The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-12-21
THE MOSCOW PLOTTERS.
HOW THE woULD-BE GEAR KILLERS WENT TO
woRK-pIErY OF THE PLorTERs.
ICorrespondence of the London Times.1

WoRk-PlErN OF THE PLOTTEkS
Correspondence OF the London Times.l
BERLIN, Dec 7. 1879.
The assassins who attempted tho life of the Gar
the other day at Moscow to be still at large
In st. Petersburg it is now believed that the young
man previously arrested at Elizabe.grad with can
listers of dynamite and packets of poison on his
person belongs the netarous ring of consprators
who mined the Moscow line; but he obstinately re-
fuses to give the least account OF himself. 'Ihe
police however, have subjected to searching exam
ination the Moscow notary IN whose presence last
September executed the contract tor the sale OF
the house adjoining the railway which served tho
consprators as point ddppu in their muir
derous enterprise. The price OF the tene-
ment was $500 roubles-a proof among
Others that tho plotters were possessed Of
wealth. The buyer young man of about
twenty-three. of middle figure. but weakly FRAME
and with him was good looking young woman
who passed for his wife. They were rarely by
their neighbors and their windows closely hung
with white curtains precludng the curious gaze Of
the passers by. Few wore observed to enter their
dwelling IN the daytime. though equipages were
often heard to draw up before their door ut night.
Scduous care. however, 1t seems. had been taken by
the solitary inmates Of the cottage to make very
favorable impression on any casual corners. That
the patriotism. for example. of the indweilers might
never be much as doubted. portraits OF the
Emperor and OF members of his family
hung conspicuously round the walls. while
their fervid piety attested by the display of
several images Of the saints. before which the pale
and peDitental taper was constantly burning.
Certain appearances once. indeed. attracted neigh
borly curiosity to what was going on within this
monastic domicile. but the occupant seems to have
obvated all further inquiries by explaining that he
was merely seeking to enhance tho utility OF his
dwelling By having cellar sunk IN it.
THE PLoTTERs AT WORK.
As o matter of fact however. the late explosion has
revealed what he and his accomplices were doing.
and those of our readers who remember how the
treasury at Cherson was not long ago reached and
plundered will be struck by the similarity of means
employed by the nhlists for the purposes OF rob.
berry and of murder First of all. the assassis sank
shaft about eighteen feet deep under the door OF
their dwelling, and from which they laboriously
bored tunneed passage to point about fifty
yards distant. under the permanent way Of the
| capacious chamber for the fatal charge.
which one authority estimates to have
| blasting power though itroglycerne would seem
| to have been also used The connecting tunnel or
over i've feet high and about twentyone inches at
the base being walled with planks aud even bricks
ea1atons the murderer is Calculated must have
| had to remove about ninety-thousand pounds
weight Of soil a and tho silent secrecy
tho terrible earnestness OF their resolution. That
they had wealth at their command has been already
indicated while the fact OF their having planned and
carried out o mining operation which would do
credit to the ablest heads among the imperial engi
neers proves them to have been no mere vulgar
criminals. Their internal purpose. however. would
probably have been batilcd in its full extent
even had the passage OF the Imperial trains in
electric spark at the proper moment for the line at
the spot is double. and the engines it seems. con-
approach Moscow by that set or metals directly
under which the charge was stored How destruc-
shock of the EXPLOSION was felt at the distance
Of mile, and that tho steel rails were completely
shivered sleepers and heavy clods Of frozen earth
being flung about nifty yards away from the
line After the police had rescued from the fury Of
the popul the deserted building in which the con-
spiraors had constructed their battery 1t found
that the better to observe approaching trains they
had bored u lookout hole in the wall and taken other
necessary the Of their design.
Il is equally certain that their escape was plan ned
with consummate skill. for they seem hitherto to
have eluded pursuit.
THE czAR's COMPANIONS.
The train by which the Gear last Monday journeyed
from Simferopol to Moscow likewise carried some Of
wore Count Alderberg. Minister of the Imperial
Household; Count Milutin Minister OF War; NJ. Poss
the Gendarmerie NJ Giers acting as Minister OF For
eign Affairs; Generals Rylejef. Wojeikof, Sati-
kon. Kuschelef and Merder. Prince Galitxin.
with General Won werder personally representing
the German Emperor ut the Court OF St. Petersburg
in way similar to that in which Prince Dongorouk,
or Dolgorukof, he is sometimes indifferently
called. lately appointed by the Gear to act at
Berlin. The fact of General Won Werder, however.
having been in the suite of the Gear. sufices to
explain the CELEBRITY with which the German
Emperor was acquainted with the alarming
news. 1t can readily be imagined into what differ
have been suddenly diverted had not only the Gar.
but all these high personages accompanying him.
unhappily fallen into the trap which had with such
dexterity been laid for them. When the En-
peror arrived at the chief station in Moscow.
where the fact of tho explosion was already
known, no one ventured to be the first
to break the terrible tidings to His Majesty.
but at last the Minister OF his Household undertook
the task. Crossing himself fervently hearing
OF the catastrophe. the Gear aloud Thanked the
Almighty for having again saved him from the re-
morseless hand of tho assassin"
The Nocoye Vremyd. commenting on the event,
sorrowfully admits that the Russian people have
proved their superiority to other nations neither
by brliancy in science nor proficiency in art
or new inventions calculated to mako the
Muscovite name famous throughout the world,
though those sects and parties who aim at turning
the Empire upside down are bidding fair by their
audacy and craft acquire the distinction Of being
the most eminent conspirators of all time. 1t is
ipconceivabe. exclaims the journal, how . sub
terranean passage twenty-five fathoms long could be
secretly digged not in o remote and forgotten
the vast Empire. but in the very centre of the city
Of Moscow.