ABSTRACT
In December 1899 Koba started to work at the Tiflis Geophysical Observatory as a record keeper, moving into a small room in the dormitory. Lado Ketskhoveli, a close friend, helped him to get this job.1 Lado was born into the family of an impoverished nobleman, a priest in a village near Gori. Like Koba, Lado had been abused by his father, who severely punished him for bad behavior and poor grades. Lado had graduated from the Gori Ecclesiastical School four years earlier than Koba and, like Koba, attended the Tiflis Seminary. In 1893-the year before Koba enrolled there-Lado was expelled from the Seminary for ‘Georgian nationalism’ and was exiled to Kiev. In the fall of 1897, he returned illegally to Tiflis. The newly appointed chief of the Tiflis secret police, E.P.Debel, reported to St Petersburg Lado’s arrival but did not order his arrest.2 In all probability, Lado turned police informer at that time, in return for permission to live in Tiflis. Lado went to work for a printer by the name of Kheladze.3 It was probably Lado who, toward the end of 1889, supplied Koba with the illegal leaflets that provoked the expulsion of 45 students from the Tiflis Seminary. Lado may well have involved Koba in other provocations sponsored by the Tiflis secret police.4
