A ROYAL SPY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 36

A ROYAL SPY.

Emma Bellomo, the Czar's most darinpr spy, was murdered recently. The story of her career reads like a novel. She was born (says a, writer in the Liver pool Daily Post) the daughter of a poor peasant. At the ag* o." 14 she was employed

as a household drudge in a bourgois family at Nice. Endowed with a personal beauty precocious as the development of her mental powers, she began to realise that both might be used in such a world as this for the attainment of rank and power. She was grossly ignorant, and the first step upward was the improvement of her education. She waited for two years, and then saw her first chance and took it. Battieta Pisani fell in love with her, and asked her

to be married to him He was only* a " practicien," a mason; but he_ was a man somewhat superior to his environment in scholarship, and Emma saw in him her opportunity. She married him, and when he had taught her all he knew *>he became very exacting. To provide her with what she wanted he turned coiner, and eventually had to leave the country to escape the police.

Madame Pisani then went to Nice, where she met the Count della Torre, who at once fell a viotim to her exquisite loveliness and charm of manner. She ensnared him, attached him to her devoted service, and did with him whatsover she listed. So from that time she became known to the wo?ld as the " grande dame," the Countess della I Torre. When the Count died he left her the whole of his immense fortune, and society threw open wide its doors to her.

Fate led her to place her talents at the disposal of the Czar, and to the Russian Court she became- indispensable. If a document had to be secured, she secured it. Murder she counted a legitimate factor in the game. She would lure on her victim by soft glance and tender smile, with a small phial of deadly poison hidden in her left glove. The coup which first established her in

the complete confidence of th© Czar happened early in her career. The Russian I Secret Police had received intelligence of a plot which was being hatched conjointly i in Rome and Paris. Reports conflicted in detail, but all concurred in pointing at a trusted member of the household high in the confidence of the Czar, and with conI stant access to his person. The work of detecting the plot was given to the Countess, who went to Rome and ingratiated

herself with the Nihilists. She was successful, and on return got an audience with th© Czar, who refused to believe what she told him. The accused' was one of the most | trusted of his personal friends. " Then," said the Countess, "I shall prove to your Majesty that what I say is true. In half an hour I must crave permission to see you a»ain." She at once hastened to the officer in

question, and delivered into his care the package of papers, with the injunction not to allow them to quit his person. "Keep them with you." she said. "On your noble person they are safe. In my hiding I pace they may be found." Returning, she found the Czar nervously expecting her in his apartments, and at once said, " I bejg , that your Majesty will at once summon this gentleman to your presence, and that you observe closely the Count's deportment and

features when he sees nif at your side." When a few minutes later the officer entered andl Eaw the Countess he was struck with terror and' amazement. "It is as I informed your Majesty," observed the Countess, calmly. "If you will search him you will find the proof." The proof was found in on© of his riding-boote. The Czar's command was "Exile to Siberia for life," but the Countess never knew what

really became of him. She always believed that he was murdered in his cell that night. From that day the Countess della Torro was established in the confidence of the Autocrat of All the Russias; but one ghost haunted her — her husband. She hadi been. in constant communication all along with Pisani, who was in America. He returned a few weeks ago vmbiddlen, and sought her out. When he left her she was found murdered. Now he awaits his trial.