The Murder of General Seliverskoff.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 6077, 18 February 1891, Page 2

The Murder of General Seliverskoff.

Momentarily discouraged by the noet ponement of the Eyraud-Bompard trial the morbid curiosity of the borror-loving section of the Parisian public has been freshly stimulated, not only by the atrocity of the general Sehverakoff has been the victim, but by the mystery which surrounds the Derpetrator of the crime. The deceased gentleman, who was about 60 years of agefand is described as a person of distinguished a D ! pearance and cultivated manners had held several important public appointments in Russia, and he was ultimately from the chief command of the WM Gendarmerie to the direction of the Third Section of the Chancery of p o l ice * post formerly held by the Trepoff, and 7 subsequently % g≤s who was assassinated by a Nihilist in the streets of St. Petersburg Longevity among the heads of tbe Thifd Section seems to be the exception rather £,M ™ % General Be «™«kafl did not hold this parlous employment very loneand it is understood that for some time prior to his death he was on the reversed friendly terms with the Czar and his Mm istere. Disgusted with St. Petcrsh ».„ i? ex-chief of the Third Section S£ '*' t% his time between Nice and Hftffi t??l last named capital hi* nsnal^ w £ he Hotel de-Bade, on the Boulevard that is to say, in the very heart of f2£' able Lutetia. He was accuntomed to fc with him his man servant, a native °f Fi n ? land, who had been in his servbe some ten years, and on whose honesty and <m -• reposed unqualified h ° occupied a suite of five, rooms T g " al a lobby, a small sabn L n P B -" 5 apartments, and a worn' u e *d ftTO transaction; of business, on th« I , fitorey of the hotel; and oneV* T?? d of the faithful Pinn, when a viA 6 datl6S the bell, was to open it Sy half » ' '""f 1 not allow to obtain *t adjuncts of French hall door & » *° general was chary of receiving visit*V strangers, andlooked on them cuil T with intense suspicion, another mystery which require? tft* cleared up. On the mornin* of V° 7 A e instant, General Seliverskoff at went out for a walk rhfi,-*,; , afc 8 and fore 11 to break™ < be ' his Finuish valet inW sleeping apartments A*- tL . two the repast he was about to t^ 0 ÜBion of when the servant told hi rath g a ? t ° h Ut a^ain ' man in the hall who wisheri ft- 6 Was a who said he hadcomrwith a Y» *'?' &nd M. Bernstoff, the dTr ec To ■ \t " er frona a Russian concerfs wh oh are bfi B , ?me aDß °- theKueßoyale. Atfira*th« « g g , ITOU in emiesary, but on readme- thn W i,e^ st °ff c man had brought heordfrSi ,t rWhlch the admitted to h!s presence In r h ° UldW evidence of the sei va nt ihe t& lhe " remained a few minutes in P^ 69 onl r skoa-s bedroom, and £ leffth Se ' iTer ' quite devoid ofanv eloitenSf W™ minutes then elapsed, duStl'- . Twent r was heard. T b L etl th e m"« D ° more avers, some question to wk* f aa be knocked at the bedroom door t* domestic began the people of the W urQer -'" spot; a medical man was B e4* ed tO , the general, etUl breathT'g butVhf Bpeak, was undressed and put to bed O the morning of the 19th he died " ° a from a revolver If ,"„ „■„•* i-, fired the projectile was d" ha" g d gun. Naturally a-minnVf m an air " the scene of the crime an l !f m . lnati °i of the hotel, wasat™ ° f "Fe'doT'- d ! t Poli T- The t s he ac nf the servants were eadoeeaySy cumstance was par tell!v t olr " sumably a Pole, the employment of.tt: Bernstofl ThiTpV * it is said, belonged to the Nih id - and.it is_ bruited about fhatg W' grudge against General SehWrS* t * he accused of having fome-Tf ' Wh ° m recently taken against the me * BaKe refugees in Pari a °! SuiSS/'T ,1 P ° htical been the actual peSratT/nf T t0 We at the Hotel de 4df S • c , murder protest entire innocence and ignorance o f the transaction have already been wrertrf and the po l, ce will probaW / ma en «~ted ber of more or .leas random raids ob the Muscovite refugees in Paris before they light on the real assassin; while as I .matter of course, the Finnish servant fe kept under the strictest surveillance bZ thing at all events, seems tolerably e W m this ghastly affair. Whoever mSdfit General Michael Seliverskofl, thWaSS mr no The CtU . at l bj thS der. The dead man, it fo reported. I.i his pocket a sum of 1300 ■ franc? h Z this, too, was found to be untouched' r his escritoire there came to lio-ht large sum of money, amounti-? ', an P*ner francs, the yioid of some P - g to 25 ' 000 ' of which he had disoof ,- QSBIaQ securitiesbefore the catastropU jed N , B°m«8° m « *? w *W forced, no pockeVbooks riff °i° Okß^ ad .Orvant, who and m whom he p l aoed £"V must have known well.enough wh er e b!P tuaator kept his money and jewellrl* and, had robbery as (veil as murder been committed, grave suspicion would at O nc fl and not unnaturally, have fallen on th' Finn. Asi it is, the purely circumstantiai evidence adduced seems to point to P a dl ß wski a* the assassin. The man in the em" ploy of M. Bernstoff, and known as StaniT" Padlewski, has been identified witttKS' who gave his name to the waih»J t^tl Hotel de Bade aS Padlewsktwho'hada/ew minutes' interview with theill-fotedgeneraf and who is now missing. It is when X' quest is made into the motives of tht. - that mystery thickens °On"« is naturally tempted to iumr> at A.' elusion that the fury of pZFj yUI °° n ' inspired the bloodthirsty dS ST™, Seliverskoff, however, had on!y bee? f o7 short time at the head of the Third Section and it would not seem that while occudv' ing that post he had incurred suchTF/' hatred as that which fell toThe 1$ ft predecessors, Trepoff and V«LJ? *% S After a brief tenure of oft™ resigned or been removed torn Si *f period on the reverse of frienZ 7 & with the Government at St SeUnT grievances were fictitiousf his runtul Ruesian offidalism is a mere £ deceased general himself a first-class Jz employed to ook after the refu^esiM. , it is difhcult to see what object the NihS could have had in decreeing hii ansa*? «'* These men of blood and mysteryTe^? t ?" their bullets or their dynamite tilZ?*** with a fixed purposethatC yatrke "fe--remains the possibility of the cS S n