The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-02-07
SERGIUS STEPNIAK.
THE MYSTERIOUS NIHlLIST WHO WAS
KILLED BY A LOCOMOTIVE.
He Carried the Secret Of His Identity to
His Grave-A Remarkable Man In Many
Senses, His Career Was Filled With
Thrilling Experiences.

Sergius Michael Dragomanof Stepniak,
inguist, ethnologist, author and nihilist,
met death as dramatic as the life he had
lived. Stepniak, while more prominent as
nihilist, will probably be remembered
rather as one Of the three novelists whom
Little Russia has given to the world.
Petroff, Masooh and Stepniak all called
that corner of the Russian empire their
fatherland. Stepniak's whole life was
shrouded In mystery, and his birthplace
and name have never been authoritatively
established. He Is supposed to have been
born in iS41 at Hadjatsoh, in the Ukraine
mountains, and to have come from q
seminoble family descended from the Cos
sacks of Little Russia. From 1859 to 1868
he was a student at Kiev, and he pub
lished several works during that time,
which were prohibited by the government
in 1862. In 1870 he became professor at
the University Of Kiev, but was removed
from his chair by the government three
years later. He was exiled in 1876 on &C
count of his criticism of the system pur-
sued by Count Tolstoi, one of the minis
tiers of Justice, and he thereupon settled In
Geneva, writing various popular works In
the Little Russian dialect. He began to
work hard for the establishment of equal
political rights in Russia and declared
against socialism as we'll as absolutism.
On Aug. 16, 1878, Vera Sassulitch,
young woman nihilist, assassinated Gem
eral Trepoff, project Of police in st. Pc
tersburg. Five months later Trepoff's
successor, General Mezentzeff, was stabbed
in the street. but the assassin jumped into
a carriage in waiting and escaped. Two
other occupants of the carriage, however,
were captured, and proved to be Dr. Wei
mer, the court physician, and his wife.
Both were sent to liberia. The suspicion
has been persistent that man named
Kazoheffsky was the assailant and that
Kazchetfsky was Stepniak.
London was his refuge for many years,
and there he published Free Russia, a
newspaper devoted to the interests of an
archy. He came to the United States in
December, 1890, on a lecture tour for the
purpose of arousing sentiment against
Russian despotism. In London he was
constantly watched, and a number of at
tempts were made to carry him off.
Sergius Michael Dragomanoff Stepniak
his pseudonym in full-the most feared
nihilist in the world, died carrying the
secret Of his identity to the grave. For 25
years he was one of the best known men
in Europe, yet none knew him. He was
the recognized leader of the nihilists, but
not manager of the bomb throwing cam
paign. His efforts were along the line of
moral persuasion and appeal to the intel
lect. His whole life, as we have said, was
enshrouded in mystery, and none, save
perhaps few, could say whether he ever
participated in physical force plots, al
though he was often suspected. 1t is GER
tain that in later years he looked with less
favor upon radical measures, and frequent
ly spoke against them. Yet he did not
disguise his sympathy for the slayer of the
late czar. Stepniak means literally "The
Son Of the Steppes, " and he admitted 1t
to be an assumed name.
Apart from all questions of right or
wrong, or of expedienoy, as far as related
to the cause to which Stepniak had devot-
ed his life, the personal equation of the
man had much which is remarkable. He
had given us in his "Career of Nihilist,
of 1889, the peculiar traits of those men
who have thrown down their challenge to
the car. Human bravery has its heroic
side, and Stepniak had shown Indifference
to life thousand times, but in manner
which is special.
Sergius Stepniak, though modest to
degree, was known among his fellow rev.
olutionists to have planned out many a
method of escape for condemned prison
er, and by his own personal prowess and
sheer daring effected rescues. What great
dash, what self control, it must have tax
en- to try at least in a crowded Russian
city to get to man whose fate was sealed
Stepniak, who drove sledge alongside
would have done his best to pluck the con-
i I'll ha - fha
armed soldiers, so as to put him in his
own sledge, and 80 driven him off. This
effort, as the political prisoner Volkhovsky
tells US, failed, but not from any fault Of
Sergius Stepniak. If on this occasion an
unforeseen accident prevented the accom-
plishment Of the escape, nevertheless the
cool daring of Stepniak remains as salient
as ever. Many a 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 he was man not quite 6
feet in height, but his solid build and
massive form, with breadth Of shoulders
and large we'll shaped head, made him
appear not SO tall as he really was. His
type of face was distinctly Russian, his
forehead of great width and his eyes in
and control of power. One might specu-
late long on the ways of Stepniak and
wonder how, with such a marked face, he
was so long capable of escaping detection
by means of DISCUSSES, for to change his
appearance, one might fancy, required
marked mobility of expression.
Stepniak spoke English, French and
Italian perfectly. In conversation in Eng
lish he never seemed at loss for the exact
word, though he retained somewhat of
foreign accent. His voice was singularly
sweet and we'll modulated, and his man
ner, never slow, was rather impressive.
Thoroughly logical in describing the con-
dition of his country, the efforts made to
establish some semblance of liberty in
Russia, he was not impassioned. Every
argument was quietly, calmly presented.
The enthusiasm in the man he kept latent.
philadelphia Telegraph.
Tender Hearted.