Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-07-17

minister of the interior two years. In
the last Office he was the most power
full executive officer of the empire.
The minister of the interior is charged
with the general maintenance of law
and order. He controls the press
censorship, the public and secret
police, the operations of the military
in depressing internal disorders AID
the enforcement of discipline in the
universities. Sipiaguin was a stern
enemy of all liberalizing movements.
Not long ago he said: Governments
that yield are governments that fall
Rather than yield would bring about
revolution in Russia
The Students Most Active.
The assassin, Balschaneff, was the
son of Siberian exile In 1900 the
young man was student in the uni
versity of Kieff, where he took part
in forbidden meetings held in Decem-
Der to protest against police inter-
ference with the schools Internal
affairs. The third of these meetings
was invaded by police and infantry:
the names of those in attendance were
taken and 1913 of the students were
drafted into the army. By Russian
law university students are exempt
from military service until after
graduation, but this law was over-
ridden by the order of Bogoliepoff,
minister Of education, and Sipiagui:.,
minister of the interior. Balschaneff
was impressed for one year and
stationed a, Seratov. In March, 1901,
the students of Russia were delighted
by the assassination of Bogoliepoff at
the hand of Student Karpovich.
Balschaneff's term of service ex-
pired in February of the present
year. He determined to offer himself
as a sacrifice and to remove either
Pobiedonostzeff or Sipiaguin. Having
a sweetheart, a Jewish girl, in ST.
Petersburg, he went to her home IL
the capital and there laid his plans
1t appears that he made known his de
sign to the girl and her father. The
old man furnished the money which
tUn Gun peInooId geugqosIga IoTgl
& moId 'peIInbeI uem SunoH eql
form of an adjutant in the Russian
army.
Capital Punishment Abolished.
Under the civil law capital punish
ment had been abolished in Russia
The extreme penalties for murder are
Is years for a minor and 20 years for
a person above 81 years of age. Kar
povich, for the killing of Bogoliepoff
was sentenced to 20 years of penal
servitude. Balschaneff's 21st birth.
& day fell on April 16, and he was de
| termined to kill the minister on April
Is, in the expectation that his punish
ment would not exceed 13 years. He
did not know, however, that he mighi
be slain on the spot, and the night
preceding the attempt he babe fare
we'll to couple of his student friends
saying, 81 may never return to you
On Tuesday, April Is, ministerial
f, council was to be held in the Marinski
palace. Balschaneff, wearing his adju
tant's uniform, obtained admission on
! the statement that he was an aide-da
camp of the Grand Duke Sergius, gov
ernor general of Moscow, and bore Z
! message from the grand duke to Min
! lister Sipiaguin. He was permitted tC
wait in the lobby of the ministria
council room. AS Sipiaguin ascendei
the main stairway, Balschaneff an
, preached, and, at close range, fired
five bullets into the minister's body
Sipiaguin did not live an hour. Bal
schaneff made no effort to escape
It would have been vain. AS he was
taken to prison he said: cit was not
1 who killed Sipiaguin, but his de-
crees against the students"
Senator Won Plehve, secretary CT
state for Finland, was appointed by
the car to succeed Sipiaguin. Won
Plehve is an experienced admins
traitor, an eminent scholar, a stern
conservative and a rigorous executive
An est his first act was to set aside
the civil law and to order the trial Of
Balschaneff by court martial. This
proceeding made capital punishment
possible. The secret police were set
to work. The assassin's sweetheart
her father and the two students who
were with Balschaneff the night be-
fore the crime, were arrested. No
body outside of Russia knows what
has been done with them. Balschaneff
was removed to the great fortress of
Schluesselberg, 40 miles from the
capital, where he was tried on May
9 and condemned to death. He was
hanged in the Schluesselberg on Fri
day, May Is. 1t is reported that he
went to his death with great fortitude.
Being onered a communication of