THE HAUNTED CZAR SHOOTS HIS SERVANT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1099, 19 August 1880, Page 2

THE HAUNTED CZAR SHOOTS HIS SERVANT.

A French paper/ Le -Voltaire, of ' Paris ; publishes in St. Petersburg correspondence a recent innident in the life of the Czar, for whioh it claims its authenticity. The incident is said to have happened at five o'clock in' the morning when -all was silent in the Winter Palace. One of the -servants .-who stood high in his master'r favour, thought he heard -the Czar's 1 voice calling him and entered the Imperial bedroom. The Emperor awakened: suddenly by the noia? of his footsteps and not recognising the valet, in the dim light : bf the .lamp which: swung/ over his . head, drew.a revolver ;from under his pillow and; fired. The room ; was... quickly , filled, with watchmen, members of the house-

hold and courtiers, fearful that an &t---tempt had been made on the Czar's If ie. When the truth was learned, the wojinded than was taken to another room, and doctors; pronounced his injury to be fajtal. i^Efforts were made bni- all sides to: prevent the news getting abroad, iand it was generally given out among" the people that the man had died by his own'Mn'd|^y3!he / incid9nt is said to have augmented' the"- '-Czar's terrors. His kitchen, which, for some time has been placed under strict surveillance, has now three physicians attached to it, each of them receiying^lOOp roubles a month. One examines the food, ( the. meat, vegetables, or pdstrjrj 'another tastes; the wines and liquors ; the thirdsuperintends the making. of the dishes. They are all subject to grave responsibilities. Xt'the -least illness of the^Czar they run' tne 1 risk :of ' being arrested as accomplices onv a charge of high treason and of being instantly banished to Siberia. The Voltaire carries its list of improbabilities so far as to say that the Czar has not (infrequently been known to take emetics after dinner. "Have we not here,'' 'it cries, " an episode from the life of some legendary tyrant, a Dionysius of Syracuse .or an Emper.or of Rome, possessed with dreams of horror V ' .. '■' . . '..."...

The Americans are kind enough, to acknowledge that in one thing at least the Britishers beat them, and that. is in the speed of our trains. The confession has been brought out by the recent Gallican crew as to the speed of the ParisrMarseilles express, which, it appears,* is beaten : bf' ! . 'several feguliaf trains iniGermany ; but none- of ; them come near the Flying Dutchman, : which' is still the fastest train in the world, and really accomplishes ,60 miles in the hour. Higher rates oE. speed are common enough for short distances, and on down gradients, but '; for any . journey that includes hundreds; of .miles, [the; actual speed is but little over ,, fifty, miles an hour; With the;long:distances v and generally , speaking,., level roads -which prevail in the States, ; the r rei is every for the Americans : to take the" lead*; but they knowi as some of our colonies are discovering, that* 'their machine-made engines will not stand the wear, and tear of high speeds. m The Marlborough> ifinies . of Friday liEist says nothing yet has "transpired to disturb/the belief ..that the discovery of coal "at Shakespere Bay is a-most important one in every respect. . On Sunday last a good proportion, of the townspeople visited the scene of the^^d,'imd the little T^there waj^ tb.see.Tfis'iavprable to the extent and' falue of the coal seam.; It will be a considerable tune before.it will be sufficiently] tested to enable its. extent to be estimated,ibut whatever the result of the present working, to enable further explorations to be carried, on with ever chance of success. .' x Jenny Linda eyes are; described by J Mrs. Hppperas lpyely as eyer in their expression and in their soft depths of lustrous blue. Her abundant,- brown hair, slightly silvered, she still- dresses in^the same fashion as of. old. {i t , , •