Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-11-08

PAM W$SMA sl@@NN@s who by his slight
CAR oF RUSSIA. est word could have
plunged Europe into a war, the hor-
rors of which would defy description,
fell into the dreamless sleep which he
feared not. He, though the head of
the church whose members num-
Der over 100000 persons, took
his last rites a few days before death
claimed him from all his greatness.
At 2:15 o'clock yesterday afternoon the
summons came, and few hours later
the thunderous booming cannon at
Liyadia and St. Petersburg announced
that the car was dead, and that
he who had been the grand
duke, Nicholas, reigned in his
stead. On lightning wings the news
of Russia's loss spread throughout the
world and it is safe to say that every
where the intelligence created SYM
pathy for the family of him who by his
policy had maintained the peace of Eu-
rope. From America came words of
sympaty, for the dead ruler had always
been a friend of the great republic of
the west, and Americans have not for
gotten how W ell his fathers friendship
sustained the north in the war of the
rebellion.
Since Tuesday, when the doctors in
formed the car there was no longer
room for hope, his ma esty composedly
waited for the end, attending to neces-
sary state and family affairs in the
short intervals of consciousness and
freedom from pain. These were neces-
sarily brief, the doctors having had re-
course to sedatives to procure sleep
and a1lay pain.
When all was over, the czarowitz,
Grand Duchess Xenia and the other
imperial relatives approached the bed
side in turn to take last farewell. The
court officials and members of his
majesty's suite were afterward adj
united. The flag over the palace was
placed at half-mast and salute was
fired by the vessels in the port. Short
1y after o'clock the members of the
palace guard were marshaled in the
square in front of the palace chapel for
the ceremony of swearing allegiance
ito the new ear. They were the first
Ito take the oath. The grand duke was
the next to swear allegiance and was
followed in the order of precedence by
the high court fnnctionaries. court Of
9icials, military officers and civil Of
'fcers.:
The New Gar.
Nicholas II. was born at st. Peters
burg May IS, 1868. Most of his child
hood was spent at the Tsarzoe-Selo
palace, 16 miles from ST. Petersburg.
He was not yet years old when Rus
iSia was shaken by a terrible nihilist
conspiracy. He was only when an
other conspiracy was suppressed with
cruelty rigorous punishments. When
he was years old the bloody Russo
Turkish war began, and that same
year another great trial of nihil-
lists opened, wherein 100 conspirators
were sentenced to hard labor for
aife. The list of nihilist conspiracies
and trials continued all through his
childhood. He was II when an attempt
was made to destroy the czar, his
grandfather, by undermining a rail-
way near Moscow, and another plot
had for its object the destruction of
the winter palace, to be followed in a
few weeks by an explosion under the
dining-rOOm of the palace, in which
eleven soldiers lost their lives and
forty-seven were wounded. He was
IL when his grandfather, Gear Alex
ander H., was assassinated. Now
Alexander III. lies dead from a malady
caused by internal injuries received in
Il railroad accident cleverly planned by
the Same active nihilists. He was be-
trothe1 to the Princess Alix. of Hesse,
in April last.
He entered the army at Is, and was
little more than a child as regards his
way of docking upon life at that time.
He abhorred the homage of court and
official life, and was only really happy
when he could frolic in an innocent
fashion with his younger fellow Off
GERS, when the elder ones. especially
his tutor-for whom he has always en-
tertained the greatest csteem-were
out OF the way. In this ray his char
acter became more ind 3pendept. He
became n good officer, and, although
anything but a passionate soldier, he
is in a position to recognize mistakes
and to appreciate efficiency. He is de-
voted to duty. and does verything that
he undertakes thoroughly.
In many ways he resembles his
father. ftrtS is, in scientific knowledge,
In advance of him, and has this adj
vantage over Alexander III. that from
his earliest years he has been brought
up as the heir apparent, whereas the
latter was 30 years of ago before he
ssatset, N that n0a iti0Y