A Nihilist's Disguise.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 267, 12 November 1887, Page 11 (Supplement)

A Nihilist's Disguise.

j The Odessa correspondent of the "Dailyi News "writes :—A case transpired here the' other day which reveals in a curious paanner the successful rUses adopted by thel Nihilists for the spread of their revolutionary literature. An apparently ch'aifdetnented and barnileSs person, a ypripg man of sonic twenty-five years of age and very poorly clad, has for *omp time pass pickedup a precarious livelihood as a petipa- J totic vendor of almanacs,calendars.children'H' story-books, eto. All these articles were of i the *cheap, popular quality, , His basket! ano\ wallet contained also thP showy prints' pf religious Sribjects much affected by the! poorer classes, A few days ago he was de-' tected in the salp of Nihilist literature.A Ho was arrested, and his stock confiscated. Ijis character'of a poorirabeoiie, supportejl by, the evidence of the police, and his'stprypii acquiring the forbidden literature at a! trifling cost from an unknown' ~strahger,| arid his general incoherence and inability j to read or write, were so evidetot to the bench that heAyas at once discharged. A pbpplp of days; later it was found that!the, iriibecile Oolpbrteur's passport was false; ■ aridj the police discovering that he Was. > Jjuown' to certain citizens as appearing on niariy occasions in private circles as a welii dressed well-educated, highly - informed i young man who spoke learnedly on matters .of ipterrial policy,' a' warrant was imme- : diatelyissuedforhis re-arrest.; It is need- >! Wis'to say that he has not been found, por ( is he: likely to bp. The characters arid disr gu'ises-assamed by many'of these young ! propagandists ■ defy the utmost vigilance of ' the rogubir and secret police, and successr fplly" deceive, .as' in" this 1: case, ■ both «iaing|A: ! trates and the so-called lynx-eyed Russps : ? judges of instruction. ' ;A.:" ..;';!,. \. ;; ;''"^ ! '''