HOW STOLYPIN WAS SHOT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 129, 22 November 1911, Page 6

HOW STOLYPIN WAS SHOT.

GRAPHIC ACCOUNT BY -AN EYEWITNESS. A graphic account of how M. Stolypin was shot by the terrorist Bogroff, was told by a Russian gentleman who was present at the gala performance at Kieff. ■ "I >was sitting in the stalls about four rows behind Stolypin," he said, "when the shot was fired. It was during an interval and everyone was talking and chatting. "I heard the report—not very loud, and rather like the sound 'of a champagne cork, and then I saw a man rushing towards the entrance to the stalls, which was close to the orchestra. An officer was on guard at the entrance, and he knocked the man down with a blow from his fist. "For a few moments everyone was paralysed with fear, and they stood there waiting for the bomb explosion which they expected would follow. "Then the words, 'Stolypin has been shot!' went round, and I told my friend beside mo to stand still, for when the danger was over the officers and policemen whipped out their swords and revolvers, and were so excited that they might have killed anyone who made a quick movement. "Every other man in the audience was an official, and after their first spasm of terror they outvied each other in their loyalty. "At every entrance men stood with revolvers. It was a like a scene in a melodrama. Bogroff was handled very violently, and the blows showered on his face made him unrecognisable. "But the strangest spectacle of all was when the Czar came to the front of his box, and the officials, with poor Stolypin lying on the floor, began to sing the national anthem. The orchestra tried to join in, but they were too scared to play in tune. ; "It was an hour and a-half after that before we were allowed to leave the theatre. Everyone was questioned before he left. "This BbgrofT is a man of very good position, and his father owns a lot of house property in the district."