Falsified Her Age

Even in Russia, ït seems, despotism does not go the length of forcing a woman to teil her age or of punishing her for stating it inaccurately. A certain Princess Eugalytcheff was recently tried at Mosoow and sentenced to lifelong internment in the province of Olonetz for embezzling 140,000 rubíes. After the proceeding in court had come to an end and after the noble lady had retired to the country for her somewhat prolonged rest f rom urban gayeties and temptations a too careful official discovered that among the papers in the case was the princess' certifícate of baptism, and that she had changed the date of it from 1847 to 1867. Instantly this grave crime was brought to the notice of the authorities, and the convicted embezzler was summoned to meet the charge of falsifying an official document. Then a curious fact was disclosed, and a snrprising amount of light was thrown on Russian society. The Prince Eugalytcheff, who was cited as a witness by the prosecutor, said that whether his bride was 20 years older or younger than her certified age was a matter of absolute indifference to him. All he could say was that he received the sum of 3,000 rubíes for giving the lady his name, that immediately after the marriage ceremony he procured for her a separate passport, and that since then he has known nothing more of his wife or her private affairs. The jury gallantly declined to convirt the accused princess on the "trivial charge about a woman's age," and sbe was sent back to her provincial exile. Princes evidently come cheap in Russia, and this is perhaps the most interesting bit of news in the whole story.