The Wahpeton times., 1888-03-08
J ..A'llL.El|x,AlI!NDER's \ I !, !! AssAs !

Now the RussIan Emperor = y.as1 ~
Killed BY MlhllIsts-Tho Fate ofi
the 0onsplrators. z. ~ s,sg;siEes ;is'aE'
The night before the eventful dsyss
the conspirators worked oil throuaa,s
the hours Of darkness to complete
their preparations, and as daylight
dawned on the dreary Winter mornina
everything was ready and each man
was told OF to retrospective positio n
Sophie Perohskays drew plans Of the
routes and marked the spots where
the conspirators were to wait; aud
she herself arranged to take up . con.
epicuous position, and to signal the
Emperor's approach. She took under
her especial charge two men named
Reesako6 and Elnikoff. The latter
was quite young man, and - aid
to have been infatuated with her - =.
Y and ready to do her lightest q.
ding. 1t was these two men Who
actually committed the deed. On the
signal being given by Sophie, Reesakofl
threw the first bomb. 1t exploded
with g tremendous report, slightly
wounding the horses, partly shatter.
ing the carriage. and killing on the
spot the Cossack footman who rode
behind. The coachman was unhurt.
and he implored His Majesty not to
alight. saying he would drive him safe
to the palace. But the Emperor was
greatly alarmed, and insisted on get.
ting out. As soon as ever he alighted,
Elnikof, who was only very few
yards away, threw his bomb with so
true an aim that it fell at the cars
feet. but,strangely enough, though tho
force of the explosion was tremen.
dous, men who were standing many
yards away being knocked down by
it, while huge hole was plowed in
the ground, the Emperor was not
killed outright, bue both he
and his assassin fell to tine
ground terribly injured. Elnikofi
died very soon afterward, but his Mai.
esty fingered in dreadful agony for
several hours. His lower limbs and
part of the abdomen were torn and
shattered to pieces, and it is truly
marvellous that he survived so long.
The rest OF the CHASTITY story is we'll
known. OF the two women and eight
men who were subsequently, proved
to have taken an active part in the
tragedy, one OF the men (Sablin) shot
himself. Elnikof was killed by the
explosion OF the tomb, two brothers
Kobozeffs) escaped, and the other
four men and the two women were
brought to trial and sentenced to be
hanged, which sentence was duly car
ried out on the 18th OF April, except in
the case of Hesse Helfmann. None of
the conspirators showed any remorse
for the crime, and they went to their
death without apparent sign of fear.
The extraordinary measures that
were taken Immediately after the
Cars assassination prevented
the otter part of the
conspirators' programme from being
carried out. 1t was a bitter disap.
polntment to them, for nothing was
altered, nothing changed. The
Gar was no sooner dead than the
cry was raised of "Long live the
Carl" and the dropped crown of
Alexander II. was Immediately taken
up by Alexander III. For the time
being Nihilism was scotched, but not
killed. From the blow it then received
it has long since recovered, and is
now stronger than ever, and the
Damoclean sword that so long swung
over the head of Alexander H.. now
swings over the head of his successor.
and the Nihilists are sworn to ''exe-
cute" him if the opportunity occurs.
But the tragedy OF 1881 taught the
authorities a lesson, and the looked
for opportunity may be q long way
of, though in the ranks of the Nihil-
ist are menand women who will stop at
nothing, shrink from nothing that wills
enable them to ''regenerate their eouu-
t'y. 1t may be an ambitious dream,
but those who dream it are persuad-
ed that the time is fast approaching
when the dream will be halilled.-Ths
Gentleman's Magazine.