Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-06-06
RUSSIAN TRAGEDY.
A Girl NIhilist Kills Police Chief and
then Takes Her Own Life.

Details have been received here, says
st. Petersburg letter to the N. Y.
Tribune, of the murder of Col. SOlot-
ouchine. the chief of the secret polti-
cal department at Moscow. Having
received notification that number of
nihlists were in the habit of holding
meetings at the house of M. Andreieff
the colonel determined to ascertain,
whether the information was correct.
Accordingly, toward 8 o'clock in the
evening, he concealed himself in the
neighborhood, and carefully scanned
the faces of all who either entered or
left NJ. Andreieff's residence. Several
of them he recognized as individuals
already under suspicion rs disaifected
characters, and at length, with n view
of pursuing Investigations still further,
he determined to arrest the next per-
son who rang the door-bell.
A few minutes later n lovely girl quiet-
ly yet elegantly dressed, and with a
wealth of fair hair and dark blue eyes,
hurried up the street, and, casting
frightened look around her, was about
to ring, when Col. Solotouchine stepped
out from the shadow of an adjoining
doorway and laid his hand on her arm.
His tall, commanding-tigure and short
reddish beard were well known to the
inhabitants of the ancient Russian cap
ital and inspired the people with ter
ror, for his powers were almost TN
limited. A word from him was suf-
ticent to consign the most prominent
citizen to prison. and. even to the
desolate wilds of Siberia. The mo.
ment therefore she perceived who her
interlocutor was she knew that she was
lost,
Quick as lightning she drew from
her pocket q small revolver, and be-
fore the Colonel could raise his hand TO
dash it aside she fired, aiming straight
at his heart. The pistol threw high,
and the bullet, instead of piercing his
breast, entered his right eye, and, PEN
etrating the brain, Killed him on the
spot.
The report of the shot echoed loud
ly through the stiffness of the night,
and in a moment steps were heard hur-
rying toward the spot. Aware of the
fate that awaited her if captured, and
realizing that no time was to be lost,
she, without a moments hesitation,
applied the still smoking muzzle of the
revolver to her heart and fired. Her
dead body was found lying across that
of Col. Solotouchine. Both corpses
were at once conveyed by the police
to the clinical lecture-room of the
university, which was close by. There
an examination of the papers found on
the young girl took place. From these
it was found that she was Olga Cont
charenko, 10 years of age. and the
only daughter of the director of the
telegraph at Moscow Within cou-
pie of hours afterward M. Andreieff's
house was raided by the authorities,
but the birds had flown, and nothing
but the ashes of pile of burnt paper
remained.
Promotion in the Russian police force
is rapid, for the sanguinary activity of
the nihlists prevents the ranks from
being overcrowded. Gen. Trepoff, the
chief of the department, was so dam
gerously wounded by the bullet of
Vera Sassoulitch that he was incapaci-
tated from further active service. His
successor. General Menzenzeff, was
stabbed in the back and killed while
walking in an unfrcqucnted street here
Az 1870 " 1hdEShS"oh.N, WIZ 10
better known abroad, especially in lit
erary circles, by his pen name of
"Stepniak." Another victim of the nj
hilists was Gen. Sndeikine, chief of the
secret police in this city. who was as
saSsinated in December, 1888, by a
member of the executive committee of
the terrorist party named Degaieff,
while walking along the Newski pros
pect. Degaieff who, as colonel on
the general staff, had greatly distin-
guished himself in the Turco-Russian
war, subsequently escaped from the
mines of Siberia, to which he had been
condemned for life, and made his way
10 the United States, where he now re-
sides. His sister, a charming girl.
lives at Kharkoff. where she Is COM
pleting her, musical education in the
local branch of the Imperial Academy
of Music. She was admitted to the
latter at the request OF the ears uncle,
the Grand Duke Constantine. under
whose patronage and at whose expense
she is pursuing her studies. Russia
is indeed the land of parsdoxies.