The daily gazette., 1879-12-26
Clever NthiList Engineers.

HOW THEY BURRowED UNDER A RAIL
ROAD To BLOW THE CzAR To THE
MOON.
Berlin correspondence London Standard,
| december y.
AT last Russian letters and papers are
allowed to convey more details relative
TO the terrible incid .nt of the 1st inst.
Though at distance of two miles from
the station, the spot where the attempt
was male is situate in densely inhabit-
ed part Of the suburbs. In September
one Of the wooden cottages commanding
the railway, one hundred and sixty feet
distant from the metals, was purchased
by young man protesting to be an
art zan from Samara. He was evidently
In hurry to close and without any bar
gaining paid the z50 paper roubles asked
by the proprietor. Immediately af er he
moved into the house, accompanied by a
young woman and two associates. He
held little intercourse with his neigh
Lors and led quiet and retired life. His
furniture was scanty and his food sup
led by the poorest shops in the neigh
porhood. On the rare occasions when a
messenger or neighbor entered the house
lamps were seen burning before the
sacred Images and the walls were found
covered with portraits of the emperor
and empress, as BELTS an orthodox Rus
sian.
About the middle of October the new
tenants commenced to sink well in
their court yard, telling the -neighbors
That they repaired u large quantity of
water for trade purposes. AS has since
come out, the well was only sunk to
account for the quantities of sand re-
moved from shaft dug in a wooden
she'd forming part of the premises. This
smart was driven 10 the depth of five
Ieet. From the bottom of the shaft "a
suDterraneaD passage was bored IN the
direction of the railway, the sand
being placed In the court yard and some
o, the cottage rooms. This passage was
100 feet long and about three feet high.
lt was scientifically constructed, bricked
| throughout, and where it reached the
SIDE or 'he embankment widened into
spacious hole for the reception of the
explosive material. For he latter p, ro-
xilline seems to have been selected.
Being placed at the destined spot lutte
time before the Imperial train was due,
It seems 10 have frozen in the severe
cold of the last few days, which accounts
for the comparatively small mischief
done. From the pyroxilline a wire was
structed on the most primitive princi.
pies, aud placed in the wooden shed in
the court yard.
While the Emperor, thanks to an in.
version OF the usual order of the trains,
had passed the fatal spot unscathed, was
paying homage before the wooden
statue OF the Virgin al the Kremlin gate,
tne second train reached the spot oppo-
site the miners house and was blown
INTO the air. Those of the railway SER
wants who escaped uDhurt Immediately
ran TO the next telegraph station to in
FORM the police, but the wires were cut
insrOund, and it was an hour before the
hrst constables appeared on the scene
NO trace OF the criminals was detected,
the only evidence left being the battery
and morsel of food.
As no one dared to acuuaint the En-
peror with what had occurred, his Ma
io1,;lsIr; io,;ssy "; nj,
elapsed before the St. Peters burg press
were permitted to allude to the event.
The labor expended by the conspira-
tors in digging the Moscow mines is
truly astonishing Taxing the length of
the subterranean passage at the figures
given above, the earth dug out cannot
have weighed less than 1905 hundred
weights. If we. assume five minutes to
be required for three men to dig ou'
and bring to the surface quantity
weighing forty pounds 2.800 hours, some
| four months, must have been needed to
construct The entire passage. Even this
gives no idea of the amo0nt of wor
done. 1t being alleged that the entire
passage, as well as the cavern at its ter
mlnation, was brcked, no fewer 1900
bricks can have been wanted to accom-
psh this work. TO perform it without
light or air for length of 100 feet ..must
have been no trifiing matter. Again, as
it cannot have taken less than fifty wa
gons to convey the bricks to the revolu-
tionary cottage the cunning of its deni-
zens in achieving the exploit without
arouslng sus picion is one of marvellous
features of the case. Nor are the ar-
and tact displayed in the arrangement Of
the mine to be lost sight of. Where the
soil consisted of loose sand, the gallery
according to the most approx techni-
cal rules was supported by boarts main
aimed by triangular frames which coulC
not have been brought to the spot with
out carts pnd norses. Ii aud that the
passage terminated at five feet from tn.
railway EN- bankment, as to carry it un
/, der the embankment might have causet
aome train 20 break in before the tim,
appointed, the reader Will be able {,
conceive the proiigiOus amount of worl
, and talent devoted To the undertakes e
From these aud similar circumstance
, n t few Russians are led to Imagin
, that there is more in this suhterranea
{ matter than appears on the surface.