ROMANOFF’S EXTERMINATED.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16823, 23 August 1920, Page 7

ROMANOFF’S EXTERMINATED.

EVENTS PRIOR TO OUTRAGE. GERMAN INTRIGUES FAILED. SOVIET FEARED RESTORATION. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received Aug. 23, 12.40 p.m.X LONDON, Aug. 19. Tlio Times correspondent coutjnuos tbe grim story ol the extermination of the itomanolts, cabled on Friday. Ho describes the critical stage in 191 S at which tho Czar’s faro hung in the balance. Tlio enforcement ol the humiliating terms of tlio Rrcst-Litovsk Treaty had uegun.. Germany had become absolute mistress of the Russian situation. Mirbach, installed at -Moscow, worked through a crowd of Bolshevist puppets imported from Germany. The success dt the Gentian plans seemed assured. Then a. fatal scries ot disputes arose between Berlin and Ludeudorlf. The party at Berlin wanted a continuance of systematic penetration and peaceful conquest. Lmlendorlf favoured displacement of the Soviets and modification off the Brcst-Litovsk treaty ana the restoration of Nicholas as a vassal Sovereign. Tthe quarrels destroyed tfia whole edifice of German duplicity and deceit.

The assassination of Mirbach completed the collapse. Sovictdom thereupon asserted itself, and decided to ensure that the restoration of tho Romanoffs should forever be impossible. The correspondent, acquits Lenin. The. real authors of.the crime consisted ol me mild's of a notorious counter-revolu-tionary committee associated with tlio inner circle of the Bolshevist central executive. The most prominent were Svcrdolov, Safarov, Voikov, Goloschckin, and Ourovsky. The first-named was tho uncrowned Czar of tho Soviets and really more powerful than Lenin and Trotsky. Sverdlov’s direct connection with the ’Ekaterinburg murders is established beyond .doubt. Goloschekin figures as his obedient instrument, Svcrdlov carrying out tho most desperate enterprises. He was abnormally bloodthirsty and insisted on hearing minute descriptions. He would exhibit a frenzy of joy on listening to descriptions of tortures.

Ourovsky, an ambitious Jew, acted as chief gaoler and tormentor of tho doomed Royalties. He attended prayers at Ipatiov’s house and even chatted pleasantly with the sick boy Alexis, whom he shot dead a few days later with his own hands. Ourovsky took to Moscow several trunks of his victims’ intimate correspondence. Sverdlov promised their publication in order to show' tho people the character of their ex-rulers, but suppressed priceless documents. ■ The diaries and papers of Nicholas and Alexandra contained no hint ot treachery, hut-, on tho contrary, proved Nicholas’s unbounded loyalty to Russia and tho Allies, and, unfortunately, also liis Complete subserviency to his wife.