The Washington times., 1910-02-05


/ In TACT was never so busy IL ali my
life as during those four weeks Of prep
{ areuon for the stuDendOUs task had
SCI IlySeAi and you VII understand
I LlaT there were countless things 20 90,
UnnuIn bcred details TO arrange, ana a
/ thousand and one qualifications Of the
I Work 10 De planned and plotted and
! thoroughly cou1prehended. not alone by
J myself. Dut by the men would gather
Z around me 20 work unoer my direction
/ The organization Of secret service
/ bureau, no matter how general may be
| IT'S duties, is at least a monumental
/ task but the organization Of such a
! bureau as this one, whose very exist
1 ehce must remain SecrtL. from al ne
world, presented difficulties not to be
| inet with or commended against under
/ any other circumstance
[ II was necessary rhau I should be
/ come she chief over "a army of men.
/ ana It was equally imperative that not
| one person among the rank and file Of
l mat army should know Of my exist
Z encG. as Il was related 10 them. With
| the chiefs OF departments and sections,
u was necessary that I should have
| intercourse and interviews. but I had
! already made my mental selection OF
/ persons TO fiH those positions, when
arrived IN 81 Petersburg, and the or
Z --ahlZdtluu OF the several deuarfr1eUrs
was 10 DE left in their hands.
! II was determined that there should
{ be no phase OF Russian life which
could hide itself away from the skill
OF my investigating forces, from
q
Official IN the Russian diplomatic ser
I vice and In the army TO the meanest
servant or labOrer, my sources or
knowledge must extend and every
detail OF II all must necessarily be
so complete as to render Il not only
exact, but absolutely under nv per
SoIiai control and direction, without
however in any way creating the sus-
plclGn that was personally interest
. CO. Presently you VIII understand
4 efa~F
about and IN quite natural way il
would seem for always things &C
tolHpiisned seem easy enough to the
casual observer and You who read
are only observers after all You are
ItcelFlng bit Of unWTIUten history
which closely concerned the Russian
empire and without which the assas-
slnaLon OF Alexander would undoubt-
e1ly have happened many years be
fore Il did for / give TO myself the
credit of having extended the davs 81
mat really great but much misunder-
stood MoscOvite gentleman.
AT the time Of my appearance in 81
petersburg TIE forces OF ufhuiSm had
assumed proportions greater than thew
had ever attained before OF VIII ever
ATTAIN 20 again. thanks TO my activities
me palace itself was a hOtbed Of con
Sp4racF- The rank and file Of the army
was 50 disauected that the officers
never knew whom they could depend
upon or whom they might trust a Sc
t-CA pressure o. me LEGTuD. lIGGrerrTll-
nate IN It's character but nevertheless
significant was likely to lee received
from any hand clasp no matter where
given or with whom exchanged. and
a princess or q countess was as likely
70 besloW u upon you as any ordinary
person whom you might chance 10 meet
The pressure itself was merely a ten
tative question which might be trans
lated by the words Are you q
nihilst2 and YOU might understand iC
and reply 20 IL by q returning pressure
Of acc llesceDce, or ignore u utterly. as
YOU pleased The pressure itself was
so slight was CaTeleSSIy given and
might 50 readily be attributed to a care
less motion OF the hand that Il could
nor could the answering pressure do So
I had not been long al the palace be-
fore discovered that many or the nlgn
officials who had ready and constant
access there had become inocUlateo with
the uIhIiiSIiC bacillr and although I
had no doubt that many OF them were
at heart loyal 10 the Emperor al
ready knew better than they uld Ine
frur1euSitv Of the obligation they had
Under ken IN swearing allegiance &c
an association OF persons dominated 5F
fanatics and by actual criminals whose
trade was murder AMI whose chlefe5L
pleasures and relaxation was the study
Of how best 10 bring about entire So
ciaI upheavaL
10 read every sign however slight tt.at
was made by these persons ana the
rr4sr- weeks OF my dOmlCiIe IN the
auartment Of the palace that had been
ASSIGNED 10 me served me as nothing
else could have done in this respect
You have already been told that his
was by no means my first experience IN
St Petersburg and with nililism: but !
must confess that extensive as my IN
formation had been and was / had
never for moment contemplated the
vast resources OF this evolutionary
order its unlimited notifications and
its boundIess possibilities for evil To
discover as 7 speedily did that princes
OF the blood. thai ladies high IN places,
that generals in the army and lesser
officers under them were among the
ranks OF the nihiIists- was an astOund-
ing fact which I had not contemplated
and which was III prepared TO receive
so soon after my arrival t extended
the requirements OF my operations Il :
increased renfOld. nay a hUndredfCld
ny OBLIGATIONS 20 the car in whose
service / vas now sworn.
II seems difficult to imagine q beau
tffuI woman as being at the head and
front Of such an organization which Z
discusses murder and which arTances
for wholesale assassination with the 4
same eQuaniulfty % conscience that
4 hunting party a. an English coun- (
try estate would arranI-e for the 4
slaughter OF rabbits and phea SAINTS
But 7 was destined soon TO dis
cover that even this could oe true.
was destined soon 70 he brought /
in contact with a beautiful woman
who was not only high IN place and
a favorite with the car himself but
who was veritabIy a leader IN the plots 1
against him.