was
concerned. And so the poison
sprung up and thrived unhindered
in the room below the street
growing in virulence and power
under the very noses of the vaunt.
ed police of Edelweiss, slowly de-
veloping into power that would
some day assert itself with dia.
bolical fury.
There were men and womer
from Explain and Dawsbergen il
this seed circle that made Edel
weiss it's spreading ground. They
were Reds of the most dangerous
type-silent, voiceless, crafty mer
and women who built we'll without
noise, and who gave out nothing
to the world from which they ex,
pected to take so much.
The nominal leader was William
Spantz, he who had son in the
princes household, Julius Spantz
the master-of-arms. Far off in
the hills above the Danube there
lived the real leader of this dead.
ly group-the Iron Count Mar.
lanx, exile from the land of his
birth, hated and execrated by ev.
cry loyal Graustarkian, hating and
execrating in return with a ten.
fold greater venom. Marlanx, the
man who had been driven from
wealth and power by the sharI
edict of Prince Robins mother
the lamented Yetive, in the days OF
her most glorious reign,-this
man, deep in his raging heart, was
in complete accord with the des
perate band of Reds who breaches
equality and planned disaster.
Olga Platanova was the --latest
acquisition to this select circle. A
word concerning her: she was the
daughter of Professor Platanova
one time oculist and sociologist il
a large German university. HI
had been one of the most brillian
men in Europe and a member of {
noble family. There was welcome
for him in the homes of the no
bility; he hobnobbed, so to speak
with the leading men of the EN-
|, pire. The Platanova home il
Warsaw was one of the most in
viting and exclusive in that grea
city. The professors enthusiasm
finally carried him from the con
sentative paths in which he hal
walked; after he had passed hi
fiftieth year he became an avoweC
leader among the anarchists anC
revolutionists in Poland, his ma
tive state. Less than a year be
fore the opening of this tale h,
was executed for treason anC
conspiracy against the empire.
His daughter, Olga, was recog
nized as one of the, most beautiful
and cultured young women il
Warsaw. Her suitors seemed t
be without number; nor were they
confined to the student and unit
tied classes with whom she wa!
naturally thrown by force of cir
cumstance. More than one lordly
adventurer in the lists of love pait
homage to her grace and beauty
Finally there came one who con
quered and was beloved. He was
the son of a mighty duke, a prince
of the blood.
1t was true love for the both OF
them. The young prince pledged