Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1901 — The Russian Way. [ARTICLE]

The Russian Way.

An episode illustrative of Russian adherence to the letter of the law in the out of the way sections of the empire is told in a letter from the province of Archangel to a St. Petersburg daily. The hero of the story is an inventor who had completed the model of what he thought was a successful flying machine. He wanted to test it and applied to the local pristav (police captain) for “a permit to fly through the air.” The pristav said he was curious to see the experiment and .that he would let him know as soon as he had consulted the law on the subject. Three days later the police officer said to the inventor: “I am really sorry, old man, but I am compelled to refuse your request. I have spent three days in examining the lawbooks, but it’s no use. There is no law' bearing on the subject of flying through the air. I can’t allow it. I am very, very sorry.”