THE FATE OF THE ROMANOFFS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 August 1920, Page 1

THE FATE OF THE ROMANOFFS

(Reuter’s Telegram.)

London, Aug. IS. . “The Times” lias begun a series of articles giving mi authentic account of the liuirder of tile Russian Royal family at Ekaterinburg, in July, 1918, the motives for ivliieli are based on the signed depositions of oye-withcsses, examined before it legal commission, as well as a long fclirtin of circumstantial evidence. The articles dispose of numerous distorted versions derived from UilshevTst sources. They reveal the Czar’s real attitude towards the Allies, throiv i» fresh light upon the clouded period in Russian history, in which the Empress and the sinister figure of Rasputin appc.tr, and touch upon the more recent iritef-pUiy of German-Bolshevik ambitions.

The writer is ah English journalist who was for sixteen years before the war correspondent of “The Times” in Petrograd, arid afterwards narrator of the successes arid riiisfortunes of the armies of Denikin and Ivoltcliak. The correspondent says General Dietericlis started the enquiry regarding the murders, which Nicholas Sokolov, a magistrate and expert crime investigator, completed under the authority of Acini if iil Koliclinit. The correspondent himself assisted at the enquiry for many months, and is one of the signatories to the report. The more important records were Ultimately entrusted to the custody of ari official Dossier. When the Bolsheviks became aware of the success of the investigation they threatened to assassinate Sokolov, wlio was then a fugitive at Chita, in Siberia. The perilous smuggling of the incriminating documents eastwards .through Siberia amid the hastening debacle of Koltcliak’s Army, reads like a romance. The Moscow authorities, four days after the murders, officially described the shooting of the Czar, after a trial, as an act of necessity, and affirmed that the ex-Eri\press and her children wore sale. The investigation 'has overwhelmingly proved that the whole family, including the five children and their faithful attendants, totalling eleven persons, were shot simultaneously without a trial. The evidence shows that elaborate preparations were made for the murders. The victims were all subjected to horrible tortures, mental if not physical, and were shot in the basement of the house of a Russian Jew named Ipatiev, where they had been for some time imprisoned. The Bolsheviks attempted to hurriedly remove the traces of their niaftydorii, but Sokolov found the marks of bullets and bayonet thrusts on the bloodspffished walls of, the room which had"been a' shambles. A perfunctory washing bad left the telltale signs. The assassins carted the bodies ten miles north ol the city, where they were buried under the cover of the woods, surrounded by a cordon of Red Guards. When the cordon was withdrawn, peasants followed the trail arid discovered, alongside a disused iron ore pit, a vast collection of relies, including pearls and other jewels in beautiful settings of gold, platinum buttons, corset frames, and a human" finger intact. “It’s the Czar they’ve been burying,” the peasants, who had been misled by the current reports of his escape. The correspondent, examining the spot afterwards, found topaz beads and other gems such as the young princesses wore.

Immediately after the Ekaterinburg tragedy, an Imperial servant who escaped from the Red shooting squad, reported that the Grand Duke Serge and the Grand Diichesis Elizabeth had been murdered. Some bodies were found iii' aii iroii ore pit. It was evident that the lteds aimed at the whole sale extermination of the Romanoffs. Many Russians, hoping for the restoration of the Monarchy, including those belonging to the German orientation, behoved, and some still give credence to any tale of. flic miraculous escape of the Russian Royal family, but even the hope of the survival at least of the children must be abandoned. It is established beyond doubt that the Czar rejected attempts to secure his endorsement of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, and fell a victim to his loyalty to the Allies. All the murdered Romanoffs were' inconvenient to the German, as well as internationalist, plans.

THE STORY CONTINUED. LONDON, Aug. 19. The correspondent continues the grin story of the extermination of the Romanoffs, cabled, on Friday. He describes the critical stage in 191-8 at which the Czar’s fate hung in the balance. The enforcement of humiliating terms of the Brest Iviovask treaty had begun, and Germany had become absolute mistress of the Russian situation. Mirabacli was installed at Moscow and worked through the crowd of Bolshevik puppets imported from Germany. The success of the German plans seemed assured. Then the fatal series of disputes arose between Berlin and the LudencTorff party. Berlin wanted the continuance of systematic penetration and peaceful conpuest. Ludcndorfl favouied displacement of the the modification of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and restoration of Nicholas as a vassal sovereign. Quarrels destroyed the whole effect of German duplicity and deceit. The assassination of Mirabacli completed the collapse. Sovietdom thereupon asserted itself and decided to ensure that the restoration of the Romanoffs should forever be impossible. The correspondent acquits Lenin. The real authors of the crime consisted of members of the notorious counter revolutionary committee associated with the inner circle of the Bolshevist central executive. The most prominent were Suerdlov, Safarov, Yoekov, Golosehekin, Yurovsky. The first named was the uncrowned’Czar of the Soviets, and'really more powerful than Lenin and Trotsky. I Suerdlov’s direct connection with the

Eketei in burg murders was 'established beyond doubt; Coloscliekin figures as his obedient instrument. Siierdlov in carrying out the most desperate enterprises, was abnormally bloodthirsty. On hearing the minute description, he would exhibit frenzy or joy on listening to a description of tlic tortures. Yurovsky, an ambitious Jciv, acted as chief gaoler arid tormentor of the doomed royalties. He attended prayers at Ipatiev’s house and even chatted pleasantly with the sick hoy Alexis, who lie shot dead a few days later with his own hand. Yurovsky took to. Moscow several trunks of the victim’s intimate correspondence. Suerdiiiv promised publication in order to slioiv. the people the character of the ex-Ruiers, but they wero suppressed, as the priceless documents, diaries and papers of Nicholas and Alexandra contained no hint of treachery, but on the contrary proved his unbounded loyalty to Russia and the Allies, and unfortunately also, tjie Czar’s complete subservience to his wife.

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