The evening times., 1895-11-05
IIHILISf SPECfER AID CAR
Old nsthsds Of Constant Guarding Have
Been Recently le-estihished

Wv oOsDuuO VI vvuDtooI V0oA VIZ o0vt
Been Recently ls-estihhshed
Indications Of the Institution OF Pc
riod OF Assassination Frizhten
the Young Ruler.
Hardly year has passed since the tragedy
of Livadia-hardly year since the touch
of death fell upon the massive head and
giant frame of Alexander III, and amid
those strange scenes OF mourning for the
fathers death and rejoicing for the sons
marriage Nicholas II was proclaimed Car
of all the Russias. The last Of the Alex
anders was haunted to his deathbed, and to
his final breath by the specter Of nihilism.
That specter sat at his right hand through
out every state banquet, rode before him
in every grand military review, startled
him repeatedly on every journey he took
by sea or land, and shook him even in the
recesses of the cabinet chamber, the study
and his curtained bed. He lived In fear.
and, weakened by fear. he sank in the prime
of life into the only resting place this
world had held for him.
AS Cne court Oh St. fettfSDuIS pIcpdfeS
to cloak its gay life for little season
and observe in silence the anniversary OF
its last CHIEFS death, the signs are multi
plying that the drama which ended last win
ter on the Crimean shore Is about to be
repeated; that the specter, which seemed
to be laid by the sudden end or its impe-
rial victim. Is sgain watching on the ter
race OF the Peterhof, and that the race
with terror, which consumed the energy
of Alexander Ills body and exhausted the
power of his mind. must now be under
taken by his imperial son.
That the nihilist terror is abroad In Rus
sia has not been doubted by anybody ac-
quainted with Russian affairs iu the last
threemonths. Even the Russian newspapers,
whose business it is Ia suppress all vital
political news, have betrayed the secret
Now It was q sudden change of the i'm
perial plans. now the unexpected arrest
of whole societies and families, now the
hurried dismissal of uId officials and life
long court servants, which told of the inccs-
SAINT work of that umniscient political po-
lice whose soie business in Russia is to
hunt down nihilists and preserve the lives
of the reigning family. The appearance of
of the young Gar. unguarded, in public
ceased as inexpiicably as it had begun.
His free coming and going at the Peter
hof, greeted so Juyousiy a few months
ago as the sign Of a. new era in Russia.
is matter OF the past. His receptions Of
strange delegations and visitors from re-
mote provinces were suspended weeks ago.
On the iron throne of Russia sits once
more a recluse R"maBon. hidden from his
people, shrinking in fright from his most
devoted subjects. suspicious. nervous, ter
rified, unreasonable, as was his father be-
fore him.
Within the last weeks all the safeguards
thrown for ten years round the person OF
Alexander III, but abolished by Nicholas II
soon after lie ascended the throne. have been
recalled To use The st. Petersburg CORE
spondents say that the familiar faces of the
old da vs. may be seen now, as then. at every
corner within q mile radius of any place
where the Gar stops.
The park at the Peterhoff is patrolled
by detectives disguised as foresters. stable
men, ga rdeners. nd care-ta kcrs. The lodges
along the country roads leading to the ini-
perial residence have been opened to re-
ceive. as they did for ten years, the casual
visitors who. coming from and going to the
main office OF the Car police, seldom miss
the chance OF casting a watchful eye on
the home of the man whom they are all
charged to protect from harm.
When Nicholas III, with his young bride.
put on the purple and raised the scepter. the
eighty Cossa cks who long had guarded night
and day every possiblcentrance to the Cars
apartments, were dismissed, and about ten
soldiers OF the local Infantry were summoned
to serve in their stead. On Monda even this
trivial innovation was abandoned. and the
cossacks were called back to their former
post, some of them from their retirement in
the south and middle of Russia.
From 1885 To the time of his death Alex
ander LII never appeared outside of his
bedroom and study without line steel
suit of mail which would protect his
body, back and front, beiw cen his collar
bone and his loiDs, from the dagger OF the
assassin. Excepting his valet and his
wife nobody had seen this suit OF mail,
as it was worn between his underclothes
and uniform, but the Cars unw illingness
to go even to cabinet council W ithout 1t
was an open secret in all the courts OF
Europe.
Bismarck at one time wore such coat,
as did also Stambouloff and Crispi. None
of these men, however, resorted to such
precau ton until repeated attempts at
assassination had been made. Nicholas
III has waited for no such attempt Ever
since the last arrests of nihilist students
in Odessa he has W orn shirt of nickel and
steel onerous as the garment must lie to
man OF his inferior physique and lethargic
habits. Still stranger stories OF his fear
the imperial palace and gained credence
among the people of his capital. Although
no dagger has been laid on his pillow TO
unnervc him and no warning of death
has been laid under his dinner plate to
plague him, he never visits his dinner
table or bed without the company of a
trusted attendant. 1t is this attendants
business TO examine very napkin and to
turn every plate on the table before his
majesty sits down to eat, and to unmake
and make again the " hole bed before his
majesty retires for the night. At every
door of the dining room and bed chamber
stands a Cossaek guard, day and night,
and from every dish that is served at the
imperial table a special watcher in the
court kitchen must eat a mouthful before
it is served, to prevent any chance of
poisoning.
The question suggested to all Europe by
this sudden revival of the nihilist reign of
terror in the home of the Gar is, What new
plot have the police discovered. and what
new fear has overtaken the young sOver
eign, but eight months ago so confident of
his popularity and safety?
The answers have been numerous, but
with one exception untrustworthy. The
one exception is the mail report of abnor-
NAL nihilist activity throughout Russia
and equally abnormal police activity to
meet it. From st. Petersburg to Odessa and
from Warsaw TO Batoum the societies that
have sworn their thousands to exterminate
the reigning house of Romanoff. have be-
stirred themselves to execute their one aim
in political life.
The remarkable fall of the Gar from the
cloud of sweetness and light. in which popu-
lar fancy at first placed him to the deepest