GRAND DUKE SERGIUS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12817, 17 March 1905, Page 6

GRAND DUKE SERGIUS.

DETAILS OF THK ASSASSINATION.

Moscow, February 13.

Within the walls of the far-famed Kremlin Palace, and almost. underneath the historical tower from 'which Ivan the 'Terrible watched the heads of his enemies falling beneath the axe of the famous Red Square, and within a stone's throw of the great bell of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergius, uncle snd brother-in-law of Kmpercr Nicholas, and the chief of ihe reactionaries, met a terrible death shortly before, three o'clock yesterday afternoon. The deed was committed by a single terrorist, who threw beneath the carriage of the Grand Duke a tomb charged with the same high power explosive which wrought Minister von Pie live"* death. The missile was packed with nails and fragments of iron, and its plosion tore the Imperial victim's body to ghastly fragments, which strewed the snow for yards around. Every window in the great, lofty facade of the Palace of Justice was shattered, and bits of iron were imbedded deeply in the walls of the arsenal, a hundred yards awav. The assassin belongs to the noted fightin"- group" of the Socialist revolutionary party, which lias removed other prominent officials and long since passed a sentence of death upon Grain! Duke Sergius. The Grand Duke knew that he stood in the shadow of death. He was the recipient of repeated warnings, and elaborate precautions were taken to ensure his safety; but all the resources of the gendarmerie, secret police and soldiers, proved unavailing against an attempt, almost exactly duplicating the procedure that caused the death of Minister of the Interior von Plehve last July. It was the irony of fate that Sergius, after taking refuge in his country villa during the strike troubles of a month ago, and later seeking- even .more secure shelter iu trie palace w.thin the Kremlin walls, should he killed while proceeding to the Gover-nor-General's palace beyond the walls, and which he had abandoned to enable the police to better protect him. Grand Duchess Elizabeth, who had been engaged daily in the task of preparing comforts for the. sick and wounded Russian soldiers in Manchuria, was about to drive to the palace to join her husband. When she heard what had befallen the Grand Duke she was driven in haste to the scene of the tragedy, and knelt, hatless and coat less, ore the . bloodstained snow and murmured, prayers for the welfare of the soul of her slain consort. The scene of the crime was the great open triangle .vithin the Kremlin, bounded by the arsenal, treasury, and courts of justice, in one angle of which is the Nicholas or little palace, where the Grand Duke dwelt. At the opposite corner is the Nikolsky gate, the exit to the town beyond the ramparts. A few minutes before the bell of the gate sounded the hour of three the equippage of the • Grand Duke emerged from the gates of the, palace and proceeded, followed by sleighs containing secret police. The equippage swept at a smart pace toward the gate, passing the Choudoff cloister, Ivan's Tower, the Great Tsar bell and long rows of carieoa captured from Napoleon in tiie wintei- retreat of 1812. In a moment the carriage was in front, of the courts of justice, where the walls of the triangle approach, forming a narrow entrance to the Nikolsky gate. ' There a man, clad in workman's attire, stepped forward from lit* sidewalk and threw a tomb, which he had concealed beneath his coat. A terrible explosion followed, and a hail of iron pelted the grim stone wells of the arsenal and of the courts of justice. A thick cloud of smoke, snow, dust, and debris arose. jWhen it had cleared a ghastly ; sight was presented.

On ilie snow lay fragments of the body of 'Grand Duke Sergius. mingled with the wreck of the carriage. The Grand Duke's head had been torn from his. body and reduced to a. shapeless pulp, and t li«> trunk and limbs were frightfully mangled. A finger beaming a rich seal ring was found lying several yards away. The crimson tint and the smell of blood were everywhere. Only a few fragments of clothing indicated that the body had been clothed. iThe coachman lay meaning with pain beside a deep hole in the pavement. The horse*, dragging the front- wheels of the carriage, had dashed off. maddened with pain, to sink dying before they reached the- g:ite. The sound of the explosion was heard throughout the city, and oven. -.beyond the river. A crowd began to assemble and to handle grim evidences of the tragedy, while they discussed the affair in awe-stricken voices. Officials rapidly gathered, but before anything could bo done toward collecting-the scattered fragments .of the body, Grand Duchess Elizabeth drove up in an open carriage. She had dropped her work at the headquarters of the Red Cross and sped to the scene of the crime without waiting to don her outer wraps. She broke down at the sight, and dropped to her knees sobbing. After a few minutes she was led away. Then a stretcher was brought, and. covered with a plain soldier's cloak, the remains of Sergius were borne to the Choudoff cloister, where officers and members of the Grand Duke's suite had assembled., The assassin was thrown to the ground and stunned by the force of the explosion, but he immediately arose and ran toward the gate, attempting to escape. His haste and the blood streaming from his face, where he had been wounded by fragments of t.ho bomb, attracted the attention of % sergeant of police, who seized him before he .could draw a' revolver. The man did not deny his crime, but, on the contrary, gloried in its success. He expressed his satisfaction that he had been able to kill the> Grand Duke without involving the Duchess. He avowed his membership of the Socialist revolutionary organisation, but refused to give his name, and at tho gaol his papers were found to be forged. The revolver with which the assassin was armed was an automatic magazine pistol of the same type as the weapon employed by. Hohenthal, the assassin of Soininc. Pro-curator-General of Finland. The assassin's injuries are not serious. The Grand Duke's coachman, who was severely injured, was removed to a hospital. All places of amusement have been closed. Immense crowds gathered near the Kremlin, where some factions began to attack the students, and things began to look threatening, but so far the police measures to preserve order have proved effective, and to-night the city is quiet.