The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-02-06
SERGIUS slrEPNIAK.
THE MYSTERIOUS NlHlLlsTwHo WAS
KILLED BY A LOCOMOTIVE.


His Gravo-A Remarkable Man In Many
Senses, His Career Was Filled with
Thrilling Experiences.
Sorgius Michael Dragomanoff Stepniak
linguist, ethnologist, author and nihilist,
met n death rs dramatic as tho life he had
lived. Stopniak, while moro prominent as
q nihilist, will probably DO remembered
rather as ono of tho three novelists whom
Little Russia has given to the world
Petroff. Masooh and Stepniak oil called
that corner Of the Russian empire their
fatherland. Stepniak's whole lifo was
shrouded In mystery, and his birthplace
and name have mover been authoritatively
established. He is supposed to have boon
| born in 1S41 Mt Hadjatsoh In the Ukraine
mountains, and to have como from o
seminoble family descended from the Co.'S
sacks OF Littlo Russia. From 1859 to 1868
no was student at Kiev, and no pub
lishcd several works during that time,
which wero prohibited by the government
In 1869. In 1870 he became professor at
the University Of Kiey, but was removed
from his chair by the government throo
years later. Ho was exiled in 1876 on ac-
count of bis criticism of the system pur-
| sued by Count Tolstoi, one Of tho minis
ters Of Justice, and he thoroupon settled in
Geneva, whiting various popular works in
tho Little Russian dialect He began to
work hard for the establishment OF equal
political rights In Russia and declared
against socialism rs we'll Us absolutlsm.
On Aug. 16, 1878, Vera Sassulitoh, O
| young woman nihilist, assassinated Con-
oral Trepoff, project of police in ST. Pc
torsburg. Five months later Tropoff g
| successor, General Mezentzeff, WIS stabbed
in the street, but tho assassin jumped into
| carriage in waiting and escaped. Two
other occupants Of tho carriage, however,
wero captured, and proved to DO DR.. Wet
MGR, the court physician and his wife.
| Both wore sent to Siberia. The suspicion
| has been persistent That a man named
| Kazchcffsky was tho assailant and that
Kazohefsky was Stepniak.
| London was his refuge for many years,
and there he published Free Russia, a
| newspaper devoted to tho interests Of an
| arohy. He came to the United States in
| December, 1890, on n lecture tour for tho
| purpose of arousing sontiment against
| Russian despotism. In London he was
| constantly watched, and u number of at
tempts wcro made to carry him off
Sorgius Michael Dragomanof Stepniak
| his pseudonym in full-tho most feared
nihilist in tho world died carrying tho
secret of his identity to tho grave. For 20
| years ho was ono of tho bcst known mon
In Europe, yet mono know him. Ho was
| the recognized leader of tho nihilists, but
| not manager Of the bomb throwing cam
paign. His efforts wcro along tho limo of
moral persuasion and appeal to tho intel
lcct. His whole lifc, rs wo have said was
| onshroudcd In mystory, and none, save
| perhaps few, could say whether he over
| participated in physical forco plots, al
though no was often suspected. 1t is cor
! tail that In later years ho looked with less
| favor upon radical measures, and frequent
| ly spoke against them. Yot ho did not
disguise his sympathy for the slayer of the
| late car. Stepniak means literally 1.-The
| Son of tho Steppos," and no admitted it
| to be an assumed name.
Apart from all questions of right or
| wrong, or of oxpodienoy, as far ms rotated
to tho cause to which Stepniak had doyot-
ed his life, the personal equation of the
| man had much which is remarkable Ho
had given us in his Career of q Nihilist, Z"
| of 1889, tho peculiar traits of those men
| who have thrown down their challenge to
tho car. Human bravery has It's heroic
sido, and Stepniak had shown indifference
to life q thousand timos, but in q manner
which Is special.
Sorgius Stopniak though modest to a
dogrco, was known among his fellow roy
olutionists to have planned out many q
method of escape for n condemned prison
or, and by his own personal prowcss and
sheer daring objected roscues What great
dash, what self control, it must have Tux
on to try at least in Is crowded Russian
city to get to man whose fate was sealed |
Stcpniak, who drove % slodge alongside
would have done his best to pluck the con-
demnod man right out of tho grip of the
n col 30 II
own slcdge, and SO driven him off. This
effort, as tho political prisoner volkhovsky
tolls us, failed, but not from any fault of
Scrgius Stopniak. If OH this occasion an
unforeseen accident prevented the accom-
pllshmont OF tho escape, nevertheless the
COOL daring OF Stopniak romans as salient
MS ever. Many u man and woman who
lives today outside of Russia Is of this
world now because of the strong hand and
courage Of this nihilist.
In appearance no WAS q man not quito 6
feet In height, but his solid build and
massive form, with breadth of shoulders
and largo, we'll shaped head mado him
appear not SO tall rs no really was. His
type of face was distinctly Russian, his
forehead of groat width and his eyes in
tonsely black. 1t was faco showing will
and control of power. Ono might speou-
late long on the ways of Stepniak and
wonder how, with such marked face, he
was SO long capable of escaping detection
by means of disguises, for to change his
appearance one might fancy, required
marked mobility of oppression
Stepn1ak spoke English, French and
Italian perfectly. In conversation in Eng
lish he never seemed Mt loss for the exact
word, though he retained somewhat of a
foreign accent. His voice was singularly
sweet and well modulatod, and his man