NIHILIST REMINISCENCES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2322, 28 May 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

NIHILIST REMINISCENCES.

The following account of an interview with Stopniiik appeared recently in th« columns of a French contemporary, which introduces the famous Russian Nihilist as a man of about 30 years of age, with the figure of an athlete and an enormous head : —"His rough beard grows downward from his ears, overrunning his cheeks, without, however, veiling his mouth—the terrible blood-red mouth of a barbarian. But notwithstanding these dreadful details," says his interviwer, "there is something in the face of Stopniak which trives it an almost infantile expression of kindness, and which reminds one of the gentleness of great powerful beasts. Stepniak's muscular powers, carefully preserved by constant gymnastic exercises, are indeed altogether extraordinary. I have seen him take up a chair on which a man of middle height was sitting and lift it with one hand from the ground and on a table, To this enormous physical vigour corresponds the almost monstrous development of certain intellectual faculties, those, for instauce, of the memory and imagination. He speaks every European language without difficulty, and his knowledge of history and political economy is considerable. I have never, before I head Stepniak, felt the almost magnetic fascination which this apostle exercises on individuals and on multitudes." On a visit to the country seat of M. A. Daudet, where the French journalist took his " terrible comrade," the latter told the following gruesome anecdotes apropos of two of the most terrible crimes committed on Nihilists. " General Mezentreff," said Stepniak, " was assassinated by one of my friends one morning when he was walking with a functionary in the Nevski Prospect, which was then rather deserted. My friend rushed upon tho General, stabbed him with a knife, and jumped into a carriagewhich was waiting for him. As you may imagine, the comrade who drove lashed the horses furiously, for rapid flight was the only alternative to being huiig. Nevertheless, my friend, the assassian, took the whip out of the hand, saying 'Don't lash him—the animal is doing what he can.' And my friend was afterwards pleased with himself for having felt this pity, for he said to himself, ' After all, lam not altogether a bad fellow.' "

When the "execution" of the Emperor Alexander IJ. had been decided upon, two men armed with explosive bombs wero placed near the bridge where the Emperor must pass, with instructions to throw them into the carriage as soon as the opportunity offered. The two assassins were placed.at a distance of about 15 vards. The first bomb foil down under 2|he horses' hoofs, and, upsetting the carriage, threw the Emperor on his face into the snow. The second assassin, forgetting the object which he had in view, and seized by pity, rushed together with the soldiers to the rescue of the Czar, and was arrested with his bomb under his arm while helping to lift the.wounded man from the ground.