The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1914-06-05

| 1 was Tor some time q prey 10 con
| flicting emotions. Had it not been 70
the personality of the girl and its effec
upon me would not for momen
have been tempted to meet her with til,
likely result of being drawn into !;
dangerous position. Visions of dun
| geons. of Siberia, of the scaffold haunt
ed me. On the other hand, | could no
Danish her from my mind. | was hor
ror stricken that one so young, 81
beautiful, should be implicated anC
longed to prevent her going step fur
| Their and becoming an assassin.
thought of her working In the mines
Mt Kara or dragged to the scaffod. and
while doing so 7 considered making
her acquaintance and using the secret
l possessed to compel her to desist
from political crime.
Nevertheless did nothing at the
time and would have done nothing had
not fate thrown q second and much
greater temptation in my way. Months
passed, and. having finished my work
in st. Petersburg, | applied for my
passport and started for America. AZ
the railway station | climbed into Il
compartment of Il car. taking seat
by the window on the opposite side
from which had entered. There was
but one other person in the compart-
me to see him or her distinctly, for l
could not make out whether | was
looking ut man or Il woman. A long
ulster reaching from the chin to the
ankles concealed the figure, but
thought | saw slight adornment to
the felt hat indicating that the wear
err was Il woman.
The passenger was looking out of the
window, apparently watching for some
one. Presently the guard shut the
door. but my fellow traveller did not
cease to watch. The train was NOV
ing out of the station when | heard a
gasp more like that of Il woman than
man. and. looking out. / saw man
running to catch the train. The train
gathered speed, but from my position
/ could not see the man chasing it.
The passenger put her head out the
window. but soon withdrew it and fell
back on the cushion.
Did he catch it," | asked
There was no reply for Il few mo-
ments; then suddenly the other person
starting up, threw open the ulster and
revealed the figure of a woman.
Great heavens, She was the girl
who had handed me the phial at the
Winter palace.
"IIe is on the fOotboard. When the
train stops he will come to arrest me.
That means for me the mines. Death
is far preferable. am going to die"
She made spring for the window.
but caught her.
Sacrifce-very great sacrifce-rarely
comes when we are in our sober
senses. 1t takes us by impulse. Look
ing backward. l wonder how | could
have done what did then. and
shudder. | defied the car of all the
Russias. | persuaded the girl to give
me her ulster and her hat while
transferred TO her my fur overcoat,
my travelling cap and a steamer rug
for a lap robe. With these articles.
the cap drawn down over her eyes.
she WIS well covered and sitting in
far corner, could not be told from a
man. | pat on her ulster and her. hat
and when the train stopped was sit
ting by the door. while Vera Nicho-
laevna sat where had been. pretend
ing to sleep. When the train stopped
| knew Il search was being made. and
presently the door of our compart-
ment opened. and an officer of police
looked in.
81 am LOST cried in falsetto
voice.
The officer wanted 10 better evil
dence that | was his quarry. | was
ordered to get out of the car, the door
was closed. and my captor told the
guard that the train could go on.
My object was to deceive the officer
as to my identity as long as possible.
and this was not an easy matter, since
/ was man and he was looking for q
woman. | wrapped my ulster about
me and kept my hat well down over
my face. 1t was night. and this helped |
hlC. A-uNNIIs Nplt nv Il WIS 1
taken to the Jail of the town in which |
was captured and locked up. AS
soon as the key was turned on me | |
muttered: |
THANK heaven. she may he saved!'
The next morning the mistake was
discovered. | WIS sent TO st. Peters |
burg charged with assisting political |
prisoner to escape wrote to the |
American ambassador to help me, but |
had little expectation that my letter |
would be given him. 1t was not, and |
languished in a dungeon.
! wrote again to the ambassador. |
but my letter was not permitted to |
reach him. Some unknown person in
formed him of my condition. where
upon he worked hard for me. He |
would have failed had lie not made |
personal application to the car. The
emperor was at the time asking for
concession on the part of the United |
States in matter pending between
he two governments. and n bargain
was finally struck by which the con-
,ession was made on the one side.
while | was granted pardon on the
'ther. After several months spent in
,aptivity was released. given my