Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-08-05
RUSSIAN MINISTER
VICTIM OF ASSASSIN
Won PIehwe, Head of Russia's
interior Bureau, Killed
With a Bomb.
WAS A M~UcH-HATED MAN
Regarded es the Most Determined
Enemy of the Common People.
and at the Same Time as the
Power Behind Throne.

ST Petersburg, July S~0-Minister
OF the interior Non Plehwe was
assassinated at 10. o'clock Thurs
day morning while driving to
the Baltic station to visit the
emperor at the Peterhof palace. A
carriage, completely shattering 1t, ter
ribly mangling NJ. Won Piehwe, and
killing the coachman, h horses run
ming away. 1t is said the assassin was
a Jew. He was arrested, but declines
to give his name.
Immediately there ensued a scene OF
the widest confusion. Police and gen.
darmes hurried up from every direc-
ton and vast crowds gathered about
the spot where the mangled body of
the minister lay weltering in blood.
The Associated Press correspond
ent vas at the scene of the
tragedy within five minutes after
the tragedy occurred. Won Plehwe's
shockingly mangled body was lying in
the middle of the road. partially COW
cred with a policeman's o%vercoat. with
the left arm, the bone of which was
broken off, projecting.
Remains AwfulIy Mutilatcd.
The minister's head was battered al
most beyond recognition. and the road
way was strewn for 100 yards with the
wreckage OF the carriage. A few yards
from Plehwe's body. in a shapeless
heap. lay The coachnan's remains.
The tragedy occurred on Zalalkonski
Prospect. a broad thoroughfare leading
up to the Warsaw depot. The bomb
thrower must have known perfectly
well that Won Plehwe would pass the
spot in the morning. for the minister
makes his report to the emperor every
Thursday.
The infernai machine was thrown
with deadly accuracy. The explosion
was terrific. practically a~nnihilating the
woodwork OF the carriage. The min
listers servant, who was also on the
carriage box. was badly wounded. and
two officers who were driving by in a
cab were injured by flying splinters.
The assassin himself was wounded I'm
one eye. He took to fight but was soon
overtaken and arrested.
News of the tragedy spread like Wild
fire throughout the city, causing con-
sternation everywhere. The emperor
was greatly affected by the news, com
ing as it did on top of bad tidfngs from
the seat OF war and fears of interna-
tional complications. and the strain in
cident upon the hourly expectation of
an event so close to a fathers heart.
The emperor almost broke down when
he was informed OF his minister's muir
der. Whatever may have been the mo-
tive for the crime, nothing but the ut
most Indignation and condemnation OF
the assassin's act is voiced every
where.
After the body had been viewed by
the official correspondents TO the Amer
lean coroner 1t was taken by gendarmes
10 the residence of the deceased. adj
joining the ministry OF the interior. The
ri rcf htrprfad fnunvfiooffnp ~, fho -
lice seemed to connec crime with the
plot which was frustrated by the ex-
plosion at the Hotel De Nord on April
Is. In which KaZanoff. one of the con-
s~pirators. was killed by the accidental
explosion of an internal machine which
II was said was intended for Won
Plehwe. 1t is reported thai six men
Were implicated and that ave of them
fled into a little hotel adjoining the
secene of the assassination. The hotel
surrounded by the police and all the in
mates arrested.
The wounded man, who is said to be
a Jew. was taken to the Alexander hos
pital, so daZed he was unable to speak.
His condition Is accounted for by the
fact that he took poison Immediately
after throwing the bomb. According to
a later o the bomb was thrown
from a window of the Warsaw and Won
Piehwe's head was torn off. There were
only W conspirators, according to this
version, one of whom threw the bomb
from the window and then boIted.
Wnen captured another poms is said
to have been found in his pocket.
Won Plehwe was appointed minister
OF the interior on April IS. 1902. sue
ceeding NJ. Sipiaguine. who was as
s~assinated April 16.
In May, 1903, Plehwe was appointed
president OF the imperial commission
appointed to carry out the emperor's
reform decree.
Piehwe was a scholar, but from
youth he had been brought up in Off
cial circles and had slowly but surely
pushed himself ahead. Ee was aged
about 6s.
He Is said to have regarded the COM
mon people as either dangerous Grim
inals, to be repressed, OIL as innocents,
to be ignored. Plehwe Was largely OF
Polish blood, vet 1t Is alleged, that nc
man in Russia has so signalized him
self for severity against the Firms as
Plehwe, He was regarded as being
In many ways the power behind the
throne, and was dreaded on account
of his control of the secret section OF
the police and the press of Russia,
through the censors. wlait has been
understood did Plehwe's aiding with
out question.
An Anarchists Crime.
The assassin was dressed in the uni
form OF a Warsaw railway guard. He
was q comparatively young man. He
was wounded In the abdomen by q
splinter and underwent a successful OPP
Grafton. When throwing the bomb he
shouted:
Long live freedom with little Rus
sian accent. His nam has not been
ascertained and the prisoner told the
police he had no accompiices.
AZ was established. however. that the
assassin Is n o a Jew. as at first re-
ported.
Altogether fourteen outsiders Were
injured by the explosion. The bomb
was filed with nails. The crime Is be-
li0ved to be the outcome OF the interna-
tional anarchist movement with which
-Gerschunin, the Russian revolutionary
thgttator, who, II is asserted. was the
organizer OF the murder of ii. Boao-
tepoif, formerly Russian minister Of
public Instruction, and OF M. Sipia-
xuine, minister Of the interior before
Plehwe. was connected.