Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-30
RUSSIAN POLICE CHIEF
MAY BE BOMB PL0TTER
SlaV Sherlock Holmes Declares
Trusted Official Is Under Sentence
for Organizing Conspiracy
Against Car

JNN'''0~
PARIS, July 29.-One of the most
extraordinary police scandals of mod
ern times has been revealed in Paris. |
Vladimir Bourtzeff, the Russian Sher-
lock Holmes, who unveiled the mystery
of Azeff (who was both police spy and
terrorisQ, declares that one of theI
chiefs Of the Russian secret police inI
Paris was sentenced by the French
courts in 1890 to five years imprison-
ment as organizer of the plot against
the late Car Alexander III.
This amazing accusation, which
Bourtzeff declares he can fully substan-
tiate. was first made to NJ. Jean Jaures,
director of the journal Humanite, and
a member Of the chamber of deputies.
and afterward repeated in a written
denunciation to the minister of justice
II have absolute proof Bourtzeff
said, that this Russian police official,
who holds a high military rank, as we'll
! as one of the most coveted decorations
| In Europe, is in reality a convict, open
| to arrest any moment and to impris-
onment for the crime he committed
nineteen years ago"
When Bourtzeff went to NJ. Paures
with his almost incredible story M.
! Paures advised him to write to the
| minister of justice. In his letter TO that
minister Bourtzeff said:
II have the honor to lay the follow
| ing facts before you:
in July, 1890, a man named --,
! whose real name is ---, was sentenced
| in his absence by the criminal court of
! the Seine department to five years inn
| prisonment as the chief organizer of a
! dynamite outrage-eseaped and could
| not be found.
II made the acquaintance of this man
! in 1890, and was in close personal touch
with him for fullV wear
Il have the honor to draw your at
| tention to the fact that the so-called
- (giving the name by which theI
Russian police official is known alias
-, alias -, who lives in Paris and
| is personally known to NJ. Hamard, the
| chief Of the Paris detective force, and
to other officials, who occupied an Off
cial position in Paris is no other than
the man -.
"I hold the proofs of his identity at
your disposal and the object of this
letter is to ask you to arrest the said
-, otherwise =. I am entirely att
your disposal for all information on the
subject which you may require"
Twelve Arrested
The plot against Gar Alexander I'LL
was organized in Paris, and bombs
were manufactured here. There was a
| large colony of terrorists in Paris at
the time. twelve of whom were arrested
and brought to trial. When the czar
| heard of their arrest he is reported tol
have said AT last the French have al
government"
During the trial Of the twelve terror
lists NJ. Millerand their lawyer, de-
clared that the principal criminal had
nysteriously escaped, and that ne
would in the course of time prove to bel
a police agent. The court, without TAX
ing any notice of this statement, SEN
fenced the twelve men to three years
imprisonment. and their leader, who
bad escaped, to five years by default.
1t was this man whom Vladimir
Bourtzeff now declares to be identical
with the prominent Russian police
agent in Paris whom he denounces
When efforts were made to find this
police official it was said that he had
left France. No information regarding
his whereabouts could be Obtained at
the Russian embassy.
When Rourtzeff was asked how he
came to make this extraordinary dis
covery, and if he was certain that his
letter to the minister of Justice was
iustifable, he said:
81 have been looking for - the
leader of the tcrrorists who plotted
against Alexander I'D, since 1890. and
now I am absolutely certain that ne
and --- of the Russian secret service
police are the same person. Il
81 have a we'll organized service or
counter espionage under my conlrol'
While I was unraveling the Azeff mys-
terry my aide-de-camp, Bakai, the for
mer chief Of the warsaw secret police
told me that -, the Russian police
agent now accuse, had been an agent !
provocateur of Importance.
1.-TWO years ago very high official in |
the police told me that --, the leader
of the terrorsts of 1890, was living in
Germany. where he was drawing a
large pention. | did not believe that nc !
had told me everything, and so ] began
tc make every effort to find out the
whole truth
Links Identity
"some months ago l learned that the
missing terrorist had become a mem
her of the police charged with the per
sonal protection of the czar. At the
same time I was told that he was in
South Africa. Then l was told that ne
was dead.
ut is too long a story to explain in
detail now how l finally linked the
identity of the present police otlclat
with that of the terrorist who was SEN
fenced to five years Imprisonment in
1890, but l finally succeeded in doing So
Little by little acquired the neces-
sary nroof and finally I realized that
the secret service official and the GRIM
inal whom ! had known in 1890 We're
one and the same man. In FEBRUARY or
this year. when the Azeff affair was at
its height, | learned from an unlm-
peachable source that the man was in
a state of nervous terror, and that he
feared discovery. The time had not yet
come to unmask him, but had letters
and SIGNATURES which proved my case, |
and evidence of which I will tell ater
"In Azeff's affair | proved that Ras-
kline and Azeff were the same man.
am equally sure that the present official
and the convict are the same, and my
proof is equally conclusive in MS case.
THE affair is likely to cause tremen- |
dous sensation, Bourtzeff's accusation
coming on the eve of the czar's visit to
Cherbourg.