The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-06-06
PANITZA'S BIG PLOT.
Russian Court Prestige Re-
ceives a Blow by the Con-
victim Of the Major.
Implicated in the Plot
to Murder the Prince en-
der Russian Orders.

LONDON, Special.-Since the day when
John Reynolds Paktul, ambassador from
Peter the Great to the states of Germany,
was captured by Charles XII. of Sweden
and broken on the wheel, Russian court
prestige has not received a more start
ling blow than the conviction and sentence
to death of Maj. Panitza, the Russian
agent in a conspiracy against Prince Ferdi-
nand OF Bulgaria. The trial of the con-
spirators, to which entire publicly has been
given by the Bulgarian government, has
brought to light in the clearest n the
oriental methods of the Russian courts in
carrying out its political aims, and
has shown that. under the veneer of
Western civilization. fies q nature as I'M
scrupulous and treacherous as that of q
shah or a khan. 1t has been proven that
the seizure, and probably the murder Of
Prince Ferdinand, was plotted by persons
in military authority, acting under Rus
,ian direction, supplied with Russian funds,
Ind directed by a captain ofthe Russian army
as Intermediary. This captain, Kalupknff,
has been sentenced to nine years imprison-
ment, and two other conspirators, Majors
Amandoff and Rizof, of the Bulgarian
army. each to six years. The plot
was of old standing. Maj. Panitza,
who belonged to the Bulgarian army,
and was stationed at the important post of
Rustchuk, was approached by Kalupk off
and by him introduced to the secretary of
the Russian legation in Roumania. Pan
itza proved himself perfectly willing to sell
his country to Russia for a price. He was
plentifu!ly supplied with money. which he
distributed with much liberality among
those with whom he found ready to listen
to
HIS REASONABLE OVERTURES
in this way, and by promise of abundant
reward in the way of rank and emolument
from st. Petersburg, he succeeded in draw
ing to his side nine or ten officers of the
Bulgarian reserve force. some of
them influential with the troops
under their command. Last au-
tumn the conspirators had it arranged
to arrest Prince Ferdinand and kill him in
case of resistance; but the plan miscarried
through the arrival of the prince on a train
earlier than that on which he had been ex-
pected. According to the evidence on the
trial, which began on the Goth,
and concluded on the Goth, Prince
Ferdinand and his ministers were to
have been seized ON their arrival at Sofia
from Philippopolis. The guard of honor
at the Sofia railway station was to have
been composed of men whom Panitza could
trust, and two squadrons of cavalry We're
kept on the rack ready to come
out and scour the streets whenever Panitza
should give the order. This would indi-
cate that the conspiracy had obtained a
deep foothold in the army, in which Ban
itza, on account of distinguished services in
the Scrvian war and his popular manners,
was conspicuously a favorite. The princes
sudden return, as stated, saved him
from arrest and probably from assas-
sination. AS soon as Ferdinand had been
got rid of, a Russian general would have
taken charge of affairs in Bulgaria, and the
car would have been requestedto nominate
two candidates for the throne of the
p~rincipality. Panitza also planned to
kidnap Ferdinand during a court ball,
and he vainly endeavored to draw into the
conspiracy Col. Kissof, commander of the
garrison in Sofia. 1t was apparently
through the effort to seduce Kissoff that
the plot was brought to brought to light,
and Panitza and several Of his fellow con-
spirators arrested.