Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-12-17
THE COMING NIHILIST TRIALS.
A Big Batch of Prisoners.

A Big Batch Of Prisoners.
A 81. petersburg correspondent sends the fol-
towing: In order to get rid, once for all, of the
important persons implicated in the assassina-
ZION OF the late Emperor a number of other
cases are continually being added to the princi-
pal one 1t is thus that several prisoners who
could not well be connected with the others in
the bill of indictment were simply sent to ST.
Derla adminstratively"-tha Is to say, with
out trial. it is probable their case did not
entltle them to be hanged. The Advocate
General Mouravef-the same who went to
Paris to claim Hartman-appears to have
Thought so and to have made up his mind to
try those only who have the best chance of being
handed over to FrilOff, the hangman, whose rot
ten ropes break because he drinks the money
gwen him to buy good ones. The number of
prisoners who will be admitted to the court is
at least siXty-twO. The most prominent ar
the ship lieutenant Ensign Zinovieff. the woman
LeOedef and the man who from the beginning
gave his name to the case, Trigoni The
prosecution has had easier work owing to the
recent confessions. The trial has excited the
greatest interest, and for some time past has
been one of the principal topics of conversation
But now everybody has got something to say on
the forthcoming return of the Emperor to ST.
Petersburg. The Car will reside in his former
palace. the one usually reserved for the heir to
the throne, the AntchkOff Palace which is now
vacant on account of the youthful age of the
present heir, the future Nicholas II. This pal
ace with one side on the Nevsky Prospect. the
great st. Petersburg boulevard, another facing
the Fontanka canal, and third on the Cathe-
rine square, has been completely isolated
Formerly its fourth side was in contact with
the BOuffe Theater. where all the celebrities of
opera bouffee-Schneider, Judic, Theo, and
others-have been heard. The theater has dis
appeared in fire, and the ground on which the
building stood has been turned into garden.
During the last wOmOnths workmen have been
busily digging subterranean passages round
the sne,, crown " property long gallery, wide
block and is lighted with gas day and night.
THE CARS HOUsECLEANING
1t is thought that the Emperor will not make
long stay in the Anitchkoff Palace. and that
he will pass the greater part of the winter in
the great imperial palace whose dining-room
was blown up by the nihilsts Just as the late
Emperor and Empress were about to take their
seats at the table with the other members of the
family. Measures will be taken there also as in
the Anitchkotf Palace. and the first one has been
already begun. 1t consists in clearing out the
building from top to bottom. This operation
has resulted in the finding of unexpected ar
ticles of furniture. Strange to say this huge
block of rooms contained a number of people
WhoSe existence appears to have been COM
pletely unknown to the police. For centuries
past these people have lived and died within
the walls OF the palace as if they had been on
desert island. Besides the imperial service of
aides-de-camp gentlemen and lades-in-waitng
besides the men servants, chambermaids and
pOrters. whose names are all registered in the
stewards book. there were number of other
people who had come with favOrites of former
Cars and who had forgotten to leave when
their masters left These people came and went,
ate drank and slept. were married, had lots Of
children, died and were succeeded without at
tracing anybody's notice. 1t is thus that
something or somebody was found on every
roof, in every corner. under and even over the
room. In some Ofthe cOurtyards these strange
people had erected small log huts and camped
under the palace windows. No wonder that the
nihilists found the means from time to time to
get threatening message carried into the
Emperor's private apartments or to conceal few
pounds OF dynamite. 1t was, indeed, high time
to think OF clearing this palace, compared to
which Noah's ark was mere plaything. They
actually found COW W. grazing on the
shed for the winter Nobody knows how the ami
NAL got there. but it is supposed she was
brought there quite young and that her milk
was sold by some enterprising speculatOr to the
inhabitants OF the palace. There must now be
motley collection of warrants belonging to all
classes Of society in the streets of ST. Peters
burg. But their lot need not excite much sym-
pathy for there is no town in the world where
there are so many people who manage to live
without any known means of existence To
give an instance OF these free and easy manners
and customs when servants are dismissed for
drunkenness or laZness-and this is generally
the reasOn-if they do not find another situation
they get on very well without one for months
They simply walk into the kitchen of other
houses and make friends with the servants. who
manage to have small dinner party every day
at their masters expense. you are stranger
you may have some objection to this addition to
your budget expenses; but you will soon find il
useless to have any opinion on the subject, fer
II you change your servants those whom you
take in their stead will do as the others did.
THE NIHII.IsTs' SEASON
It has been observed that the nihilists seldom
do very serious mischief before the month of
January and that when the month of Nav comes
they generally take long rest while the empe-
rOr locks himself up in his country honse
Their last crime bears the date of March 13. but
their prOclamatiOns have been numerous and
cleverly distributed of late. They have been
found in every part Of the capital and in most
parts Of the country; they have been profrlsely
circulated in the army which has been lately
placed also under the surveillance of the police.
The plebeian and the peasant who worship the
Car are told that Alexander H. was assas-
sinated by the nOblemen who killed him because
he wanted to divide the land among the work.
ingmen. This they have readily believed. and
they are now fully convinced that the present en-
perOr will suffer the same fate that if ANYTHING
happens to Alexander Ill. the moujik might fail
upon the nOblemen and the landlords and punish
them severely. in the belief that they were at
the bottom OF the plot. A great many of the
latter who used formerly to spend the winter in
their country homes have come into the neigh
boring towns. The Emperor takes special in
terest in the Pope, with whom he has a great
deal in common. Like him he objects to all
kinds of innovation. LEO XIII. and l." he
said the other day. ''hold religiously the scepter
of the past aud our hOcks will surely return
before long" These words may be set by the
side of those spoken by Gen. Manteuffel to Cen
TrepOff only few days ago: ''The Emperor
Alexander III. ought to have sent Loris Melt
koff to Siberia for having pushed Alexander ii.
into constitutional idealism." Now, a few DAYS
later the same Gen. TrepOff, while at Wiesbaden
saw Gen. Lors MelikOff coming toward
him, and exclaiming: 1.-THE man who dares
speak OF constitution in Russia de-
serves to have bullet sent through his skull"
THAT is what said to the Emperor three DAYS
ago." added Gen. Loris MekOf It is needless
to add that Gen. TrepOff who is strong con-
stitutiOnalist. did not like the idea of this bullet
for he has painful recollection of the one Vera
Sassaulitch lodged in his thigh. The same day
on which the Emperor received Gen. Trepoff,
who was his fathers project of police he re-
ceived also the visit OF NJ. Leon Renault, who
was formerly M. Theirs project of police. NJ