The daily Alaskan., 1909-06-10
osssooososeoSs Ss sto stossOssstssss . :: The Fateaof a Spy. :
How q Russian scirclc Handled
 One Of Them.

[Copyrlght. 1909. by American Press Asso-
 ciathonJ
 We don't realize here in America how many undercuTents' there are of foreign influences. For instance. we have thousands of Russian political refugees among us. and we have hun dreds of Russian government spies to watch them. We are us unconscious of the plot and counterplot constantly going on between these two foreign classes as we are of the vast traffic in the subways underlying the city Of New York. It is only when we go down there that we see life and mo- ton, such as are above, and 1t is only when one gets the confidence of a Russian refugee that he is introduced to this constant war between them and the spies.
 Fate led me to such an introduction and enabled me to tell this story. One morning, having injured my watch. l stopped at a watchmaker's shop to have 1t repaired. found there-l will call him Ivan Alexieff-a Russian and went there afterward quite ire quently to get him to do little jobs for me. One morning l found him with his head resting In hlS arms on his work table sobbing convulsively. Then came his confidence. He told me that the year before on that day his brother had been executed in St Petersburg for complicity with n plot to assasslnate the cZar. Ivan AleXien at the same time fled to the United States. He was a gentleman born and. in accordance with custom among his peers to educate their chil- dren to some trade. had learned to be a watchmaker. There were four oth. CT refugees, with whom he met at stated periods for consultation with q view of their mutual protection. Not one of them but had lost some rela- tive either by the executioner or In the desolate wilds of Siberia.
 l became deeply interested in Alex ieff, and he came to confide in me as implicitly as in his fellow refugees. Indeed, l did some detective work for him in this wise: found him one morning in great trlbulation. He told me that some time before a refugee had come to the place and been admit ted to their circle. They now suspect ed that he was spy in the pay of the Russian government Tue man passed under the name of Obicndoff and kept a little cake and candy shop.
 l agreed to make the acquaintance of Oblendoff and see If l could get his confidence and his secret. picked up a child on the street, took him in the shop. bought him candy and chatted with the owner. This repeated often, talked bitterly of asSassins in Russia and in time told him knew of several circles of refugees in that very town. When I told him of the one l did know about gained his confidence. and 1t was not long before went to my friend the watchmaker with un- doubted proof that the suspect was spy.
 A plan was laid. and a meeting of the circle was called, at which the spy was present. The leader locked the door and announced to the members that one of their number was a spy. He then submitted q declaration to every member stating that he had vol untarily committed suicide. All signed the paper. the spy maintaining good nerve and signing with the others. He must have known that he was suspect ed.
 The leaders next move was to take a pistol from desk drawer and show the members that its six chambers were empty. After this he put ball cartridge in one chamber and. hold ing the hammer. turned the cylinder rapidly, giving every member permis- sion to do the same with averted gaze. Thus the position of the cartridge was lost. The leader then took the pistol and slipped a rubber band over the cylinder, holding the weapon under the table while he did so, presumably that no one could see where the car. fridge lay. Then he said;
 "One of us must die, and the spy, whoever he may me, must take his chances with us. l will fire the first shot at myself and if not killed will pass the weapon to my left, each man to fire his in turn"
 Raising the pistol to his temple, he drew the trigger. There was n snap, but no explosion. The second man did the same, with the same result. and so on till the pistol came to the fourth man, the spy. He was white as q sheet, but still held his nerve. Possi- bly, he conceived the affair q bluff that the cartridge was q sham. At any rate, putting the pistol to his tenn pie, he pulled the trigger and fell dead.
 The next morning the papers con- tained an account of a suicide of q stranger, supposed to be Russian. The deed was committed In room the renter of which did not appear, but the suicide left paper acknowledging