The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-01-05
THE ATTEMPT TO BLOW UP THE
GEAR.
The little House that Was Bought
by q stranger and his Pretty Wife.
london Standard ]

London Standard
On Monday night (your first Decem-
ber) Moscow was illuminated to receive
the Emperor, en- route for st. Petersburg
from Livadia, his summer residence in
the Crimea. Every one knows that the
secret police had then got scent OF the
plot; but on what particular spot the ex-
plosion was to take place no one could
tell. What happened was this: Prince
Dolgorooki, Governor-General of Mos
COW, met the Emperor on the confines of
his Government and demanded private
audience. When it was over, the EN-
peror and suite Immediately passed into
another train quite denuded of lamps
and flags (they say the very engine dri-
yer worked in the dark, the fore-lights
being put out), and ordered the supple
mentary train to follow in half an hour.
His Imperial Majesty thus started for
Moscow, and arrived here safely at ten.
An immense crowd awaited him at the
Kourskey Station, but their loyal hur-
rahs were taken little notice of, for the
Emperor at once passed into closed car
riage, and, surrounded by mounted
guards, eight or ten deep, proceeded to
the Kremlin. The Moscow public, ac-
customed to the smiles and bows of the
well-beloved Gar, felt rather disappointr
ed, and the sight of the closed carriage
and serred ranks of mounted guards Gre
ated markedly unpleasant impression;
but then they knew nothing of the plot.
Half an hour afterward fearful explo-
sion took place on the Kourskey line,
two miles out of town, knocking of the
rails of the Imperial supplementary train
in which the Emperor had previously
travelled, and which was Just then pass
ing with all its lights burning and its
Imperial eagles futtering. Happily for
those in it, it was travelling along the
right, or outgoing line of rails, and the
conspirators mine had naturally been
laid under the left, or incoming one.
Some of the carriages were overturned,
one or two luggage vans were dashed
into atoms, but no lives lest. At first it
was whispered that this train was quite
empty, and that it was only meant to de-
ceive the conspiritors; but this is not
true. The servants of the Imperial house
hold were in it, and one or two gentle
men holding honorary posts at Court
among others Prince Obolenski.
When the shock was over, and they
had got back their breath again, they
discovered subterranean passage 150
feet long between the railway lines and a
twO-storied wooden house, recently
bought and furnished by Mr.. Sookoroo-
koff, stranger from Saratotf. He and
his pretty wife were known and liked in
that neighborhood, and neighbors had
often dropped in on them
and drank cup after cup of
fragrant Russian tea. The couple
had assisted at the immediate after-scene
of the railway accident, and had joined
heartily in the universal expression of
horror and dismay. In very short time,
however, they found out this was no com
mon railway accident. Here was crater
thirty feet wide and twelve feet deep.
Some one had already passed along the
subterranean gallery, and found that it
ended in a room in the lower story of
their hospitable neighbor's house. They
looked around for him, but both he and
his wife were gone, and they have not
been heard of since. Nothing was found
in the deserted house but furniture of
the simplest description, two electric
batteries in common deal boxes painted
red, and five or six suits of working
clothes of various sizes. One of the bat
teries was in an clubhouse, it's wires in
communication with second battery in
corner of one of the upper rooms.
From this latter spot the electric wires
passed through the floor down to the sub
terranean gallery, ready at any moment
to give the desired shock to the explosive
substance laid there. Everybody now
remembers that Mr.. Sookorookoff had
lately chad cellar made under his
house by workman hired in Moscow"
and that good deal of earth and sand
had been carted away. Mr.. Sookorookoff
was a small man with reddish hair, and
his wife was a fair little woman with
bright eyes and a very intelligent face.
The important question now is-was it
their natural faces the neighbors looked
upon, or were they painted, bewigged,
and consequently unrecognizable? Next
day, Tuesday at one o'clock, the Emper-
or held levee, and the most eminent
members of the Town Council presented
him with the time-honored bread and
salt. The address from the throne in st.
Georgia's Hall was by no means of a
mild character. Fathers, mothers, child
rem, and preceptors all came in for a
share of the Imperial displeasure, and
were all put down as dangerous, migrate
ful, ,seditious subjects. Not even Mr.. Kat
kof, editor of the Moscowsky Vedemosti,
the abject creature of the Government,
could venture on printing the original,
but curtailed, modified, and toned it
down into what you have already prob
ably read: "an appeal to the heads Of
Russian families for moral strength and
cooperation wherewith to root out Of the
breasts of youth sedition." .-- ~.
1t was then announced that the EN-
peror would review the troops on the
Grand Square in front Of the Opera
House. Enterprising individuals had al
ready carted thither raised platforms,