The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-03-28

happened to be connected as con-
sulting engineer to some of the peo-
pie interested, when / drifted into
Petrograd in a peaceful frame of mind
they informed me that l was going to
take II out. | won't repeat exactly
what | said at first. but in the end
said: We'll. | suppose | am, then" but
added: You will have to do exact
ly as want and make exactly the ar
rangements that l desire" because
knew that Russia was full of German
agents who would not hesitate as to
any means in accomplishing their
ends.
Danger From Bandits.
That was one factor, The second
factor was that, where the Trans-Si-
berian railroad passes through Man
churia, there were certain tribes of
Manchurian bandits which, if they had
known that this material was coming
through, wouldn't have hesitated to
hold up the train, or to hold up all
trains that came through, until they
found the right one; and as at the
time there was no policy security any
where, and no authority, these bandits
would have been quite fearless.
didn't, however, worry much about
that, because l was sure that any tele-
grams which might be sent from Pc
trograd regarding my departure would
get to their destination long after my
train had passed; kilograms in Rus
STA usually went by mail, and the mail
trains are slower than the Siberian
express But anyway, / said: PUT
the platinum in boxes that are so big
that one man couldn't pick up and
run away with box" 1t was in nine
boxes, each weighing on an average
215 pounds.
At first l said l wanted a private
car on the Siberian express so that no
one could get in at all, and then after
thinking about it, l said mo, that
would draw attention to myself,
don't want to draw attention at all;
want to go along as if l didn't have
anything of special value So the
embassy was asked to get three ad-
joining compartments on the Siberian
express, which it did.
The shipment Of the platinum had
been arranged through the department
of commerce. and it was understood
before l left that 1t would be placed
at the disposal of the u. S. government
either in part or all of it, as the gov
eminent might elect. Consequently,
it was sealed in Petrograd with the
embassy seals on the outside Of the
boxes, and l was provided with a
courier's letter and some envelopes
for delivery in Toxic. That was ne
cessary in order to avoid the inquisit-
i've custom officials who might want
to know what was in the boxes and
might take samples of the platinum
and if they had taken samples it is
doubtful what would have been left
after they had got through. Having
the boxes sealed by the embassy, and
with the couriers letter / was pretty
sure that | could bluff them out.
Passed as Embassy Stuff"
The train leaves Petrograd at 500
o'clock in the evening, and at about
half past 900 we loaded the boxes on
a dray at the bank and went down
through the Nevsky with them, with
the banks porters to carry them or
board the train When we got dowr
to the station, which was more or less
|congested because there were big
crowds on the platform due to the fac
that a train carrying all classes Of
passengers leaves on the adjoining
track for Archangel, there were sol
diers, peasants and every other class
We got the platinum on truck anc
carried it down the platform, but the
porter of the car at once said: "Yol
can't take it in there" I replied: 1--WE
have got to take this; it is embassy
stuff" He repeated that I couldn
have it in the car; but after six years
experience | knew more or less wha
to dot Is only a question Of how
much, that is ALL / decided how mucf
he needed, and fortunately my guess
was right. Anyway there was M
more difficulty about putting it in thu
car. 1t had been arranged that thu
cashier of the bank should go alont
with me, and we two decided that w
wouldn't overdo our precautions ant
that we wouldn't even keep the com
partment doors closed all the time
though Of course we didn't both 81
away at the same time. One of Vi
went to the restaurant car first ant
the other went when the first had fin
ished.
Well, we left Petrograd all right ant
Everything was peaceful until we go
to Vologda, which is station abou
Is hours from Petrograd. There trou
BILE with the returning soldiers began
You see, the Russian idea of freedom
especially the soldiers, is that any ac
Communications that anybody else ha
got he is quite free to take. We wer
unfortunate when we came into Vo
)logda in that there was troop trai
of demobilized soldiers, a great man
of whom were going to Siberia. The
decided that the express would b