THE ROMANOFFS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 289, 31 August 1920, Page 5

THE ROMANOFFS

GHASTLY STORY OF THEIR MURDER

DISPOSAL OF THE BODIES

ELABORATE PRECAUTIONS TO SECURE SECRECY Australian-New Zealand Cable Association. (Rec. August 30, 9.40 p.m.) London, August 29. ■ The story of tho actual murders of tho ex-Tsar and his family is ghastly. Yurovsky was tho Soviet leader at Ekalerinberj; and Medvedev acted for him when ho was absent. Yurovsky ordered Medvedev to collect a guard and revolvers, and inform the guard that it was intended to shoot tho Tsar and the wholo family. The guard received.the information without protest. At midnight Yurovsky visited the Royal chambers, awakened the household, and explained that trouble was imminent in the town, and that it was necessary to remove them to ensure their safety. The family dressed, and took with them pillows, possibly containing valuables. Tho Tsar earned tho Tsarevitch Alexis, and descended to a semi-basement. In the yard a motorlorry stood ready to carry off the bodies Tliev entered a room, the windows of which wero covered with a grating, and a machine-gun was placed at tho door. At tho Tsar's request chairs wero provided. Shooting of the Victims. _ After they had waited for some time, Yurovsky entered, and announced/ "Your relatives have tried to save you, and have failed, so we are compelled to shoot (you." As lie ended speaking twelve of the Bed Guards fired, and all the.Royal party foil. The Tsar, tho isarina, the three children, a doctor, and two servants were killed instantly. 'IV Tsarevitch struggled and groaned, and Yurovsky kilkd liim with a revolver The Grand Duchess Anastasja rolled on tho floor, and fought desperately till Yurovsky shot. her. Demindove, a maid-of-honour, was untouched by tho first volley, and ran screaming about the room till she was bayoneted. Tho bodies wera then removed, and all hands started cleaning up the room. They knew the public would not approve of the murders, and there was no time to frame up a stoiy to fit the surroundings. Corroborative Evidence, Clear- and corroborative evidence fn< the above ,6tory was secured- from Medvedev and two others, Yekimov and Proskuriakos./ Medvedev told his wif. everything, boasting that he was tin. only Russian who participated, and thai, all tho others were foreigners. Medve dev was arrested for blowing up a bridge, and confirmed the whole story except tht fact of his own participation, though bo admitted that he had watched the othoiv do the killing. His signed deposition states that Yurovsky sent him out to ne: if anybody was about who had heari. tho firing. When ho returned ho saw the floor 'covered with blood. Tut Tsarevitch was still alive and groaning, and Yurovsky fired point-blank at hint two or three times. Yakimov, formerly' a sergeant in tho Russian Guard, con*, borated the. story. He declared that in felt sorry for the prisoners, but dareu not speak. Ho saw the murders tvitl. his own eyes. In his terror he went about repeating his story. Proskuria kov, a mere youngster, was locked up or. tho premises for drunkenness, and wa6 released to help clean up. He heard Medvedev admjt the guards and the murders.

Demolition of the Bodies. The story of the Romanoffs' end now reaches the final terrible scene of tho disposal of the 'bodies. Seldom in tho History of crime has a murder been accompanied by such elaborate .precautions. Rolled in-old coats and covered with mats, tho bodies were taken in lorries in the dead of night to a remote corner of a disused iron mine in tho woods. A cordon of Red Guards surrounded tho woods for four days, sending prying eyes away, whilst deep inside Yurovsky carried out the devilish demolition. He comn.nndeered 150 gallons of petrol and dOO pounds of sulphuric acid. These were convoyed to the mines in three motor lorries, with fifty eggs and some- chickens, which. Turovsky had obtained' from nuns, ostensibly for the Romanoffs. Tho eggshells and bones still lie in the grass round a stump on which Yurovsky sat, delicately superintending tho ghouls' work. Near by were also found torn pages of a German book on anatomy.

JeAvels Distributed Among Reds. The family jewels and other. possessions were thon lying: in a heap on bibles in Yurovsky's room in the city, the bulk of them being ultimately distributed among the Reds in Moscow. The Tsar's daughters, however, at the beginning of their travels, had had priceless jewels sewn by confidential servitors into their bodices, hate, and corsets. Some wonderful diamonds were camouflaged as buttons. Three of the Grand Duchesses wore double quilted 'bodices stuffed with jewels weighing several pounds. Grand Duohiess Olga carried a satchel round her neck with special gems. She wore several ropes of pearls concealed across the shoulders. The ghouls came upon those immediately the cutting up of the bodies began. They tore the clothes apart and the jewels were spilled on the ground. Some rolled into the grass and some wero trodden into the- soil. Without troubling to denude the corpses completely, tlio Reds hacked tliem to pieces on a clay mound surrounding the pit's mouth, smiting and severing some valuables that still remained in the. underclothing. Only one of the numerous diamonds was found. It was discovered on tho pyres. Others must have been burned or looted. The remnants of tho Empress's emeralds and a pectoral cress were recovered. Some bullets dropped from the bodies during tho chopping, and others while tho limbs were in the flames. Two pyres wero used, and then the cinders were thrown down the mine shaft after tho ice crust had been destroyed by hand grenades. The flooring was then adjusted and anchored. \ do»'s corpse was found under the floor, preserved by the ice. Sulphuric, acid was used to dissolve 'the larger bones.

Family Ornaments Identified. In addition to a diamond worth ,£20,000, gold roubles and a large number ol broken jewels were discovered and identified ns family ornaments during the heyday of tho Empire. Hundreds of other identifications wero found among tho ghastly fragments of chopped ilesli, aim some severed fingers were declared by experts as belonging to a woman of middle ago (long, slender, and well shaped, like the Empress's hand). There were the remnants of seven pairs of high-class boots and a poeket-caso Ja which tho Tsar always carried his wile's portruif. A w lection of tinfoil and copper coins puzzled the identifiers until somcono remembered that the Tsarevitch was very, fond of col looting odds and ends, being of u saving disposition like his father. Trial Story Discounted. The correspondent gives a vivid picture of tho passage of the lorries through the woods. Peasants who wero encountered wore driven off, wondering, by pistols and threats. Tho marks of the wheels are still visible. Where the tragic .burden was nearly uprst n btam had been brought, and the jack which canted up the. lorry still lies there. Peasants saw the Yurovsky party returning. They lay in tho jolting lorries as though tired to death. The correspondent discounts the alleged trial and execution of the murderers in September, 1919, at Perm, declaring! that the names, mentioned' in the Soviot's communique weTe imaginary and tho trial was a mock one.—The "Times."