Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-08-02
a RUSSIAN FUNERAL.
extraordinary Preea1tiOns Ad0yDtedt0 Pre-.
vent Violence by NlhIIlsts.

SOAt Oy
Although open threats Of violence
against the Gar by the Nihilists- are
not being made in the present reign,
as in the time of Alexander IL, the
police consider themselves bound to
exercise the utmost vigilance in safe
guarding the person of the sovereign.
An illustration of the extremes to
which they carry this is the talk just
now OF Russian society, and as have
had the details from one of the persons
concerned in the affair, its authenticity
may be considered beyond question.
A few days ago the burial service took
place of the Belgian Ambassador.
Count de Dudzeele, and was attended
by the elite of St. Petersburg society.
Among the mourners was n very old
friend of the Counts, who was aston
ished on reaching the church to find
ticket of admission demanded by the
policeman. He explained that he had
been specially invited by the family,
and that no tickets had been issued,
upon which the policeman said that,
the Gar having expressed his inteu-
ton of attending, orders had been is
sued by the chief of police to allow no
man to enter the church whose identi-
ty was not established by ticket of
admission. At this juncture the
Countess herself drove up, accom-
panied by her daughter, but was also
denied admittance the policeman say
ing in derisiOn, in reply to expostula-
tions. that ''any woman could pass
herself off as the Countess de Dud-
zeele," and that eff she really was
the widow of the Ambassador
she should have provided her
self with ticket. 1t was
quite in vain that it was pointed out
that alongside the coachman was sit
ting the functionary with cooked hat
and feathers, whose presence is pecu-
liar feature of the household of Am
bassadors here, and who always &C
companies the carriage when official
visits are made. At last, finding the
policeman obdurate, the friend to
whom / have referred went OF and
searched for one of the head officers of
the police, who, after some argument,
consented to allow the widow to enter.
None the less, the regulation, was en-
forced in many other cases. and one
well-known lady, the Princess Nest
chersIy, also an old friend of the
family, was ruthlessly turned back by
the police. Another Princess only
managed to get in by waiting patiently
in her carriage until some one in
authority should arrive At length a
| General of the Cars suite, with whom
she was acquainted, drove up and es-
cOrted her into the church. 1t need
hardly be said that this conduct of the
police has excited good deal of in
! dignation among the sufferers, but it is
a familiar feature of the Cars move
ments, and the police excuse them
selves on the ground that they are
bound to take every precaution to pro-
tect the person of the sovereign from
Nihilist attacks.
| AS to the Gar, he seems to trouble
himself very little about precautions,
and it is fact that he is quite free
from the nervousness that character
! lied the late Emperor during the last
few years of his reign. Still, he never
walks openly in the streets as the late
Emperor did even after being fired at
by Solovieff; nor have the plots against
him up to now been of that blood
thirsty, diabolieal character that
marked the reign of terror. At
present the Gar resides in the
Anichkoff Palace on the Nevslky, the
surroundings of which are well guard
ed by soldiers or police Quite a
swarm of superintendent and other
superior police officers are kept on
duty day and night in the vicinity, and
in front of the palace no one is allowed
to linger. The Gar frequently drives
out in an open sledge; but, although
| he may seem unprotected, the route he
intends to take is always well manned
with police. The latter have not vet
got over the bitter lesson taught by the
late EmperOr's death. / know of no
more melancholy spot than that on the
Catherine canal, where a gloomy
boarding incloses the fatal spot where
the Nihilists caught Alexander ii. as If
in trap. The quay is narrow, and
but slightly frequented by the public.
Once the Emperor reached it escape
was hopeless. The Nihilists with their
bombs blocked every avenue, and on a
bridge commanding view of the quay
stood Sophie Perovsky. ready to give
the signal for the assassination by fiut-
tering her handkerchief. In and about
the city that Sunday were disposed as
many troops as England employs to
govern the whole of India; and to the
leading thoroughfares the police were
swarming as usual like flies; but these
and other mighty forces of autocracy
were impotent the moment the Emper-
or had entered the chain of regicides
the Nihilists had posted round the
place of the assassination. Since then