Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1891-02-26
4 Beautiful Nihilist


No authentic account has t been given
Of the late political ttiai--or rather cen
demnation-of Russian Eibisis fer high
treason; for trial, in the Elgiish sense of the
wn:d, there as none. I have just haf q
long conversation with one of the digcite.
ries who played the part q fudge, jury, and
counsel for the Crown during the brief csrs.
mony which, hsgun by accusation, was cGn.
tinu By voluntary confession, aud ended
In condemnation 10 dea,h.
The rineles Ter ofthe conepirators and no "
the chief of the prisonese, is-as is frequent
ly the case In Russian polliics-a woman; 10
this ins ance woman of excellent educe-
tiou, OF iron will. OF revishing beauty, Gud
cf un6auc.ed couregs; womsn in many re-
sDects euperior TO the celebrated Sophia
Peroveky. Thie person, Sophia GuDs-
burg by name, narrated the eVentful story
of her checkered life to ber uneympsthet-
| ic judges, and narrated 1t 10 a most c3lG,
unim paes'oped, obj sciiSe way, which the
most impartial CT historians might well
eogy. She was Jewes5 by birth, she said
and had been brought up in the Pale OF
! Settlement, outside of which Jaws are uot
aIowed to wander a; large Her parents
| had given her the best education that was
to be had urder the uofavorable public and
private conditions ia which their lot was
cat Natural aptitude, and the oppression
| shat stimulates when IL dces not crush, ef
| ected the rest, and 10 time Sophia GuUs
| burg became a sort Of Jewish Hypatla Inc
| Yale. After ha7iDg graduated in the ordt-
uary Embellishments Of intermediate edDcG-
| ticp, Sophia left her biri hDlace, to which
she refuses the name OF Fatherlapd, and
went abroad to breaths the bracing air OF
| freedom 10 Geneva her vogue inclinations
ard tendencies were gradually moulded
into perfect system Of cruel, cold bioo6ed
| revenge, which hss scarcely lis parallel In
history It was 10 that historic town that
she medtated and brooded over the wrongs
| Inflicted By Russia, until at last she hstched
plot
The means she intended to employ IN cr-
! de. TO attain 1t were to the full as sbomius
| tls ss the end in view. She resolved to
gather together select baud of roung men,
aud dszziDg them by the almost irresist-
able charms of her beauty, to administer to
each, unknown to the other, solemn oath
binding him to do her bsheals, and
to sssassinate the Emperor on a day
and in the manner fixed By her.
She vas determined that, If one failed,
another should take his place, end still an
other after hiu, until at last the foul deed
| should be doUe. The Empero,'s successor,
| 90, uuiees he struck cut new line OF poll.
cr, wss TO be stamped out of existence iD
| the came ruthless way. Sophia Gunsberg
had no difficulty Ia attracting sufficient
number Of love sick yonug Russians who
were smtten by her besnly and grace or
nade enihusas 10 by her eoqre2ce. Sac
sacrificed without hesitstion or regret all
= IL ~,
der to ma ain her hold over these young
On;iined. She was DOT, however, wholly
| monster, noy was she exempt from all hu-
love with an educated young Rus
slap. whose paramour she became. and
whom che never initiated into her poiiticsl
plots, 80 that be continued down to the mo-
ment of his arrest in complete ignorence OF
the part she wss playing as regicide. One
OF the uneuocessfui attempts on the Cars
life, chronicled in the Daily Telegraph in
The early part of last year. was the work Of
one OF Sophia Gupsburg's body guards, and
| bad she not been arrested when she wes,
| the present year Of grace would probably
| have been the last of the reign OF Alexan-
! der III.
When the prisoner bad fuished the i'm
pressive discourse containing the history of
her life and crime, which had been occe-
slonsly interrupted by the questions and
| rebukes of the presiding dignitaries,
the president esked her whether
she felt 10 conjunction for the
sbominab!e deed she resolved and attempt
| ed TO execute, no ernorss for he cynical way
| in which she bad Invested herself OF all
feminine mcdesty Her reply was an en-
phatic negative, which rang through the
hall like the peal on musical bell toiing
for the death of youthful bride. and was
quickly followed by the sing-soDg OF the
Judge propouncing the sentence of igno-
minious death. Her companions were con-
| demned TO various terms Ct harG labor In
the n,inSs-a sentence eurpassing in severi-
ty the most painful kind of death all ex-
| cept one. her lover, who, because perfectly
| ignorant OF hsr criminal plans. vas hoally
released, after having leuguished In solitary
confinement for length of time sufficient
to make him wish for release into the life
of this subiunary world, or into the next.
The Emperor, when informed of the death
sentence, commnted 1t TO imprisonment for
life. The Emperor refused to allow Sophia
| Gunsburg TO 60 to the mines of Siberia, her
heinous crime deserving punishment far
more terrible She is therefore TO be kept
in close solitary confinement for the re-.
msinder of her life in the dreary fortress of
gloomy S,lusselburg, op bleak !,lsrd near
Lake Lsdogs, where mnuy another nihilst
has been leehed iuto madness or crushed
out of existence in mpsrstively short
tiue.--St. Petersburg dispatch 10 London
Telegraph.
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