ACCURSED EMERALD OF DEATH

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12615, 27 November 1926, Page 11

ACCURSED EMERALD OF DEATH

Mystery of the Gem That Brought Tragedy to Its Wearers

Where is the most accursed jewel in the world—the great emerald of Nikita Romanoff? Tragedy has followed tragedy, and now nobody knows who is the possessor of the stone that has brought nothing but desolation and death in its train, and is believed by many to have been the direct cause of the collapse of the Romanoff dynasty. CURSED BY FAMOUS WITCH THE emerald is said to have been cursed by a famous witch many Years ago, when her aid war; nought hr a man whoso daughter had been wronged by Nikita Romanoff. “This stone, 1 -said tho old witch, “is accursed, and jt will bring misfortune, suffering, ami death to all t!io>o who posse.-s iL. Give it to Nikita Romanoff. Nikita Romanotl was given tho emerald, and then began a series ot tragedies which, declared the peasants, culminated in the muidcr ot the Tsar by the Bolshevist*. Within a low hours ot receiving the emerald, Nikita Romanoff was doomed. He was seized by a party of men who, taking him to the wastes r * Siberia, Hung him into a pit. for three vear* Nikita Romanoff lay m this jut until death moreiiully put an end to his suffering*. lie was

j then forgotten until a new dynasty • began its reign. i The Tsarevna Sophia, sister of Peter | the Great, suddenly remembered tiio | mysterious disappearance of her I kinsman, Nikita Romanoff, and a I hcareli was made in Siberia for his ! remains. 'The body was found, and I among the tattered clothing was i discovered tlxe accursed emerald, i ! RECORD OF TRAGEDY | Sophia was charmed with the jewel, I and heeded not the legend wrapped ; around it. Then tho emerald is said I to have begun to work its spell on ; Sophia, for Peter the Great, her brother, desired to rule alone, and I Sophia was plunged into a convent j prison from which she never emerged ''just before her death, however, the Tsarevna bad managed to hand tho Uiiienild to Kuxorlia Lopoutchinn, the wile of J’eter. Before long, Euxodia i was banished by her husband. Tho I emerald was then passed on to Alexis, j Jic*i* only son. This youth was tortured j to death by his father, who dealt the ! death blow with tho knout. I The jewel was taken from tho dead i | mv |,ut Peter refused to touch it, ! an Vi’ it was locked in the Treasury. ; CATHERINE'S END ! The next person to wear the jewel 1 was Piiron, who, shortly after lm ! j-pfpjpt of the emerald, was disgraced ' anrl sent into exile. Hoping that it !

would work evil, Biren sent the stone buck to his sovereign, but she did not care for it, and gave it to her nephew, who alTcrwards became I’etcr the Third. Shortly after Veter succeeded the throne lie was deposed by his soldiers and strangled. The stone was then brought back to the Treasury, and although the Empress Catherine refused at first to have anything to do with it, curiosity overcame her and the stone was ready to be set. Within 100 minutes Catherine died from an apoplectic fit. Paul the First was the next- person to wear the stone. He had it set in a sword handle, and while engaged in defending himself against conspirators who demanded his abdication the jewel broke from its setting and Paul was mortally mounded. WORN BY LATE EMPRESS The two next nionarchs refused even to look at it, and it lay in the Treasury until Alexander the Second, admiring its beauty, put it in his pocket to show his cousin. On his way back to the Winter Palace Alexander 11. was blown to pieces by bombs tlirowrn by Nihilist conspirators. The jewel again went into retirement until the late impress Alexandra persuaded Tsar Nicholas 11. to have it set into a pendant. _ This she wore when she went to exile, and eventually to her doom, to Siberia, and nobody has ever heard anything more of the Emerald of Death.