BERLIN, MONDAY — The next curious discover seems in a Berlin paper: “It’s mentioned that Russian officers holding a excessive place in their very own nation at the moment are on a secret mission in England, the place they’ve been negotiating for the final month with officers within the British Civil Service.” Their alleged object is to acquire info, maps and plans regarding English concessions in Persia and Arabia.
“After leaving London they’re to go to Paris with the intention to contract a big mortgage there, and to acquire the help of France. Russia’s intention is to construct a huge railway via Russia, Turkestan, Persia, and Arabia to the Crimson Sea. On the terminus of the Crimson Sea a Muscovite naval station is to be erected, and an settlement with the Authorities of the Shah of Persia has already been concluded and signed.”
— The New York Herald, European Version, Dec. 21, 1898
