News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-04-03
THE CARS LIFE.
SAVED ALMOST BY A MIRACLE-A
MYSTERIOUS VISITOR.
A NibiIist Attempts an ImpersonatIOn of the
Russian Chief of Police.

| H
| A NihiIfst Attempts an impersonatiOn of the
| Russian Chief of Police.
Among the ssforbidden literature" now
circulating in Russia is the story of one of
the most daring and dramatic plots ever
recorded in the history OF political as
sassination. The narrative is founded
on events which are said to have taken
place in st. Petersburg shortly after
General Gourko had been called from
Odessa to act as quasi-military governor
of the Russian capital. One bright May
morning. when the excitement was at its
height, the watchful eye ofa policeman
posted at the top of the Neyss.y Prospect
caught sight of an eqmpage coming up
the thoroughfare at a trot. Lit bore
armorial devices well known in the Rus
sian capital; the eoachman was there, who
persisted in being wigged in defiance of
his masters orders, to the great merri- |
ment of st. Petersburg Jehus. On each
side rode the regular escort of six
mounted Cossacks, each holding his
lance in rest and wearing his ball of
forage slung over his shoulder more as
if he was campaigning on the Don than |
upon civil service in the streets of the |
capitaI. General Gourko and his escort |
the guardian of the peace had easily |
recognized and hastily saluted his chief,
the new Prefect of PoIice-turned into
the Cavalry parade, at the top OF the
Nevsky Prospect, and at once made their |
way into the Alexander square, on the |
Neva side of which rose the massive and |
somewhat fantastic outlines of the |
Winter Palace. The equipage having |
drawn up at the side entrance of the
building the general alighted and rang. |
On the doorkeeper presenting himself
an officer of the Emperor's private guard |
the Prefect briefly stated the object of
his visit.
He desired an immediate conference |
with the Gar. The hour was early, |
true, day having only just dawned. AT
the same time his business brooked no
delay-it concerned the safety of the
Emperor himself. The ianitor was at
first inexorabIe, expostulating that his
imperial master had been already in
bed an hour. Yet at last he yielded
Up the broad staircase they went to-
gether. They trod on gorgeous carpets,
brushed past the wealth of the winter
palace in malachite and lapis lazuli, only
pausing in their ascent when they had
reached landing giving access to one
of the eapacious saloons. At this point
General Gourko was instructed to wait.
At this point, too, the Cars officer seems
to have repented of his decision. The
narrative represents him as closely scru-
tinizing the Prefect of Police in the
growing light, and of subsequently pro-
ceeding in the direction of the En-
peror's sleeping apartments, in no great
haste to arouse royalty from its first
slumber. The man did not arouse the
Czar at all. What he did was to de
scend to the guardroom and dispatch a
messenger. The man left the palace on
the Neva side. He there took droshky,
and drove past the side entrance into
the Nevsky.f During his absence the
Gar calmly slept on; General Gourko
impatiently paced the saloon, and the
military guardian of the imperial bed
chamber went about giving some orders
to the palace guards.
In quarter of an hour the messenger
rotlIrnad Ha boJ hoo, cont To Ganero1
Gourko's residence, in the Nevsky Pros
pect, and he brought back the informa-
ton that the Prefect of Police was at
that moment in bed. The early visitor
was thus an imposter. He was some
thing more; for from his pockets, after
he had been seized and pinioned, they
drew forth six-barrelled revolver and a
two-edged hunting knife. The Cars
life had been saved, yet it had hung for
few moments in the balance. The made
up Gourko-the Prefect of Police, imi-
tated down to the minutest details of
hair, complexion and wig-might have
deceived even the Emperor himself. Not
whit less perfect was the art which
hou IOEhOAuotu the SOuTkO COdCn tHu
escort. Only the sham Prefect was
secured, and not his confederates.
simultaneously with the arrest guards
had rushed from the palace to seize the
latter. But the equipage had gone, the
Cossacks were gone, the coachman was
gone. A policeman afterward told how
he had seen the cavalcade pass over one
of the Neva bridges and disappeared in
thoroughfare of Basil Island. The
carriage was never found, and, for all
that could be ascertained concerning
them or their steeds, the six Cossacks
may be mounted and riding, lance in
rest, to this day. As for the chief actor
in the plot, the conspirator who only
failed in his impersonation of General
Gourko because of his inability to be
in two places at enc and the same time,
his personality has never been disclosed.
He is the one mystery which the nihi-
lists themselves have never been able to
penetrate. His secret remains with him,
and he keeps it to the present moment,
for he is still prisoner in the island
fortress of Peter and Paul.