Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1914 — A Daring Ruse [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Daring Ruse

• It Was Practiced by One Work- <J ing For the Russian Revolution 4 ■ '?■

By MARIA FOEDEROVNA

Women arc : a:ts. especially of children, and a great many of us Russian women have been drawn into revolution through efforts to break down that ignorance which unfits the large mass of our people for free government. 1 am the daughter of a Russian country gentleman living On the family estate in the province of Kostroma and began my revolutionary career by teaching the moujiks (peasants) on my father's estate. 1 taught not only the children, but grown, men and women, and when I saw their anxiety to better their condition, which they seemed to know they would <1 > by learning, I felt that I could take any risk in their behalf Wlien I was stopped in this work I did .not attempt openly to defy the g >■> eminent, because I knew such a t course would be futile! r allied myself With one of those sCeret organizations whose

object it was to rid Russia of our auto cratic form and replace it with one that would aive us liberty to teach the Ignorant. This took me to the fountain head. St. Petersburg. My father en delivered to persuade me to desist, lint 1 could not bear to retnain with tied hands among a people who were more like cattle than human beings, yet 'er. dowed with a desire to better their condition. When 1 began to work secretly in the cause of the revolution [‘entered upon a lite of duplicity. The foundation of a revolution must necessarily involve organization, and that could be aclnev ed only by secret methods. for the government was aware of what was going on and met our secret efforts by secret efforts of its <>wm My work in St. Petersburg was that ot messenger. Documents, sometimes printed, sometimes written, sometimes in plain language, sometimes in cipher, must be constantly conveyed from <»ne point to another. An ordinary messenger, such as is used at telegraph or other offices.is a mere Conveyance, and almost any one will sulfi-e for such a purpose, but to carry that which the whole [lower of an autocratic govern meat is used to intercept and which, if intercepted, will cause the banishment tb the icy' regions of Siberia of those implicated, liesides doing great harm to the cause, requires coolness. cour age and resource.

One night at a secret meeting of the circle of which I was a member 1 was given a package which I was told < <>n tained printed Circulars condeimiiiig the government and calling on those who loved freedom to enroll themselves for the cause. There was noth ing in the circulars' in case they fell into the hands of tlie government to injure any one but the person having them dn his or her possession, though such person might be led to implicate others. On account of tllis possible implication and for' my own safety, I was cautioned as usual that if suspi cions ,of being watched to pet rid of the package if possible. It contained i a hundred circulars, which was all one person would be. intrusted with to curry on account of size. I had a pocket made in the skirt of my dress especial !y adapted to carry concealed articles. The morning after receiving my in structions. being ready to start out on the duty assigned me, I looked oiM of my window down on to the street to see if any . suspicious person loitered near. People Were passing to and fro. A sho.rt distance up tire street two men were standing -talking together. They seemed to be discussing something which I assumed was of no importance to me. for they never once glanced in my direction. ‘ Aiyl yet these then were spies of the government. One of them was instructing tlie other that, the house in which I lived was tinder suspicion and any one issuing from it was to be fob lowed, and if an arrest seemed warranted the person suspected was to be taken before a police officer. But I.

not knowing this,‘Went : 'wistairs and pursued my way unconscious of the danger that threatened me. However, I had noted the two men and, after walking a short distance, stopped at a shop window ostensibly to look at the goods displayed there, but rdally to glance back at the two men I have mentioned. They had separated, and one of them was coming toward me. He stopped to look up at the signs above him as though looking for some especial [dace. Had he come right on I might not have been very fearful. As it was 1 inferred that, seeing me glance back from before the shop window, he had pretended to be looking for some particular address in order to divert my suspicion from him.

My heart leaped up in my throat. However, I would soon know if this man was following me, and 1 nerved myself to meet the issue if he were. I walked on, turning down a cross street leading away from the point I had started for, and presently, stopping again at a shop where women's hats were displayed, 1 glanced back. The man I feared was jUst passing behind a projection of a building. I now felt assured that he was watching me, but resolved to make one more trial before acting upon the supposition that he was. 1 walked on and turned down another street, taking a direction toward the point from which 1 had stal led. 'Then, suddenly turning at a right angle so that I 1 could see my shallower without appearing to do so, I caught him coming toward me and looking straight at me. Owing to the dangerous work in Which I was engaged I spent much of my leisure time in thinking tip expedients in case I should be caught red handed. 1 now resolved to put in practice one of the most daring of which I had conceived. I was sure that this man was a police official and that he was following me. At .any moment he was liable to ha ve me arrested, though 1 fancied that unless he believed he had excited my suspicions he would permit me to go where 1 intended, leaving me to implicate others. As to dropping my package, I carried a knife with wjuch I could slit my pocket ami let it drop out. Could I have got far enough away from my shadower I would have done this, but after I turn ed so quickly as to see him coming for me he drew nearer and 1 was in great trepidation as to being arrested. I therefore resolved to put in practice the plan 1 have referred to. I knew very well every police station in St. Petersburg and directed my steps to the nearest one. On reaching it 1 turned into the building, my watcher following me to the very door, and in a few minutes 1 was standing at a desk, behind which sat an, official in uniform. "I have found a package in the street," I said, “wrapped in such sash ion as printed matter is usually wrap ped to send through the mails. There is no address on it. 1 was ab uit to tear off the cover when it occurred to me that it might contain something of an illegal character. If seemed to me that 1 would better turn it ".er t" a representative of the goveiiiin mt. If it is ordinary matter no harm is done: if there is anything criminal in it my action in bringing it to you is 1 root that I am in no way to blame fm- lulling it iu my possession." I nerved myself to say this as in gemiously as possible. The oliii ial n ok the package which I handed him hud. breaking it open, ran his eye o>er d. The expression on his face changed at once from one of carelessness to one of Intense interest. "Whefe did you tiiid this? ' he aske I. "1 was looking in at a shop window not far from here in which hats were

exhibited, and, casting my eyes down to the flagging, saw it lying at my feet." “Did you see any one moving away who might have dropped it?" I pretended to ransack my memory, then said: “After emerging from my home tin; morning to do some shopping I noticed a man going in the same direction as f. He had been standing at the mill! net’s window just before 1 reached it." "Can you identify him?" "I could if I were to see him. but he is doubtless far from me now. one of the crowd." When I said this I believed my shadower was at the door of the police office. And yet on second thought it seemed that Seeing me go into the station he would suppose that he had got on to the wrong track and would abandon his chase. But lie would likely report it, and then I would not get off so easily. The officer at. the desk took my >:d dress and permitted me to go where I liked: but, believing that he Would send some one to make sure that 1 had given’ him the right one, 1 left him resolving to go straight home. I was relieved not to see my shallower waiting for me outside the station. As soon as I reached my home 1 put on a disguise I kept concealed there—that of a decrepit old man—and left the building. At tlie door I passed my shadowpr, talking with a man I had seen at the police office. I made my way to the home of a prominent member of our 1 circle, to whom I told my story. Through the. secret machinery by which important news wiik communicated he flashed it among tile members, and that night, dressed as a young man. I was driven to a railway station and furnished with money, a ticket and a passport of a citizen of the United States. I crossed the border, arriving safely in Germany and for awhile my efforts on behalf of the revolution ceased. How my friends secured the passport I never learned, but I fancy it was stolen by some one interested in the cause of the revolution.

THE OFFICIAL TOOK THE PACKAGE.