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Show TREf-UON IN KUJ Jlfl STORY OF THE ARREST OF AN OFFICIAL CHARGED WITH SELLING SECRETS :: TO A FOREIGN POWER. :-: A mystery of St. Petersburg lit methods Adopted by Slueths Would llavs Mad Sherlock Holme Urcca JU.OJSV H official of the couimissn-3( couimissn-3( J rlnt department well O Zl O known In the llusslan cnpl. j f, tat disappeared suddenly KOX some weeks ago, and nobody no-body knew what bad become of blui, say thn Rt. Petersburg correspondent of the Loudon Telegraph. Ills wife falling III nt the same tlm", ipllle n cloud of myslory bung over the family, fam-ily, nil the more ilcns - became of the nliMird rumor that were circulating, tine report bod It that ho liml roio-mittcd roio-mittcd soi'-iile while in n tit of dep'ca-a'.o'i. dep'ca-a'.o'i. (iilieis iilliniifl tint be had failed to nriouiit for lari: siuns of money entrusted to him. and bad li.'i n art'esii'd for emtii .ji'ilieut. According lo n third k'.o;-..-. lie bad speculated i!iily on (lie I'.it.ii" ,'. had lost enor-Uii enor-Uii U'l siur.s, titiil, lirii - uii.iliic tu meet his llnhiiii.sj, linj i: .,1 the camiiry. 11. a fi iiMHln sl niii thi ir Ii ami re-n. re-n. i ri. nl Hint It was not in blui lo commit com-mit h-icli fellies. The minors were alKiiid. l'.ut in ost nbsiird of fill was llio n., ;r;.,. ;.t lii.'.l be bad sold plans (li'Tt'ihitvj the ill--; at' h of wur mate. rial nnd uo it-ions !o the Tar laist, and win n tialtor to Ills country. Any. thing was possible, tliry amruii'd, rutii-or rutii-or than that. To what (ioverninent could be have betrayed the secret of bis own country? coun-try? of course, to the Kngllsh, people niiHivcred, Tlio Kngiish sovereign circulates cir-culates In all continental couiitrb-s, English spies nre everywhere, the secret se-cret service fund of the lliilisli Foreign For-eign Olllce Is Inexhaustible, llesiiles. thu person whom be frequented most Dut that being a douhlful point, people remarked that proofs were su-pcrtiuotis, su-pcrtiuotis, for everybody knew that tbe I'.ugllsh bnd brllied the olllclnl, made blui a Unlior, nnd ruined blui and Ills family. Hut what use could the Uralsk Ura-lsk have for tbe couiuilssarlat pluns? skeptics yiierleil. A makeshlt't answer an-swer wn quickly found, which would satisfy the average Russian man, and tbe matter wus Jmlgeil. All over the cupltnl tbe report spread that Knglnud bad bought the plans In the possession of the olllclal, and that lit bud cob-feaaed cob-feaaed bla crime. In time, however. It lenked out that M. X, bad sold III plans to Japan shortly before the war broke out, and. It was added, tills act of treason enabled en-abled Itusshi's foe to seize the l'ekat-erlnuslay, l'ekat-erlnuslay, with lta stores and provisions, provis-ions, Tbe traitor bnd already been tried, condemned and banged la the terrible prison of Kchlussclburg. Hut the olllclal papers bare published no nocount of the nrrcst. trinl, condemnation condemna-tion or execution. Hence nothing la known for certain, except that M. X. has been spirited svvuy by the authorities authori-ties on a charge of treason to bis country. coun-try. The Inteit version of bow be wns arrested ar-rested and proved guilty la very Interesting Inter-esting In Itself. It also throw a aide light upon the ways of the secret police, po-lice, and who are now organliisj after the French model, aud act with far greater circumspection nnd skill than, say, ten years ago. This Is tlio story, for the exact truth of which I cannot vouch. Tho authorities suspected X. of bnv- Ilug bad dealings with th Japanese, but they lacked proofs of the fact, and It was now Imposslblo to obtain any. Ono or two Indications there were strong enough, perhaps, to awaken misgivings, but not sulllrlent to bang a dog. The matter was placed In the bands of the secret police, who are all disciples of Sherlock Holmes. X. was shndowed dny nnd night; every person to whom be spoke, nt borne or abroad, was also watched, but no fact of Importance Im-portance were elicited. Whatever be might have done In the past, be was not selling bis country' secrets at present: but then, there was no on to betray them to, (luce the Jupauese an. bassy bsd gone. A certain foreigner, ignlnst whom the police bud nothing to urge, was among the acquaintances whom X. met from time to time. One evening the two were seatinl together In restaurant res-taurant on the Nevsky I'rospekt, which is commonly frequented by Ocruinn merchants and by foreigners. Ilecr Is t lie chief, hut not the only, beverage there; tbe principal (lermnn uewsp-pera uewsp-pera are tnken In, nnd the vernacular of most of the guests Is tbe Teuto tongue. X. and bis friend or acquaintance ac-quaintance nero at n (able lu a little room, nt the fur end of the restaurant, chatting, drinking nnd smoking, and there wus no ono there but themselves. Indeed, the wholo place was nearly empty Just then, because the theatres would not be over for two full hours yet. Hence the pair were surprised to see a stranger walk Into their room and sit down nt u table near their own. It was his rUlil to do so, as the apartment apart-ment whs not engaged, but Tbe stranger was a well dressed, frank-looklug muii, who seemed to have hud bis fair share of champagne at dinner. Ho was a Itusslau to tbe backbone; for after having listened to the conversation of his neighbors for a few minutes he corrected a slip of theirs here and got lu an additional remark re-mark there. At lust be moved his cliulr and sat by them. Curiously enough, be seemed specially token witb the foreigner, to whom be spoke much of liussluu hospitality, Invited him to dinner, and at lust be Induced the man to rise up and accompany him to the bar, which was lu another room. there to drink rsch other's health In liusslan vodka. The foreigner wss very unwilling, pleading that he never drank vodka nor strong spirits, but finally, rot to seem ungracious, hn humored hu-mored the hospitable Itusslau. and leaving X. went to the bar. There they drank and chatted-"ln Itunslun fashion." said the now acquaintance Willie lime sped. While this inversion wns taking place X. was not long slone. A itina ilres-eil like nn olli'-iul. hurriedly entered en-tered the room, nnd polling nnd panting pant-ing na thouli he bad been tunning for Irs life, asUed: "la your name X.?' 'Vea, my name Is X." was the nniaa-clous nniaa-clous repi.v; "what bticines Is tliat of yours V ".No oilense, 1 assure you. sir, out I have 1 ecu sent to liml yon n'.iout n very urgent nn'ulr. Tbe police have for mouths been looking out for n dun-p-iiiiiH man naioed V., ninl tliey have nt last urn"-t".t him. Ten minute n'M, not more. Hut bo denies that he la Y., utiil, what Is more, he gives your name ns his nnd your address. He nNo b is your card, so that the whole thins Is emliaiTussim:. 'J hey know', of course, that h Is lying, but for f irmallty's sake they inu't have proof and they would feel much obliged If you would kindly como Just for n moment lo say Hint you are M. X. That's why I have come. You will bo back her lu ten uilniitcs." X. obviously did not like the ingges-geatlon, ingges-geatlon, and bo urged various considerations consid-erations ngalust carrying It out Hut tho messenger was very eloquent, sua-slve sua-slve nnd pressing, so Hint at last the to took a droshky nnd set out, telling tbe waiter that X, would ba back In a qunrler of an hour. At the Police Department they fonnd a number of high olllclal awnltlug tbeui. The npartment they entered wns a sort of council chamber; tbe visages of tho otllcinls were solemn, tbe whole atmosphere depressing,- X. entered, saluted the company, and said: "I am X., and If anybody else" Hut he was Interrupted by a voice: "lu tbe tin mo of the law I arrest you, X, for having commuted one of the blackest crime tlint nny subject to III Mnjeity can bo guilty nf. You bav sold secret plans to ltussln'a enemy. en-emy. Yon have forfeited your life thereby, and as all tho proof are In our possession you had better use th little time left you In this Ufa In preparing pre-paring for the next." Tho world must have grown black lu the eyes of the wretched man on hearing bla doom. He mutt bav looked tho very picture of despair, because be-cause even those hardened olllclal appeared ap-peared Jf.o pity him, and ono of them said, sympathetically: "It I still possible possi-ble to avoid dentil. It you wait until lb proofs nre read lo you It will be too late. Hut sit dow n here and writ a bumble petition to Hi Majesty for mercy, II will surely pardon you. Hut mind and make a clenn breast of It. Your ouly hope Is In tho t'snr." X, dropped heavily Into a chair, me-cbanlcutiy me-cbanlcutiy Wik a pen In bis baud, wrote a full conr.-ssion of bis guilt and having signed tbo paper scaled bis doom. No further proof of hi guilt was needed. |