St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-07-03

hours before they got 10 INC helh'i
at all. Only private carriages were
admitted, no cabs. But the livery
stables did good business these
nights, taking $50 to 800 roubles (7e
to $50 dollars) for carriage for one
night. On the first night of the illu
mination the Imperial couple went
out in an open Victoria to seelt. lhe
crowd cheered them and threw their
caps at them, which is special sign
of enthusiasm. The carriage was
soon filled with caps, which they
kept throwing back into the crowd
The Cossacks tried to drive the
crowd back, but the Car gave or
ders to leave them alone and LET them
come to him if they wanted to. by
the way, the lighting of the Kremin
was all done in an instant and in a
very pretty way. A beautiful bou
quet was handed to Alexandra Fedo
rovna, and by an ingenious device,
upon her pressing the stems, the
whole Kremlin was alight. Besides
these three main events there were
others; a serenade to the Car and
Czaricza by chorus of 1000 voices,
balls given in their honor and balls
which they gave, dinners, receptions,
reviews. The theatre pare was a
very interesting feature. The Opera
house which is known to be the lar
gest and most beautiful one in the
world, was crowded with the cream
of society of all nations. The five
immense Imperial boxes were filled
with four to six rows each of Impe-
rial and Royal personages. Rarely,
if ever has one chance to see so
many princely people together and in
such an unconventional way as they
seemed to converse with each other.
The performance consisted of short
ballet and parts of Glinka's opera
"The life for the Gar" The cpl
logue was very suitable thing for
the occasion, for it represents the
coronation of Michael Fedorovich,
the first Romanoff. The stage repre-
sents the square before the Kreml,
over thousand people on the stage
forming the crowd of spectators.
The procession marches into the
Kremlin through the Holy Gate, the
church bells ring, the canons fire
just the scene of a few days ago-and
the curtain falls just before the empe-
ror is to appear, for no Russian en-
peror may be represented on the
stage in Russia.
1t is to be regretted that the festiv-
tiles should have been marred by so
sad an accident as the catastrophe
before the peoples fete. AS far as
one knows now 900 lives have been
lost. And although most foreign
papers blame Russia ard say it could
have been forseen and would not
have happened in any other country,
yet how can one tell? A crowd of
uneducated people, many of them
factory men of the toughest kinds
terrible thing, and panic in such
a crowd is almost sure to lead to loss
of life. The trench seems to have
been the fatal mistake. But how
could one forsee such a thing to take
place six hours before the beginning
of the fete? The young Car was
deeply grieved, He at once promised
1000 roubles to each family who had
lost member, and to pay all funeral
expenses. He also ordered a special
service. and he and the whole court
attended. He wanted to stop all
festivities at once, but was persuaded
not to do so. He and the empress
consequently drove out to the
Chodynsky plain, where new crowds
of people were constantly pouring in
unconscious of the awful catastrophe
of the morning and eager to see their
beloved Car. He went down from
his pavilion right into the crowd all
by himself and spoke to the people.
The next day he and the empress
gave up some of their social engage
ments and went to the HOSPITALS to
visit and talk to those injured at the
crush. 1t is by such means as these
that Nicolai II makes himself so be-
loved among his people. A day or
two ago it was rumored that Vlass-
offsky, the head of the Moscow DO
lice, had committed suicide in conse-
quence of the Chodynskoye disaster.
He could not stand the humiliation
OF having failed to send out a suffi-
GENTLY large force of police. The ru-
NOR is not true, but suggests a good
story showing that Nicolai II does
not lack judgment nor humor.
Vlassotfsky is a very good man for
his post, but very bad man other
wise and heartily hated by every one,
though his merits are appreciated.
The story is this: He was in St. |
Petersburg and reported to the car.
He said, he hoped that everything in
Moscow would be to the cars sat.
isfaction and begged to be allowed
to ask a favor. Nicolai Alexandra.
vich. asked him what it was. II am
the head of the police in a capital"
said Vlassofsky, land am only
colonel in the army. My rank does
not correspond to my duties. l beg
your Majesty to have me promoted"
To which Nicolai II answered: INV
dear Vlassoffsky, | am Car in
capital, and also but colonel in the
army. My rank does not correspond
to my duties either. But I think
that we both will have to wait lit
tie before we are promoted"
MRS. FREDERICK FAIRBANKS.