Page:John Feoktist Dudikoff - Beasts in Cassocks (1924).djvu/92

 and sailed on a French steamer, first for Constantinople, and then to Bulgaria. With this information as a clue, in an endeavor to get Platon, I hurried on to Bulgaria, only to discover, while in Sofia, that Metropolitan Platon had left for America quite a while ago.

Early in November, 1921, I arrived in New York, and came to the New York Consistory, at 15 East 97th Street, where Platon makes his home. I asked to be announced without disclosing my identity. Platon did not receive me, but I was permitted to see Bishop Alexander Nemolovsky. Alexander listened to my story and asked me to submit a petition. I did as I was told and submitted a petition on November 17, 1921. When I came to him with it, Alexander became so enraged that he pounded me on the chest, and shouted: "If you, you Anti-Christ, you, will dare ask His Holiness for money, we will make short shrift of you—this is not Russia. You will be arrested and deported to Russia as a dangerous Bolshevik!" That was the reply to my petition that Bishop Alexander Nemolovsky gave me and he must have been well informed about all by Metropolitan Platon. After venting his rage on me, he left the room. The people in the Consistory advised me to go to the well-known people's priest, Father Vladimir Richlov, who lived on Madison Street. "He is a great favorite of both Alexander and Platon," they told me. "He is a Jack of all trades. He leased a house on Madison Street, and pretending to be the owner, has borrowed thousands of dollars on it to date, and, just watch, Platon will make good all his obligations for him. Buimistrov, Chairman of the Church Relief Committee, promised to present Richlov with $8,000.00 for the purchase of the house. It is rumored that Richlov 'massages' both Bishops. He is in their apartment now. He can do anything with them. If he becomes interested in your case, you will get your money in the twinkling of an eye."

The "People's Priest," who had been recommended to me at the Consistory, turned out to be none other than the well-known Agent