AMAZING STORY OF RASPUTIN.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16141, 20 February 1918, Page 8

AMAZING STORY OF RASPUTIN.

! * ! | THE "BLACK MONK OF | RUSSIA." i ■ 4 " ( | (BY THE COUNTESS RADZIWILL.) New Zealand Eights Specially Secured by "Tho Press." CHAPTER V.—(Continued). GERMAN SCHEMING. At that period the great aim of the German. Foreign Office was to bring | about tlie collapse of the Franco-Rus-sian alliance, and it set itself most cleverly to try to bring it about. Among the persons whom it. employed for the purposo was Rasputin, perhaps unknown to himself, but led ly men like Count Witte, who had always been pro-German in sympathy and who had almost engaged liimseif to bring about a rapproehement between the St. Petersburg; and the Berlin Courts. Working with "Witte was Manusewitscli Maniuloff, one of the | most abominable secret agents the ' world has ever known, who in his unI scrupulousness would have done anything ho was asked, provided he were paid high enough. For years l<e had been in. receipt of German subsidies, By dint of blackmailing he had contrived to maintain himself in the capacity of one of the editors of the "Novoe Vremya," where he wrote all that was asked of him for a consideration, the extent and nature of which despended upon /circumstances. He was also on staff of the Rus- 1 sian Political Intelligence Department, to wKich he rendered such services as he considered to be advantageous to himself without the least thought of the use these might be to the State i which employed him. j Maniuloff was a spendthrift who never could deny himself any of the good things of life. These are alw:iys considered to be expensive ones, snd consequently he had expensive tastes. His capacity of police agent had allowed him to blackmail to advantage people against whom lie had discovered, or thought he had discovered, something in the way of dangerous political opinions. One of his favourite occupations consisted in going about these people and hinting to them that unless they showed themselves willing to minister to his numerous wants they might find themselves one day in a very tight corner. Generally these tactics proved successful, until he was caught red-handed in Paris, where he had been sent on a special tampering with the funds of which ho had control. This accident caused him to be dismissed. But the man knew far too much and had been far too advanced in the confidence of his superiors for them to be able to do without his services, so he was allowed to return to Russia and enrol himself in journalism, thus to make himself useful again. He had wonderful intelligence, was an excellent worker, and talked fluently in most of the European languages. He therefore made his way up the ladder once more, until at last he became the private secretary of Sturmer when the latter was Prime Minister, an advancement that proved fatal to him because it brought him to prison. But of this I shall speak later on when touching upon the events which culminated in the murder of Rasputin. Such were the men who virtuallycontrolled every action of the "Prophet." As time went on the latter showed himself less and less in public, remaining among a small circle of personal friends whose interest it was to represent hini as a" kind of Indian idol,, unapproachable except to his worshippers. INCREASING POWER. The Rasputin craze became more violent than ever during the few months which immediately preceded the war, and it very nearly verged upon complete fanaticism for his personality. Everything that he did was considered to be holy. His insolence and arrogance, displayed with increasing violence every day and hour, were almost incredible. This illiterate peasant dared to send dirty little scraps of paper on which he liad scribbled a coarse message to Ministers and public men ordering them to do this or that according to his pleasure, and presuming to give them advice, which was never his own, in matters of the utmost public importance. At first people h&d laughed at him, but very soon they had discovered that he could revengo himself on them quickly and effectively, and this had led to the general determination not to interfere with him any more, but to leave him severely alone, no matter what ex-

travagance he might commit or say And when it came to the extortion of lavgo sums of money, those who were challenged to pay them generally did so with alacrity," us happened in tke ease of several banks to which Maniut , ap P |ioc ! lor funds, with the help of these illiterate scraps of paper upon | which Rasputin had scribbled his desire that the money should bo put at tho disposal of his protege. hat I have been writing is fact which lias been proved publicly, rjii never contradicted by so much as one single word of protestation. It ac* counts for the hatred with which the "Prophet" came to be viewed. As time Kent on it was i'eJt that- somethingought to be attempted against the impostor who hud contrived to break through barriers one could have believed to be absolutely impregnable. But no one knew how this was to~be done, and at the time J am referring to the idea of a political assassination of Rasputin had not entered into the people's heads. It was a womjin who was to bring it before the public, in the following circumstances. HOW ST. PETERSBURG REACTED TO THE ATTACK. In St. Petersburg the news of the attempted assassination of Rasputin, had produced an immense impresuion, ' and had been commented upon in different ways, "Some people 6aw in it aa intervention of the secret policc. who had been told to get rid in some way of other of a man who was fast becoming a public nuisance and ivmbarraisment for everybody, even for those who had benefited through their acquaintance with him. Others declared that itwos a just punishment lor his evil deeds, and that the woman (Jouiscwa had not been badly inspired when she had tried to revenge herself on him for tho terrible wrong which he had dona to her. Everyone was anxious to leam how the news would be received in certain quarters and among the bevy of feminine worshippers whoso existence was wrapped up in that of Rasputin. Public curiosity, however, was not destined to be satisfied, becausc nothing was heard concerning tho feelings or these adepts of his on this remarkable occasion. The only thing which one learned in regard to the whole affair was that two ladies who figured among his most prominent supporters had started at once for Pokrowskoic, and that a celebrated surgeon from Kazan had also been requested to go to see him regardless of what his journey might cost. A TRIAL NOT "WANTED. The care that was taken of Rasputin soon restored him to hid usual health, and he became at once . a martyr. When the first'moment of fright—and, being a great coward, ho had teen thoroughly frightened had passed away, he felt rather satisfied at the fuss which was made about Jiim, and more grateful than- anything else to the woman Gouisowa for having given him} such a splondid opportunitv to recover" sain© of his popularity, which ho had feared might decrease during his absence from St. Petersburg. The fact , that his attempted assassination iW brought his name and his person onoe, more prominently before the publio , pleased him. and his natural cunning made him at once grasp the whole'importance of tho event and the capital that might bo made out of it. He was the first to plead for indulgence for his would-be murderess, perhaps out of I'cyir of the scandal which, a trial might producc. a trial during which a lawyer might he found daring enough, and enterprising enough to speak openly of the reason which had driven tho accused woman to this act of madness, and to disclose certain episodes m the past existence of tho "Prophet," winch, the latter would not have eared at .aU to become the property of the pnbuc. On the other hand, the authorities, too, felt that a public trial would <W cause a most painful sensation, by w" mention of names which it was of W® • highest importance to keep outside tjw question. The culprit hei^lf ; msisteo upon being brought boforo a jury, declaring that she had .sought P" , licit}' and that she not rest until .she had moreover, she did not. intend _, j chcated out of her rovengo or Panted from exposing tho man in w bomish the most flagrant and daring a creature f° r .whom nothm D , world was sacred, and who would hesitate at anvthmg in order U>come to his ends. &he insisted on tho that she would have rendered a public service to the country had she killed him, and that, whatever happened_to her nersonallv, tlie vengeance of God would one dav overtake "Gricha and hie wickedness ' and that others would be found who would follow the example which she had given to them, and not fail as she had failed. LOCKED UP AS MAP. Gonsiewa told all this to the jamming magistrate to whom had been entrusted the preliminary enquiry, and she persisted in her allegations notwithstanding all the efforts aad even the threats which were made to her to induce her to retract her first deposition Tho authorities found themselves in a* dilemma from which they did not iSiow how to extricate themselves, when Raspntin himself came to their rescue. "The woman is mad," he said. that she relates is but the ravings of a mad woman. Lock her up m an asylum, and let ns hear nothing more about llBT* " a Tlii3 piece of advice was considered to he the best possible nnder the circum-. stances, and Gousiewa -was placed ljrst in a hospital for observation, and tnen a few months later adjudged insane by order. She was Temoved to a naahouse, no one knows exactlv where, ana there she probably is lockea up to tru dav,-unless death ill some shape or form has overtaken her and removed her. , ever out of a world .which had never proved a kma one for ne • In the meanwhile her victim mending rapidly, and weeks af his accident he was removal first to Tobolsk and then to fat. .^ His disciples were preparing reception far Mm, <io ' openly talking of all tihat he would <k> on his return, and of the *® he was going to take on the peoplei whose aE^^^tWa^ fe3 gfflS3^ ;ha4^aitaClk

liira. He made tho greatest efforts to connect Illiodore with the attempt of Gousiowa, and ho was quite furious to see them fail, declaring that when h® wa* onee more in tho capital ho would make it his business to find out whether it was not- possible to discover some points of association between the unfrocked monk and the woman whose knife had been raised against him. He further made no secret of his intention to obtain the proofs which he needed, thanks to tho intelligence and with the help of his friend, Manussowitsch Maniuloff. "Whether he would have succeeded or not., it is difficult to say, because when Rasputin returned to St. Petersburg, nnd was enabled to visit his friends at Tzarskoe-Selo once more, there were other pre-oeenpations which were troubling the public more than anrthine. connected with his individuality. "War had l>rokeia out with Germany.

(To be continued to-morrow.)