The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-28
BLOWN UP
Russian Minister of the Inter-
i0r AsSassinated in Street.
A Bomb Is Exploded Under His
Carriage.
TERRIBLY MANGLED
His Head Is Battered Almost
Beyond Recognition.
Coachman Killed, Carriage
Shattered, Horses Hurt.
A CROWDED HIGHWAY.
Was Selected by the Assassin
for His Deed.
Perpetrator of the Outrage Is
Under Arrest.

st. Petersburg. July %. 1O:55 a. m.
Minister of the Interior Won Plehwe
was assassinated this morning while
driving to the Baltic station to visit
the emperor at the Peterhof palace.
A bomb was thrown under the min
ister's carriage. completely shattering
it NJ Won PIehwe was terribly man
gled-
The crime was committed at 10
o'clock. The assassin was arrested
The coachman was killed and the
two wounded and maddened horses
dashed wildly away with the front
wheels of the carriage, the only por-
ton of the vehicle remaining intact.
Immediately there ensued a scene of
the widest confusion. Police and
gendarmes hurried up from every di-
rection and vast crowds gathered
about the spot where the mangIed
body of the minister lay weltering in
his blood.
Shockingly NfangIed.
The Associated Press correspondent
was at the scene of the tragedy with
in five minutes after it took place
M Won Plehwe's shockingly mangled
body was lying in the middle of the
road 1t had been partially covered
with ponce OfnCerS ONerCOaU, with
the left arm, the bone of which was
broken off, projecting. A policeman
came up and raised the overcoat in
order to rearrange it, revealing for an
instant the strong features OF the dead
minister, whose head was battered
almost beyond recognition. The road
was strewn for a hundred yards with
the wreckage of the carriage and
pieces of the red lining of the min
ister's official overcoat. a few yards
from NJ. Won Plehwe's body lay a
shapeless heap of the coachman's re-
mains.
visit the emperor when the tragedy
took place. The tragedy was enacted
on the HalalkonSd prospect, a broad
thorougnfare leading up to the Warsaw
depot, when the road turns sharply to
the left toward the Baltic railroad sta
ton The exact spot at which the out
rage took place is just before the bridge
spanning the circular canal on the other
side of which both stations are situated.
The bomb thrower must have known
perfectly well that Minister Won Plehwe
would pass the spot this morning for
the minister makes his report to the
emperor every Thursday.
The Internal machine was thrown
with deadly accuracy and the assassin
was favored by the fact that traffic
here is always of the heaviest owing to
the crossing of lines of surface cars and
the continuous stream of heavy trucks.
M Won Plehwe was always apprehen-
TO drive as rapidly as possible. The
coachman. however, was compelled to
go slowly at this point.
Plans Well Laid.
The assassin in laying his plans evil
IDENTIFY fOresaw this circumstance and
while the minister's cOachman slowed
down threw the bomb. The explosion
was terrific and annihilated the wood
work of the carriage. The horses tore
OF, dragging the axles and the front
amir
by the wounds they had sustained. had
not galloped far before they fell with
pools of blood under them.
Tne minister's servant who was also
on the carriage box, was badly wound
ed and two officers who were driving
by in an open carriage were injured by
flying splinters. The assassin himself
was wounded in one eye. He took to
ports was overtaken and is now under
arrest Passengers by the PeterhOf
train began to arrive upon the scene.
Among them We're the Duke and Duch-
ess of Oldenburg who stopped their
motor car within a couple of PAGES of
NJ. Won Plehwe's remains and were told
by policeman the terrible tidings
Ihey were mucn affected.
Inc news of the tragedy spread like
wildnre throughout the city causing
CONSERVATION everywhere. Police re-
serves were hurried to the scene from
all parts of the city and the various de-
partments were instantly notified.
When the Associated Press corre-
spondent arrived at the telegram
office fifteen minutes after the trag-
edy took place the director of tele-
graphs had already been informed of
the assassination and instructions had
been given. The utmost confusion pre-
vailed and the reports of the affair
were conflicting.
Gar Is Greatly Affected
Regarding the identity of the as
sassin and the cause of the crime by
some il is said that the act was that
of a Finn and by others that the
murderer was a partisan of the Zem-
stvos, the curtailment of whose powers
is attributed to the dead minister
Nothing. however, has been definitely
established as yet.
The prefect of police notified the
emperor of the tragedy immediately
upon its occurrence. The emperor.
who was at the villa Alexandra at
Peterhof, was greatly affected by the
news, coming as it did on top of the
bad tdings from the seat of war fears
of international complications, and
the strain incident upon the hourly
expectation of an event so close to
the fathers heart. The emperor al
most broke down when he was in
formed of the minister's murder
Whatever may have been the mo-
tive for the crime. nothing but the