EXECUTING A SPY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5558, 8 April 1905, Page 11

EXECUTING A SPY.

HOW A BRAVE RUSSIAN MET DEATH. On© of tlio most interesting articles on tli© war in the Bast appears in ■‘Leslie’s Weekly.” It tells had a brave Russian spy met his death. He whs discovered in the Japanese linos, confessed that he was a spy of Kouropatkin, and was sentenced to death. ‘•There is a pecular fascination about the play of a man’s features,” writes the special correspondent of “Leslie’s Weekly,” “when he knows he is near to death. Every spectator morbidly searches them, attributing this, that, and the other thing to every tremour of nerve or muscle. Although the words of Judge Hamano must have sunk into his heart like knife-thrusts, tßyahoif’s countenance gave not the '.slightest indication of inward perturbation. When it was over he said very distinctly, T am satisfied.’ “A few days later the ©xcution took place. Ryaboff took his stand by a nara tree in a ‘certain’ valley studded with great rocks. Four soldiers—the execution squad—were drawn up facing him. The judges of the court were present to see that their sentence was properly carried out. There were also a number of curious soldiers and civilians, all intent on seeing a Russian die. The condemned man was placed by Lieutenant Fugita, of the gendarmes, in a kneeling position in front of the nara tree. The ropes binding his wrists were then unbound, and two gendarmes tenderly rubbed the chafed parts with a soothing ointment. ‘May I pray to my God?’ asked the kneeling man of Lieutenant Fugita. The latter readily granted the request, and there and then the Russian uttered A BRIEF AND FERVENT PRAYER to the God in whom he believed so well. “‘Have you a wife?’ asked Judge Hamano. ‘Yes,’ replied the condemned, T have a wife and two little children.’ He hesitated, his lips quivered, his voice shook, and then great tears burst from his eyes. The thought of' his family was too much for his iron nerves. He did not cry, however, as a

coward or a woman would cry. . His teal's were unselfish ones. The bullets of the Osaka, rifles had no horror for him, hut at the last moment his heart went forth to his little home in /distant Russia, and ho became as gentle as he was hard and cold during his trial. It was a trying time for all of us. I found it most difficult to keep my own tears back. Even the stony-hearted gendarmes had a way of looking at the toes of their big fboots that suggested that they were ashamed of them. ‘Taking the Russian’s hand Captain Hamano' said—‘ln my opinion you arc one of the bravest and most honourable of Russians. I admire you from the bottom of my heart, and in roy unofficial capacity seriously regret the unkind fate that has cut your days so short, although I am at the same time one of its agents. Imperial JAPAN CLAIMS YOUR LIFE for her own best interests, and her word is my law. It may chance that you have property to leave. If so, I will be glad to do what I can toward communicating your wishes to your family.’ “These kind words so affected the prisoner that he was again forced to tears, great sobs shaking his frame. Then, .remembering this to be a womanish action, he gnashed his teeth in a vain effort to control himself. Finally he said—‘When I was arrested I was prepared in mind for this fate. lam ashamed of my tears and pray you to laugh at them. Unfortunately I have no property to leave my family, but hope that my Government will care for them. 1 thank you for your sympathy, and now state my readihess to go before my Maker.’ “Captain Hamano shook the prisoner’s hand and withdrew. A gendarme stepped forward and bound a white cloth over the prisoner’s eyes. A young officer drew his sword. The Osaka rifles clicked once, twice, three times. The! fatal word was spoken. It was all over before any of us appreciated the fact. The doctor ran to the side of the prostrate body and pronounced life extinct. So died Private Ryaboff, of the Twenty-fourth Ohambareky Regiment, for his Czar.”