RUSSIAN TRAGEDY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 41, 25 March 1914, Page 5

RUSSIAN TRAGEDY.

SHOOTING IN A RESTAURANT. The restaurant " Samarkand,'» a famous night resort on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, was the scene of a terrible tragedy (writes the correspondent of an English exchange recently). A party of officers of the Imperial Guard arrived and ordered a gipsy choir and a band of guitar players to entertain thetn. The singing, music, and drinking lasted till five in the morning, when the brothers Kolzakoff, one of whom is married to a daughter of the late General Dediulin, who was Commandant of the Tsar's palaces, called for the bill.

While the married brother was settling the bill, the other tried to force his, way into the girl-singers' dressing room after Sasha Stepanova, the 17-year-old daughter of the choir master. The girls screamed, and the father attempted to drag the officer out of the room. Thereupon Kolzakoff fired and killed him. Sasha flung herself on her father's body, but she, too, was shot by the officer through the shoulder. Kolzakoff then shot the guitarist, Masalsky, in the stomach as he was attempting to disafti him, and the unfortunate man subsequently died in the hospital. These tragedies occurred at 6 o'clock in the morning, and two hours passed before the necessary authority was received to arrest the officer, who holds a commission in the Imperial Guard. Reports state that the girl Sasha has gone mad.