The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-03-10
ESCAPE De YOU can


know. Ell? | was anxious to helm him
because It is not pleasant thought
tnat one who is completely innocent
should De left there in that cell. / have
oeen IN prison cell know what il
Is Ike But how do know he is
completely innocent. you would ask.
eh9 The only way could know. nv
dear doctor Because it was who did
the killing"
both men stared at her. Although
she spoke with some emphasis. she
seemed neither deeply moved nor
graveiy concerned over the statement
she was making. But she watched
them. intently. Bigelow stirred and
ms eyes searched her face almost in
credulously He was half prepared for
ner confession. but he had not ex-
pected her to make II so coolly. Aus
trelitz's face revealed nothing: he
merely nodded an Acknowledgement
Of her words.
Il hoped you'd tell US about IL.
frankly" he said.
4 will. ] had made up my mind to
tell you. 1t astonished me that you
did not ask long ago. | never meant
to keep 1t secret. You see. / did not
plan things as they happened. II had
stopped to think. should not have
killed him there at all-not in Anne's
studio like that But one trouble with
me is cannot stop to think. It often
makes my life more difficult" She
sighed and reached for a cigarette and
lit it.
You had an old score to settle with
him. think" said Austrelitz. at was
not a new grievance?"
mo" admitted Karsanakotf, "it was
not new grievance. | told you that
had never met him before. but that
l had seen him once. viii tell you
how it was saw him. 1t was in Rus
STA when the revolution began. l was
a child-1l years old. He came into
the hall of my fathers house. leading
mob of drunken. half-crazy peas
ants, and driving our servants before
him. My father was an old man and
unarmed. He went to meet them as
they stormed in, hoping to reason
with them. But Cienkowitz did not
wait for my father TO speak. He had
an axe in his hands and he struck my
father down with it, crashing in his
skull. Ty brother was standing be-
side me on the stairs. We had been in
bed. but the noise Of their approach
had awakened US. My brother was
only five years older than was. AS
my father fell. my brother rushed
forward to kneel beside my father
and lift his head: and Cienkowitz
struck again with his axe and half
severed my brothers head.
81 saw these things with my own
eyes. saw his face-mad with sud-
den power-exultant as he struck. 80.
And l never forgot it. Do you won-
der? can close my eyes now and see
ii as though it were still there before
mel"
The Flight To Paris
CHE drew long breath and inhaled.
- Neither man stirred. Her eyes
smoldering. her voice low, she went
on presently:
81 tainted and my nurse who wRs
Just behind me, caught me up in her
arms and carried me up the stairs.
No one tried to stop her. Cienkowitz
was making speech with one foot
on my brothers still quivering body,
and the mob had begun to wreck and
sack the castle. This learned after
ward. :. When recovered conscious
ness, my nurse was dressing me in
peasant clothes. | wept and she told
me must be still or ! would meet
the same fate my father and brother
had met. She struggled me away uri-
der cover Of the darkness. Other
peasants helped her. Some great no.
bles in those days ill-treated the
peasants and the peasants hated them;
but my father had been good to his
peasants and they did what they
could for me.
"When we escaped from our prov
ince, my nurse passed me off as her
child. | will not describe our flight
in detail. 1t does not matter, now.
Eventually. we got across the border
and Travelled to Paris. My nurse feared
for my safety If we remained in RUS
sia-for Cienkowitz mad learned af-
terward tina | had been an eye-wit-
Less to the murders and be tried 70
| End me-"
She pressed out the end OF her
cigarette in an ash tray on the low
stand beside her and lighted another.
Neither Bigelow nor Austrelitz spoke.
Their eyes did not leave her face.
"In Paris. we met many other Rus
| sian refugees. Some of them took us
in. Eight of us lived in two rooms.
We had fed in such haste we had
brought nothing with US. We had to
face the question of how 10 live. In
the happier days before my mother
died, she had engaged ballet master
for me. to develop my body gracefully
and give me poise. She had no idea
then that this training - which had
been a fad of hers for the moment
was to be our salvation. | got job In
a ballet and earned enough to support
us both-Mariushka and me. took
the name of Karsanakoff lest some
agent of Cienkowitz might discover
me. But Karsanakoff was not my
name. My name was Catherine Alex
androvns Vronski."
copyright, 1857. Frederick Jdcksonl
KarsanakOff tells how and why she