Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-24
IAN ENCOUNTER WITH THE POLICE
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago Record

the request of the American ambassador.
long breath.
Then he began to reprimand his SUBJ
ordinate, tapping the word american" in
the permit with his fore
Numerous finger with increasing
n. force as he uttered tor
rent of sounds that had
no meaning to US. Then he folded up the
passports and asked me a series Of ques-
tons: the same that had been answered
by our dragoman through his subordinate
q few moments before. as to who we
were, where we were going, the nature
of our business, etc.
I answered him frankly and fully, and
showed him an open letter in the Rus
sian language. addressed Ito all whom
1t may concern" and signed by Baron
Rosen, the Russian ambassador at wash
ington, introducing and commencing me
as q person Of respectable and MS
personal friend for twenty-five years and
bespeak3ng for me such attentions and
favors as might promote my mission
Baron Rosen explained that I was visit
ing Turkesstan for the purpose of writ
ing newspaper letters; that I had no
prejudices, and was entirely fair and inn
partial.
How did you come by this letter? p"
asked the colonel. And why did you
not show it before?" And he appeared
to be quite indignant that / had not
handed 1t to him with my passport
explained that he had asked for my pass
port only. and that this letter was en-
tirely unofficial, and only for the purpose
OF making things smooth for me in case
any question was raised about my iden-
tity or my business. 1 took from the
NN01y4 f Z.
duction to people in Turkestan. including
one bearing a great red seal. addressed
to the viceroy and commander-in-chief.
He examined them carefully and was
very much impressed. The letter to the
viceroy seemed to stagger him. and he
blamed me for not telling him who'll was
and showing these letters in the first
place.
He inquired about the incident at the
! railway station at krasnovodsk the pre-
vious day and called upon his assistant
Tor the telegram warning him about
British spies, which they examined closely
and discussed at length. The assistant
pointed out again that this telegram stat
ed that we were EnElishmen. and seemed
to be In doubt whether to believe me or
the telegram. but the colonel finally con-
cluded that the jealous young officer who
sent him that message might have been
mistaken and changed the subject to in
writer.
I explained to him that I was under
obligations to write a newspaper letter
every day. that always
Explanations dictated it to a type
n&Ar.d writer, and therefore
carried machine with
me wherever went as a matter of con-
venience and economy of time and labor
But he did not seem to comprehend. l
endeavored to make it clear and called
his attention to the fact that Baron
Rosen's letter was typewriter, also that
from the Russian ambassador at Con-
stantinople, and all the other letters of
Introduction and that the envelope was
addressed to the viceroy by machine.
This seemed to convince him and then he
asked what I had been writing that
morning. told him 1t was letter dated
Trebizond. describing that city and that
section OF Asia Minor, dictated from men,
oranda made in my notebook few weeks
before while visiting that place. I ex-
planned my professional habits: told him
that l was usually three weeks behind in
my notes and offered him the manuscript
of the TrebiZond letter to read He passed
| it over to his assistant. the captain. who
| inspected it as gingerly as If 1t had been an
anarchist proclamation and was evidently
inclined to put 1t in his pocket, but 1
took it out Of his hand and placed it back
in my portfolio.
Finally it seemed to dawn on the colonel
that somebody had blundered and he
withdrew to the corridor for discussion
with his assistant, the captain. During
mad come In twice and interrupted the
conversation to remind the colonel that
it was time for the train to start. The
first time the colonel told him to wait.
and II we had not made good" we prob
ably would have been thrown out then
| and there. and perhaps cast into damp
and gloomy dungeon: but the second time
the conductor appealed for orders he was
instructed to go ahead. and the train had
been running at full speed for some min
utes.
-
There was loud talk in the corridor on
both sides. To all appearance the colonel
was roasting his subordinate for having
gotten him into a mess,
Profound and the subordinate was
a, shaking the telegram in his
APoAVky' face as evidence Of his
good faith and Judgment. By and by. the
recriminations having been completed.
the colonel came back into our compart-
ment. handed me the passports and &C.
~ASo~
the interview and made a handsome apol-
ogy. He hoped that I was not offended
He had responsibilities and duties to per-
form which were often disagreeable, and
endeavored to perform them with as much
courtesy as possible. 1t was with the
greatest reluctance that he had intruded
upon us to seek the necessary informa-
tion. l replied that it was equally dis
agreeable to be under suspicion and
asked If he were satisfied of our identity
and harmlessness. He protested f1uently.
and handing me his card hoped to have
the honor of better acquaintance and
asked to be presented to the lady.
The colonel had evidently fortified him
self with vodka for the duty he had just
performed, and the fumes Of that pungent
liquor filled the compartment. We saw
great deal OF him the rest OF the day. He
tried to make amends and was assiduous
in his attentions, but as he could speak no
English and none of us could speak Rus
sian we kept the dragoman busy trans
lating. We discussed all kinds of alb
stract questions. and at bedtime he was
in a very mellow and congenial mood.
When we babe him good night he again
apologized for having mistaken us for
English spies and declared very positive
ly. I'VE do not want any Englishmen out
this way"