Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-22

been attacked five times and bear the
marks Of the wounds to this day. Es.
capes l have had by the dozens. All
my missions were not successes, more
often, failures, and the failures are
often serious. verging ON the fatal.
For instance:
Into a Hornets Nest.
Early in the morning of June IL,
1908. the political plot which had been
brewing in Servia ended with the as
sassination of the king. queen, minis
tiers and members of the royal house
hold of Servia. l shall not go into
the u~ndercurrent political significance
of these atrocities. as I had no active
part in them, but l was sent down by
my government later to ascertain as
far Is possible the prime movers in
the intrigue which pointed to Colonel
Mashin and a gang of officers of the
Sixth regiment. All these regicides
received Russian pay, for the Kara
georgevich had become dangerous to
Russia because Of his flirting with
Austria. Besides, his own idiotic be-
havior and the fragrant indiscretions
of Queen Draga had by no means en-
deared him to his people.
stuck my nose into a regular hor-
nets nest and soon found myself In
a most dangerous position. l was ar
rested by the provisional government
ON the order of Lieutenant Colonel
Niglitsch on a most fimsy charge of
travelling with false passports. In
those times arrests and executions
were the order of the day. The old
Servian proverb of "Od Roba lkad IL
Groba Nikad" tout of prison, yes; out
of the grave, never was fully acted
upon. There were really no incrimin-
ating papers Of any description upon
me, but my being seen and associat-
ing with persons opposed to the pro-
visional government was quite enough
to place me before a drumhead court
martial.
/ was sitting in the Cafe Petite
Partisan with Lieutenant Nikolevitch
and M. Krastov, a merchant of Bel
grade, when a file of soldiers IN
charge of an officer pulled us out OF
our chairs and without any further
ado marched us to the citadel. The
mex morning we were taken sepa-
rately into a small where three
men in the uniform of colonies were
seated at a small iron table. No ques-
lions were asked.
You are found guilty Of ~associat-
ing with revolutionary persons. You
were found possessing a passport, not
your own. You are sentenced to be
shot at shutdown"
The whole thing appeared to me
first as a joke, then as a bluff, but
looking closely into those high-cheek-
boned, narrow-eyed faces with the
Enthusiastically c-lose-cropped bru-
tai heads, the humorous aspect dwin-
died rapidly and l thought it about
time to make a counter-move. With
out betraying any of my inward
uualms-and believe me, / began to
have some-I said quietly:
Il think you will find it advisable
to inform M. Zolarevitch" (then minis
ter of war; "that Count Weringrode
sends his regards"
/ saw them looking rather %curiously
at one another and then the center
inquisitor fired a lot of questions at
me, in answer to which / only shrugged
my shoulders.
"That's all / have to say, monsieur"
l was showed back in my cell. About
four that afternoon n of the officers
came to LEI me.
your message has not been sent.
MY comrades were against sending 1t,
but / am related to z~olarevitch. So
If you can show me some reason, !
shall take your message"
/ gave him some reason, so much SO
that he did not lose any time getting
under. way. In fact, it was a very
pale, perturbed officer who rushed out
Of my cell.
Face to Face With a Firing Squad.
l didn't worry much, but when at
about 1880 the cell door opened and
two sentries with fixed bayonets and
cartridge pouches entered, placed me
In the center and marched me into the
courtyard, where ten more similarly
equipped soldiers in charge of an Off
Ger awaited me, | felt somewhat
green. | know a firing squad when ]
see one. | knew that If my message
ever reached responsible quarters
nothing could happen to me; but these
we're motley times and all sorts of de-
lays might have happened to the off,
Ger.
Right about Wheel" and myself in
the center, we marched out Of the
courtyard to a little hill to the west
of the citadel.
An old stone building-probably a
decayed monastery, for l noticed sew
eral crumbled tombstones-had evil
IDENTIFY been selected for the place of
execution. On a little rough, four-foot
- Ill - AoI+1l .-1 &ha 4f9oor