The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-03-19 00:00:00

ATTEMPT ON THE LIFE OF THE
CZAR,

The Standard of Monday published the following
startling intelligence: We have received the fcllowing
telegraphic message, in cipher, dated yesterday
(Sunday) :
"An unsuccessful attempt has been made to
assassinate the Czar."

The message reaches us from an absolutely trust-
worthy source, but no further details are given. The
date (March 13), it will be remembered, was the
annivereary of the assassination of the Czar Alexander
'I., in 1881.

Commenting upon the above intelligence, Monday's
Standard said: We print in another column a brief
despatch announcing that an unsuccessful attempt has
been made to assassinate the Czar. The public will
The two University boat-crews have now readily understand that we are precluded from indi-
steadily settled into practice for the race that is eating in a more precise form the source of our in-
so soon to be rowed, and enthusiasts over such formation, but they may rely with absolute assurance
matters are studying the published accounts of on the truth of the statement made. No details are
the daily practice with as much assiduity as if given, and for the present, therefore, we are left to
the fate of empires depended upon the manner conjecture the motive of the attempt, and who may
in which the respective eights fulfilled their task. have probably been its perpetrators. Naturally, the
Although the public interest in the race has very Nihilist conspiracy first suggests itself, and we
largely died down within the past few years, there are at once reminded that March 13th
is still a considerable amount of attention paid was tbe anniversary of the murder of the
to it, and this is the more to be appre- present Emperor's father, six years ago. Nor
dated because it is undoubtedly the more can we forget that only a few weeks since there were
ominous rumours of a recrudescence of treason in
genuine. Ten or a dozen years ago much of the places very near the Throne. and, in summary Rua-
popularity which attended the race was almost sian fashion, a number of arrests were made. Later
purely the result of caprice. It was largely the telegrams stated that there had been several
outcome of of the belief that the race was a fashion- tions, but no official account of the incident was forth-
able function, and genuine admirers of aquatics coming, the Czar having given strict injunctions that
are not sorry that the enormous crowds which all public reference to the subject should be suppressed.
used to throng the banks are now much It is not unreasonable to conjecture that some of
diminished, and that a far greater proportion those implicated in this conspiracy escaped at the
than formerly of those who go to see the race time, and that, spurred by revenge or oespair, or
are genuinely interested in the result. On its acting under the commands of a superior, one or morq,
merits the yearly struggle is not deserving of the of them may have attempted the life of the Sove-
amount of attention even now given to it, for, as roe.ifhne. m
oAr
en Another
a possiblen.s la v suggestioniat r
notis that some
might only be expected, the racing powers ofv,
the Einperer so zealous a worker for their their plans ol f
sixteen youths. and those youths amateurs, -- g randisement as they could wish, have taken this
not so highly developed ES to/fir-nand, the ,L1.7;k7., methodnf signifying their disgust at his policy
study every year accorded -them. Tiftt Or-16 and repudiatiei himself. But, whatever the motive
point about the race which has always corn- of the crime, it adds greatly at the present moment
manded popularity is that it is a contest, the to the dangers of an already complicated situation.
straightforwardness of which is beyond sus- Discontent at home has always, in despotic countries,
picion. The representatives of the two Uni- been a powerful stimulant to activity abroad, whereby
versities engage in the struggle for the honour the popular mind is withdrawn from the contempla-
of the seat of learning to which they are tion of domestic miseries, and the strongest patriotic
attached, and the spirit of emulation in athletics instincts are called into play. And there is no
is only one phase of that spirit of emulation method by which popular discoatent can
which affects the men in other and widely dif- be brought home more forcibly to the
ferent walks of life, mind of an Autocratic Ruler than by
an attempt to assassinate him. With the resistance
Football, which continues to grow in popu- of Bulgaria to provoke him, while the pre-occupation
larity, has been honoured this year by the pre- of Germany tends to free him from restraint; with an
sence of the Prince of Wales at the Jubilee , enormous army ready to fight, and a strong military
festival held at Kennington Oval. In order to and political party urging him to lead it; and with
give his Royal Highness every opportunity of financial embarrassments threatening at sny moment
seeing the game at its best, two matches were to become overwhelming, the Czar already finds the
played, one under Rugby rules and the other balance between peace and war difficult to adjust on
under the rules. of the Association. Opinions the side of peace. Such an event as that we record
greatly differ, as opinions are likely to differ for this morning might suffice to turn the scale in the
a considerable time to come, as to which are the opposite direction. Regarded from this point of
better rules of the two; and it is not often that view, the dastardly outrage has a significance of the
any looker-on has the opportunity of seeing them gravest possible character.
put in competition on the same ground within
the same afternoon. But whichever are the
better rules, the continued, popularity of the
game is a matter upon which England may be
congratulated. That there is danger attending
it it is certain, though the same may be said of
cricket, hunting, shooting, yachting, and almost
every other manly pastime. But it would be an
evil day for England if all pursuits in which
danger may mingle should be banished from our
midst. The hardihood of Englishmen, upon
which we have prided ourselves for centuries,
has largely grown from the vigour with
which outdoor pastimes have been fol-
lowed ; and though we have occasionally
t 9 regret the accidents which follow in the
train of various of them, most of us will agree
that the pleasures of the benefits derived more,
and much more, than compensate for the pain
and the trouble which sometimes result. And
for this reason and others which could be easily
adduced, many of us will hope that when the
next football season begins, the good, hearty,
old-English game will be found to be as popular
as ever.
As long as the world lasts, so long are we
likely to be troubled with thieves, and the only
thing extraordinary about the continuance of
successful roguery is the exceediugly ancient
devices by which many persons allow them-
selves to be robbed. It would almost seem as if
many presumably intelligent folk never read the
police-court proceedings reported in the various
newspapers, and that, therefore, they are at the
• mercy of any plausible scamp who may propose
to rob them. In London just now there is a
revival of a very old dodge against which every
tradesman ought to be warned. A cab drives up
, to- a shop where only one person chances to
be behind the counter, and that person
is asked to go outside. Unsuspectingly, the
wish is complied with, and while the shopman is
taking a suppositious order on the pavement,
..one of the thieves takes away the cashbox, or any
other special valuables there may be inside. This
kind of thing has been done so often that one
would have imagined every shopkeeper to be ac-
quainted with it, and to be ready to take pre-
cautions against it. But, as is shown by several
isstances that have recently occurred in the
metropolis, the lesson has not been learned, and
it is therefore necessary now to repeat it. There
are some forms of roguery, of which this and the
" confidence trick" may be taken as the most
, .
familiar type, which always appear to flourish,
however often they may be exposed; and one's
faith in the growing knowledge of human kind
is rudely shaken by the frequent recurrence of in-
stances of easy succumbing to swindlers, which
a little thought and the least effort of memory
should suffice to avoid.
• For a long period the various woes of jurymen
have been a subject of discussion, but efforts by
private members of Parliament to remedy them
have met with as little success as the efforts of
private members usually do. Another endeavour
• is being made this session, however, to remedy
one of the longest-standing of all such grievances,
and every man on the jury list will wish it a
full measure of success. It is proposed that the
old rule of law which prevents a jury in a
criminal case from separating until a verdict
has been agreed upon, whether the trial lasts a
day, a week, or a year, (and the Tichborne trial
lasted not far short of .the longest of these
periods), shall be abolished. It is pointed out
that in civil cases, where momentous issues are
being tried—issues fraught with the largest con-
sequences to those concerned—the juries are
allowed to return to their homes at night, if
tbs trial occupies more than a day, and that to

In confirmation of the announcement published in
the Standard, said a Berlin correspondent on Tues-
day, I have received a telegram from St. Petersburg
stating that six students have been arrested in the
Newski Prospect, in the neighbourhood of the Anit-
chkin Palace, where the Czar and his family were
residing. Explosives were found upon them, and
they were waiting for the Emperor to start on his
journey to the cathedral, to take part in the anai-
versary service in commemoration of the assassination
of the late Alexander 11. The message concluded by
stating that the Czar, with the Czarina and the rest
of the Imperial family, left St. Petersburg on Monday
for the strongly-guarded fortress of Gatchina.
The Tageblatt, which at first contradicted the
Standard telegram, had to make room among
its "latest news" for the following state-
ment: 'We have meanwhile learned indirectly
that an attempt to kill the Czar and
Czarina by a dynamite bomb had really been plannel,
and was to be executed to-day on their drive from the
Anitchikoff Palace along the Nevski Prospect. The
would-be assassin was arrested and taken to the for-
tress of St. Peter and St. Paul."
From Irkutsk comes the report that a mail coach
had been attacked by Nihilists near the town of
Tchita. The coachman and the two conductors were
killed, and forty thousand roubles in cash and a
hundred and thirty-seven thousand roubles in Stocks
were stolen.

PARTICULARS OF THE PLOT.
In a Times St. Petersburg dispatch, written on
Sunday, but only received in London in time for
publication on Wednesday, the following details were
given: "To-day the Nihilists have made another
attempt to repeat their dastardly crime of just six
years ago—happily, however, without any success.
They adopted exactly the same plan and tactics. To.
hay being the anniversary of the assassination of
Alexander 11., the Imperial family attended Divine
service before the tomb of the late monarch in the
cathedral of the Neva Fortress, and the Emperor
and Empress, accompanied by the Heir Apparent,
were to drive on their way back from the
fortress along the Nevsky Prospect and through
the Grand Morskaia street, and so on to
Warsaw Railway Station, to take train for
Gatschina. These two principal thoroughfares
were crowded with gaily-dressed promenaders, as
usual on Sundays and Imperial holidays. For-
tunately, it appears that before the Imperial party
had left the fortress, the police telegraphed thither,
stating that grave suspicions had been aroused as to
the safety of the intended route, and advising their
Majesties to take another road. The Czar and
Czarina were therefore driven along the Neva Quay
and by a circuitous route which enabled them to
avoid all the town. This was about two o'clock in the
afternoon—the same hour, it will be noticed, at which
was struck the knell of the late Emperor; and, to
make the resemblance still more remarkable, it was
also Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, the secret police
agents, who always throng the streets through which
the Emperor passes, had been watching one or two
suspected individuals hanging about the pavements
near the corner of the Nevsky and Great Morskaia,
and had arrekt.,,d one with a bomb or grenade under
his arm. Four other men are said to have been ar-
rested directly afterwards. The explosive machine,
filled with material enough to kill 30 persons in the
crowd, was in the shape and form of a book, which
could be carried by a student under the arm without
attracting any particular attention; but it appears that
a long and peculiar tape attached to it slipped down
and drew the attention of the detectives. It was
evidently intended that the bomb should be ex-
ploded by a tug at this tape after it had been
thrown or laid down in the road. This Nihilist
seems to have ingeniously provided for his own safety.
At the corner of the Nevsky and More kaia, where.
there is always a great press of traffic, t m Imperial
carriage would have been obliged, like the rest, to
slacken speed and turn the corner very sinwly, which
operation would, of course, have given the desired
opportunity to the would-be assassin. All the district

heads of police were immediately summoned before
General Grosser, the Prefect, and received orders
to makelimmediate search throughout the city. Over
100 suspected individuals were arrested before
night."
Telegraphing on Monday, the same correspondent
added: Many of those arrested last 12 ght have been
released. A special council was heldi on the subject
last night, under the presidency of the Czar's eldest
brother, the Grand Duke Vladimir. The would-be
assassin is described as of short stature, and he re-
mains 'silent against all inquiries. It is stated by
some that his lodging has been discovered on the
north side of the Neva, that his fellow lodger there
has been arrested, and that other bombs and explo-
sive materials have been seized. On the other hand.
lam informed on good authority that the head-
quarters of this new band of conspirators have not
yet been discovered. It is said that the Czar shed
tears on being informed of the danger which not only
himself, but the Empress and her son had so nar-
rowly escaped.