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Show LXTnAurtniNAKa TItIVI A Mitotan Voblrrann l'nt Fns DLa. solo In Hie Shade. St. rtTEKSliuiui, Dec. 22. At Ixiuf-k, In Poland, the criminal court has just been engaged in one of the tnoht extraordinary trials on record. The accused was a Itussian nobleman named Kroukowski, whose exploits as a brigand rut Kra Diavolo and all his brothers in the shade, and the Interesting tiling about all of his criminal and romantic career is tliat there Is 110 room for fiction In the story, because be-cause it lias been established by evidence corroborated and swoiu to In court. For years this man Kroukowskl was in the habit of carrjingon a nocturnal warfare upon the rich nobiesofVolhynla. Jielngason of rich parents, who lived in Pobolsk, he received an excellent education, and spoke Trench like a Parisian. He spent a great deal of his time in Paris nt the commencement of his career, and was the guest there of several aristocratic families. In 1SS1 he was living a ve"y fast life in the French capita, and when his fortune for-tune began to slip away from him he organized a band of brigands, the principal officers of which were bis coachmen, his valets, and some monjinks on Ills own estates. Then he tet out for the KejofT government, govern-ment, and commenced to tike the castles of the nol lea by storm or strategy, according to circumstances. circumstan-ces. In a short time, after a few siaBiiisiira vmi the crAna TBoors he found himself and his band surrounded, sur-rounded, and nothing seemed left for him but'death or surrender. The troops, however, only succeeded In capturing a comparatively small number, of the brigands, and their astonishment was great when it was discovered that tho chief tod escaped, i Tlitn they remembered that a feeble.ind white-headed mn. lnt with age, asking charity of the oBlcers; Aras permitted to" pass through their linear That bous old beggar was Kroukowskl. Two yerrs slipped by and nothing mora was heard or him until suddenly sud-denly he appealed at the head ol another band of robbers, which he organized and equipped for service In Gilicla, where his rxIoibtwere recommenced. Of course, he never remained very long in one place, and his movements were singularly rapid. He came upon the commun Ity like a blltttrd and his boldness knew no bounds. At toutk and Doubno It was shown in tile. tvl Uccce that he often used to walk about the street and rLLKT WITH I,ADH5 bateverytlme that the police gut wind of his cfestiace the search fur him proved fruitless. One night, however, the,aillbpH-ties the,aillbpH-ties became aware ek" the fact thai the celebrates! oindlt was in a little inu at the outskirts of tho village of Kevertsl. The troops were immediately imme-diately called out. the place was surrounded and all the doors carefully care-fully guarded. , Suddenly a Russian cfilcerip full uniform appeared. With an air or authority ne asked to see the officer in commaud of the troop?. The latter approached him, respectfully and told him the el Jcct of 1U3 Tiflt, - The hsitdjorne ouicer seemed surprised sur-prised at first and then smiled at what he appeared to regard as a hoax. Then he remteaied theyouug lieutenant in command to be so good as t3 give a letter with whirh he presented him In the politest manner possible to his friend, the chief or iwilce. The lieutenant took the letter, premised to deliver It and saluted. The fine-looking Itussian oilicer stalked away, after having returned the military salute "With which the troops honored him. When the lieutenant got back, to the village with 'his men and re ported, he handed the chief of police the letter which he had received from his brother officer. The latter lat-ter opened lt and (end in French the following: "Kroukowskl, tho chief of brigands, presents his compliments to the chief of police." The unfortunate lieutenant lost his rank for allowing himelf to be duped. IX IX)VE WITH A LAIlY. Kroukovtski also followed the example ex-ample of his Italian confreres in making prisoners and demanding high ransom for them. One of bis prisoners was the daughter of a Russian Rus-sian Count. The Count paid the ransom and got back bis daughter, but was soon after horrified to find that she was about to become a mother, lie then proposed to the outlaw to marry his daughter, ami promised that if he did so and returned re-turned to an honest life he would do his utmost to secure his pardon, and would succeed beyond a doubt, but Kroukowskl replied that he regretted re-gretted exceedingly that a previous engagement put lt out of his power to comply with the Count's request. He was very much in love with another an-other lady. The authorities then went to. work to dlscovsr that interesting young lady. They found her hou-e, where at 'last, after a desperate fight, Kroukowskl was captured. Although his lights and duels were Innumerable, there was ne evidence to prove that he ever committed a cold-blooded murder. That was about alj that could be said of him, except that lie was a charitalso robber, rob-ber, and bis gifts to the poor Were princely. The Court sentenced him to penal servitude for life, and his apiieal to the Czar has been answered. an-swered. He will be sent to the IIand of Sikliaiine, In Siberia, where he will be chained to some other convict in the gold mines, from which no prisoner has ever yet cscaied. |