Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-04-13

4 scion OF prlncely race. For two
years he reigned in a most successful,
| if not very clement manner, his astute,
ambitious mother being his principal
counselor. Then his remarkable
career was brought to sudden and
horrible close, strangely enough,
through the treachery of a number of
his own faith.
Demetrius never showed the slight.
est sympathy for the Jews. lie treat
ed them, on the contrary with the
same severity his predecessor had
done.
One day Marcus Bredinere, wealthy
jeweler, was brought before him on a
charge of having purchased diamond
belonging to the treasure-chamber of
the Kromlin.
If convicted of this charge, Bredin-
ere would have been sentenced to be
lbeheaded.
Demetrius accosted him in very
stern tone:
:'Jew," he said to him, swift thou
confess thy crime
Bredinere was very fearless man.
He eyed Demetrius fora moment with
peculiar expression of countenance.
Then he replied, firmly:
''How darest thou speak to me in
this manner! Art thou not myself a
Jew! Is not thy name Lamech Sam
osine? Does not thy mother live in
| the krasnOe quarter. p
Demetrins uttered q cry of rage.
''Hound!'' he cried, rising to rush up
on the old Jew.
R,,t hic nfficars int erfara6
'sYour Majesty they said, 'should
not lay hands on the in6del dog. Let
him be scourged through the streets of
Moscow until he is dead for his inso-
lence.''
"Great lords!'' cried Bredinere,
what say is true! He who calls him.
self Demetrius is a Jewish imposter.
Go to his mother. She will deny it. -
They did go to her, but she indig-
nantly denied that Demetrius was her
son. Then Bredinere was logged until
he died. But while undergoing his
cruel punishment, he shouted inces-
sanity:
Demetrius is IN imposter! He is
q Jew His name is Lamech samo-
With this shout on his lips, the
poor fellow expired under the heads
mans lash.
For several days nothing was heard
| of the charge preferred by Demetrius'
victim. But the murdered ieweler
had spirited daughter, Jelima, a girl
of rare beauty. Filled with rage and
horror at her fathers fate, she went to
Il young nobleman who had long court
ed her favor.
II will be yours, Nicolai Barronyi,"
she said to him, eff you unmask the
tyrant who has tortured my poor fa-
Their to DEATH"
He accepted the offer, and organized
q conspiracy against Demetrius.
One night the latter was apprehend-
ed in his bed, gagged and bound, and
carried to an old convent. There the
hapless Pretender was subjected to the
most horrible fortunes until he con-
fessed his imposition.
The conspirators arrested his moth
er also, and the report of temporary
historians is that the two were tied to-
gether and thrown into deep well.
Others assert that they were slowly
burned to death.
Singularly enough, during the subse-
quent few years, three more Pretend
ers turned up, claiming to he the true
Demetrius. All of them had their fol.
lowers, and their pretensions gave rise
to the most sanguinary commissions.
One of them was also a Jew. His
descent was discovered, when the in
furiated and bigoted mob almost tore
him To nipcpS Not one Of tha last
three Pretenders ruled longer than
few months. The last of them was
publicly scourged to death. A great
many believed that he was really what
he pretended to be.