MURDER OF THE CHIEF OF THE RUSSIAN POLICE OF KIEV.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2995, 20 September 1878, Page 3

MURDER OF THE CHIEF OF THE RUSSIAN POLICE OF KIEV.

There appears to be no doubt that the assassination of Baron Heyking, at Keiv, is a furfcher_ link, in that series of crimes which have'of late so much preoccupied the Governments and the judicial authorities both in Germany and Eussia, and there are those who seem inclined to connect this latest execution of the sentence passed by an .unknown Vehmgericht with the attempts of Vera Zassoulitch in • Russia and Hoedel and Nobiling in Germany. The victim, Baron Hey king, fulfilled at Kiev those delicate functions discharged at St. Petersburg by General. Trepoff. Both were chiefs of the gendarmerie and also of the secret police, and in this latter capacity were held—-perhaps unjustly—as responsible for the doings of the mysterious " Cabinet Bleu." Its machinery has already been described, but it cannot be too often repeated, to show people in the colonies some of the means by which Holy Eussia holds her own children in subjection. Some rash youth or some, middle-aged man, after a glass too much of vodka; some young woman frequenting the schools, or dabbling in the. newfangled social theme, may, in aonvivial moment, when the. samovar is gently simmering on the table, have expressed bis or her opinion as to the necessity of internal reform; 'The next day, or perhaps two or three days after,, the rash, heedless speaker would bo invited to an interview, with the chief of the gendarmerie, and would invariably be treated with every courtesy. The high official would express his regret that imprudent words should have been spoken, 'and leave the room, when tue visitor's chair would sink with him or her, the upper half of his or her body remaining above the floor, while below unseen hands administered a flagellation the severity of which was only equalled by its ignominy. This over, the trapdoor would rise again, and the victim, suffering severe bodily pain, and even mora harrowing moral anguish, would- be bowed out by the ever courteous and affable chief. These secret whippings are said to be frequent of late at Kiev. It enables us to understand what followed. In the evening the chief of the gendarmerie, Baron Heyking, was enjoying the coolness of the air, smoking his cigarette, in company with an old friend, strolling down the main, street. Suddenly the "old friend " heard the baron cry out, " Help ! -lain murdered." On turning round ne saw his friend the baron sinking to the ground, a kindgal— i.e., a long dagger, -something like the plissa of the Bedouins, or the kandjar of the Turki—having been •driven through his side, up the hilt, and a man running away. The friend raised a pry of murder, and several persons started in pursuit. A lad of fiftren was the first to come up with 'the murderer, but a shot from a revolver speedily disposed of him, and further shots disabled the other pursuers. Finally, the assassin got' clear off, and even his name remains a mystery. The baron died in a few days, and it is related that the whole town attended his funeral —in all probability the murderer himself figuring among the mourners. Personally the deceased officer was not unpopular ; he was the "docile instrament of an atrocioui system, and he no doubt fell a victim to it. Such a system ia our Western countries would bring about speedy and riolent revolution; but in a country like Eussia, the sense of private wrong and outrage is very strong, and fully accounts | for the commission of such crimes. The I murderer of Baron Heyking will never be discovered. —European Mail.