ARREST OF A RUSSIAN GRAND DUKE.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1759, 22 August 1874, Page 3

ARREST OF A RUSSIAN GRAND DUKE.

Some further particulars concerning ' the arrest of tho Grand Duke Nico!aua Constantiuovilcb. are given by a correspondent of the Continental Herald, who ! writes :—Respecting the cause of «irrest, ! the Augsburg Gazette says that the Grand Duke was arrested for stealing his 1 mother's diamonds, and that he was driven to this act by the extravagance of bis mistress., In order to withdraw him from the dangerous charms of this mistress, ;and to remove him from St. Petersburgh, the Emperor had appointed him command* ; der of the Amu .Expedition, which'wai to leave the Russian capital on the 26th of April.. >Th© departure of the expe- : dition, for the organisation of which the ; Russian Geographical Society had been ; very active, was suddenly, at the last moment, deferred to an uncertain period, and thejmembers elected for it art still in ' St. Pe|er?btirgb| 'fttai. rery; doubjifiil if the Grand Duke s command of the expedition wpuld have been of any benefit | to him; for the first compulsory scp,eration from the' object of his fatal Jove, when ordered by the Emperor to join in the campaign against Khiva, seemed ,only ; to heighten the intensity of his-affection. Immediately on his return to St. Petersburg^ the dd liaison was renewed. The | recklessness of the Grand Duke is miich ;to be regretted. In spite of his youth-— he is only twenty-four years of age— Nicplaus Constantinovitch has already distinguished himself, by ; ,his bravery, and especially in the^la'st campaign gained ithe approbation fof General Kauffmari, then his commander-in-cliief. On the last St. Greorge's festiral^in St. Peters;bu)^U^he;^ni^ef6r (iecpfateß. tfiisiifcldest nepiieTf with his ovrni hands' byednfeVring on him the Order of St. Andrew. The Press of Vienna contains further particulars relative rta thfe.affiair of tbjs iXyrand j ;Duke Nicholas' of Russia.' It is slated ithat the Minister of Police, Yon Tr«phoff, having been summoned to the Emperor's presence, and severely censured for not ihaving discovered the perpetrator of the robberies at the palace of the Grand Duchess Constantino, undertook to inform his Majesty within twenty-four jhours of the criminal's name. He sent ifor all the servants at the Marble Palace, land, having subjected them to a rigorous examination, tvas able to announce that ithe offender was the Grand Duke Nicholas hardly twenty years of age, the son of the Grand Duke Oonstantine, nephew of the Emperor. The Minister afterwards discovered tie accomplice in the robbery, Miss Phoßnix Blaciford, to whom the ;prince had given a part of the precious objects which he had stolen. In addition, ht had accepted for her numerous bills to the value of nearly five millions of francs. The medical man are of opinion that his brain is somewhat disordered. The prince deposited considerable sums with bankers, " in order to secure a provision for his old age." A reporter of the 'Gaulois has interviewed, at the Grand Hotel, Paris, Misa Phoenix Blackfbrd, the heroine in the affair above narrated. • »The journal s ays :—She is light and i graceful in stature'like a person of good family; not pretty, but attractive.,,,. Un? fortunately, her teeth Hive nojfc thejlustre • of the pearls in hor casket. In her con- ' jversation she calls the Grand Duchess Constantino "My mother-in-law." She* declares that the only jewels abstracted by the Grand Duke were a decoration of diamonds a'ntjr emeralds which adorned Jthe breast ojpjj>ne ofjjthpse portraits of' St. Nicholas whicn wealthy families in Russia cover with gems. It was taken by an aide-de-camp of his highness to the Mont- ' de-Piete, which obliged him to break it up before lending 2700 roubles on it. That occijrred^few days before the debar^feof the'^onel for the\K:Biva expe£ison:SKßThe?^nfof|^fc' c. JJofficer ;fcwis into prison, and then only were the police convinced that the frequent robberies at the Marble fPalace had been, 'committed by the Grand'Dulcs Nicholas. i" And were you arrested ?''l asked the lady. "Yes,and passed a week in thepalace of Count Trephoff, Minister of Police." " With the ( diamonds ?" " Oh, no; the Grand Duke had. warned me' on the previous evening, and I had deposited my papers and, jewels at the American legation, whe|e the jpolico were able to convince' themselves ;that none of them had belonged to my mother-in-law." iMiss Phoenix declares. that everything jtvas restored to her when (she was cbn-j; iductedto the frontier. "I was treated quite as a queen, '' she said," I had an iescort.- .^lndeed.?' "Yes, but only a jsmall one—two gendarmes."