DETAILS OF TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 43, 20 February 1905, Page 5

DETAILS OF TRAGEDY.

BODY TERRIBLY MUTILATED. LONDON, February 18. When the carriage was opposite the Law Courts a sledge, containing two men, one of whom was dressed as a workman, overtook it and shot ahead. The sledge then slowed down and permitted the carriage to come up. Just as the carriage was passing one of the men in the sledge stood up, and threw a bomb under it. There was a terrific explosion. The carriage literally was blown to pieces, the wheels only remaining intact. All the windows in the Law Courts and other buildings near at hand were smashed. Singularly enough the horses in the carriage were not hurt, but they bolted, and. colliding with a wall, were killed. The explosion created the greatest consternation, but the true facts were soon made known by the crowds of citizens who had hastened to the spot. The body of the Grand Duke had been shockingly mutilated. The head and limbs h_d been torn from the trunk. The remains were scarcely in a condition to be identified. A NIHILIST CONSPIRACY. GRANS "DUCHESS WARNED. ARREST OF ASSASSINS. WORKERS COGNIZANT OF PLOT LONDON, February 17. Latest details show that immediately after the events of Sunday, January 22. the Nihilists, or Party of Terror, met and sentenced to death the Grand Duke Sergius. General Trepoff and other notable men for their connection with the massacres at St. Petersburg, Moscow and elsewhere. The Grand Duchess was aware of the j sentence, for on two occasions the Nihi- i lists had sent her a warning that she ! should not accompany her husband on | his drives, as nobody wished to harm I her. I Yesterday, for the first time since the receipt of these warnings, the Grand Duke took a drive alone. The men in the sledge were both arrested immediately after the assassination. One of them wa3 seriously injured. The other man said: "I don-'t care; I have done my job." He confessed that he had, under orders,, executed the sentence of the revolutionary party. There are indications that groups of the working people of Moscow were aware that the life of the Grand Duke was to be attempted, and that they knew even the date and the hour when the attempt was to be made. i

WHEN IT HAPPENED. DEMEANOUR OF THE CROWD. LONDON, February 18. > It seems that the Grand Duke Sergius left the Nicholas Palace in a closed carriage at three o'clock, and intended to drive to the Russian bath in Tverskaja street. Cabs containing detectives followed his carriage. The explosion attracted a tremendous crowd, and many of the people picked up fragments of the carriage and of the Grand Duke's clothing to keep aa mementoes of tlie tragedy. The remains of the Grand Duke were collected by the police. Of the head only the brains could be found. Tlie trunk and limbs were taken to Nichoras Palace. They will be interred in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul at St. Petersburg. The driver of the carriage died when being taken to the hospital" ANOTHER ACCOUNT. ONLY ONE ASSASSIN. STUDENTS MOBBED IN MOSCOW LONDON, February 18. Another account of the assassination of the Grand Duke Sergius is published. It states that a man, dressed in workman's holiday clothes, concealed himself close to Nikolsky Gate, near the arsenal. As the carriage of the Grand Duke emerged from the tunnel formed by the tower of Nikolsky Gate, the man threw a bomb, which blew the Grand Duke's head to atoms and reduced his body to a formless mass. A policeman and a watchman, it is added, were the only actual eye-witnesses of the tragedy, and they arrested the murderer. The man was bleeding from the head and hands, and scarcely tried to escape. He shouted -'Freedom" all the way to the police station. He refused to reveal his identity, but is supposed to be a student sworn to revenge the mass-acre of students at Moscow on December 19. After the assassination a number oi students scattered revolutionary proclamations outside the Kremlin. Tbey were roughly handled by an indignant crowd. AN IMPERIAL MANIFESTO. CONSTERNATION OF TEE CZAB. ST. PETERSBURG, February 18. The Czar has issued a manifesto, in which he deplores the loss of his uncle and friend, "whose whole life activity was given to the care and constantly devoted to the service of ourselves and the Fatherland." The manifesto concludes with the hope that his subjects will feel the heartiest sympathy with the Imperial House. Tlie Czar, it is reported, has been thrown into a state of consternation by the dreadful event. GRAND DUCHESS FRANTIC WITH GRZEF. LONDON, February 18. On hearing of the assassination the Grand Duchess was frantic with grief. Hatless and cloakless, she rushed to the scene of the tragedy. It was with difficulty that she was persuaded to return to the palace. At this time a policeman, seeing a man running and carrying a revolver in his hand, arrested him. He admitted that he was an agent of the revolutionary party. He said the members of the party wexe gratifled that the Grand Duchess had not been injured. SERGIUS THE CHIEF REACTIONARY. (Received 8.32 ajn.) ST. PETERSBURG, February 19. The consensus of opinion in St. Petersburg is that the Grand Duke Sergius was the Czar's chief reactionary counsellor, and that lie even more than the Grand Duke Vladimir was responsible for the obstructions to progress, which led to the recent sanguinary event.--. GERMAN PRESS VIEWS. THE ASSASSINS EXTOLLED. (Received 8.32 a.m.) BERLIN, February 19. The Liberal press of Berlin agrees in attributing the assassination of the I Grand Duke Sergius to the recent masI saere in St. Petersburg. The "Voewaerts" praises the action cf I the assassins, and extols them as heroes.

MOSCOW WOMEN'S APPEAL. Petition to Stop t_c War. (Received 8.25 a.m.) ST. PETERSBURG, February 19. The women of Moscow have addressed a petition to the Dowager-Empress of j Russia, urging her to intercede with the ] ; Czar to stop the war. and thus to lead i the way to the political regeneration of j ■ the country. j