HOW THE LATE CZAR WAS MURDERED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 145, 20 June 1891, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOW THE LATE CZAR WAS MURDERED.

By an Eye-witness,

Apropos of the tenth anniversary of the awful day when Alexander 11. was murdered in hie carriage as he was driving back to his palace after tho weekly military review at tho Michael Manege in St. Petersburg, an eye-witness of the ecene describes ib as follows in the ' Kolnische Zeitung ': — Escaped ! When the Emperor's carnage was turning toward the Palace of the Grand Duchess, Catharine Michaelovne, come passers-by saw a woman, dressed in black, standing on the Casan bridge, and pressing a white handkerchief three times to her face. Perceiving this sign, several men dressed like peasants approached the Btreet running along the canal. The Imperial carriage was rapidly approaching, accompanied by tho bodyguard ; hats were lifted in the crowd, and tho people began to shout ' Hurrah !' Then suddenly thero was a terrific crash ; flames and smoke were seen behind the carriage ; paving-etonos and pieces of the carriage were flying about ; the horses stood still ; and close to the carriage some of the bodyguard and several others were weltering in their blood. One little baker-boy shrieked again and again, ' I really cannot help it !' till in a few minutes death closed hia lip 3 for ever. The Imperial coachman, a man who had grown grey in the service of the Czar, saw at a glance that his master was not wounded, and that the carriage, though much damaged, could still be driven. He urged the horses with whip and rein to move on, but there came almost immediately a sign'froui the interior of the carriage to stop. The door was opened and the Emperor ctepped out, pale aa death, hia bands bespattered with blood. He bad been slightly wounded by splinters from the carriage windows. The officers and crowd thronged round him, asking whether he was wounded. He shook his head, crossed himself, and, looking ab the wounded, said in a low voice, ' But these are !' At that moment a police-officer reported that the murderer had been caught._ . . . • Are you the criminal who tried to take my life?'the Czar asked the young fellow in peasant's clothes who was brought before him. ' Yes,' he replied in a firm voice. ' What is your name ?' Hβ gave a false name ; his real name was Ryssakoff. Then a well-known officer of the Guards approached the Emperor, asking whether he was really not wounded. 'No, thank God, I am not,' was the reply, and tho peasant sneeringly murmured as if to hitneelf, 'It is too soon to thank God as yet.' An Awful Moment. The Emperor did not hoar these words, but wenb along the canal towards his carriage. Then suddenly a man pressed through the crowd, and threw what looked like a ball of snow between himself and the Emperor. The latter was seen to cross himself, but at the same moment another crash, more terrible than the first, was heard, and both the Emperor and his murderer were for a moment enveloped in smoke. When the smoke cleared they both lay together ; the Emperor's face was covered with blood, his legs were a shapeless mangled mass, and a stream of blood from his body formed a pool on the white snow, With a cry of paintheEmperor's youngest and favourite brother. Grand Duke Michael,; rushed towards the mutilated form, bent : over it and called out, ' Sasha, do you know i me ?' The Emperor murmured 'It is cold, cold,' and after a moment's pause, ' To the Winter Palace . . . let me die there.' These wore the monarch's last words. The End of it Am. The Emperor was wrapped in an officer's cloak—bis own was torn to rags—puli into an opeD sledge, and slowly taken to the Winter Palace ; a trail of blood marked the whole distance. The news spread like wildfire through the town.and soon a crowd of 10,000 was assembled in front of the Palace, from the tower of which thelmperial flag was proudly flyiner. An endless row of carriages and sledges drove up before the Palace of the Czar ; one of the first to arrive was the Heir-Apparent and his consort, both with faces drawn with grief. They did not notice the salutes of the multitude, but fonly urged the coachman to drive the horses still faster. In gloomy silence the crowd stood waiting, casting anxious looks at the Palace windows and at the Imperial flag. Messengers were constantly giving news of the state of the beloved monarch. Then for some time there was no news. Was it a good or a bad sign ? The silent anewercame verysoon. Slowly thelmperial flag sank to half-mast high. The crowd knelt down, all heads wore bared, and prayers were offered for the dead Czar Liberator, Gsa? AlsSftQslf r JJI, h»si b. egqn