PLOT TO MURDER THE CZAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11537, 23 November 1900, Page 6

PLOT TO MURDER THE CZAR

j MINE LAID UNDER A RAILWAY. CONSPIRATOR ARRESTED. The Sebastopol correspondent of the Lon don Daily Telegraph writes: — j In spite of the veil of mystery which the authorities have sought to throw over th« affair, I have just been able to ascertain the particulars of a plot which was in pro paration a month ago against the life of the Czar. On the railway from Losova to Sebastopol, over which their Imperial Majesties would have to travel on their journey from Spala to the Crimea, there exists a series of tunnels, the last of which is some 1600 yds long. At the entrance, on the Sebastopol side, is a pipe of cast iron, which is used to carry away the surface water, and thus protect the tunnel against deterioration through moisture. A fortnight before the arrival of the Czar and Czaritsa, and before the line was yet guarded by the detachments of troops always employed for the protection of the Imperial party while on a railway journey, people who happened to be walking in the vicinity noticed a student, who must be spoken of at present as K , belonging to the University of Moscow, and the soil of a post-captain of the Black Sea fleet. Nearly every day this young man was observed to be digging up the earth close to the tunnel, and the waterpipe I have already mentioned. At first little attention was paid to his movements, as it was thought that ho was merely digging for worms to be used in fishing. Rumours about the labours of M. K——, however, happened to reach the ears of a colonel of gendarmes, who, having a presentiment that some criminal deed was in progress, proceeded to the spot with hit men. On the approach of the gendarmes, the student threw down the short spade with which he was digging and bolted. This rash act on his part confirmed tho suspicions of the police. One of them ran after the fugitive and arrested him. At the same time it was discovered that a section of the cast-iron water pipe two arschines (65in) in length and of considerable diameter had been extracted from th« ground, filled with explosives, and reburied more deeply in the direction of the tunnel. Next day the mine was exploded witfc frightful effect in a field at Sebastopol, in tho presence of the police and judicial authorities. Experts give it as their opinion that if the attempt had been carried to its consummation, not only the Imperial train, but the tunnel itself, would have been destroyed. Very active investigations are now being conducted in the South of Russia and at Moscow, and a large number of arrests have been made. In connection with this terrible plot, which happily has been detected in time, a certain fact which, perhaps, has something to do with it is worthy of mention. In the course of the inquiry at Rome into the assassination of the late King Humbert it was found that the international group of Anarchists to whi-h the regicide Bresci belonged had projected two further murders, those of the Emperor William and of the Czar. The inquiry, however, failed to ascertain the dates fixed for these crimes. This discovery, the details of which, as I happen to know, were related to a Russian professor by a personage occupying a very high position in Italy, is regarded as meriting attention. The watch kept over the Czar has been increased in vigilance in consequence— fact, the regulations governing admission into Livadia and into the other places of residence of their Imperial Majesties are now far more stringent than have ever before been in force.