The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-10

INDICTMENT or
I THE MURDER ERS
-
Details of the Assassination of
Won PIehye.
A SCANDAL IN HIGH LIFE
TIGHT AGAINST AUToCRAcY IN
RUSSIA.
A SCANDAL IN HIGH LIFE

St Petersburg, Dec. 9.-The Indictment
on which Sasoneff. the assassin Of Min
lister OF tho Interior Won PIehve, and
Sikorifsky, his accomplice, will be tried
on Dec. Is, is a formidable document re-
citing the history Of the assassination
plat and details of the crime, and reveal
INF for the first time interesting facts
about the accused and confessions made
10y them winding up with the formal
charge. Tho document. which, has been
shown to the Associated Press. states
that both SasOneff and Sikorifsxy be-
longcd 20 "A fighting organization Of So
cial rev0lutiOnaries. the central commit
tee of which was organized abroad in
l@2. The object OF the organization was
TO overthrow the autOCTacy aud replace
with a republican sOciaiistic regime.
Organized For Murder.
The document describes the manner in
which the party organized secret circles
Tor the distribution of prOclamatiODs or
ganizing the peasants stirring up uni
Nersity students, fOmenting agrarian dis
sensions and also preaching terrorism
and the murder of statesmen who sus-
tanned the autOcracy and took steps to
SUPPRESS political disturbances. 1t lays
the murders of Sipiaguine, Won Plehve's
predecessor in the office of minister of
the interior. and BogdanOvitch. governor
general of Ufa and the attempts on the
lives of Prince John Obolensky. governor
l.
prOcuratOr general of the holy synod at
the door of the fighting organization
which, the document says. condemned
Won PlehYe to death soon after his ap-
p@intment The attempts on Won Piehve' 5
lie were frustrated by the police on
Aprnl -, az the Hotel Dunord, by which
ipkltolott was bloWn-up with a bomb,
= similar TO the one that killed Won Plehve.
Scandal in High Life.
The indictment reveals in this connec-
tton a scandal in high life. room ad-
joining the ore I'm the Hotel Dunord Oc-
Cuped by POkatioff having been occupied
by a naval cadet and a lady of noble
birth. who. however. escaped death by
being At supper at the time.
The execution Of Won Plehve's death
sentence the indictment says, was then
undertaken by Sasoneff a student at
MOSCOW university, and the son Of a
Sfkorifsky. aged %. leather worker Of
Nnyshin. in the province of Grodno.
Sasoneff had been twice tried for treason
able offenses, first in 1900 and again in
Exiled, But Escaped.
On the latter occasion he was exiIed to
4 Siberia for five years. but escaped abroad
on his way into exile The movements of
both the accused showed that murder was
planned for the. occasion of one of Minis
ter Won Plehve's weekly Journeys on
Thursday to the railroad station on the
way 20 Peterhof TO report to the en-
peror-- He had previously made two
trips TO st. Petersburg on Wednesdays.
On Wednesday. July % the day before
the murder he went TO Ostroff Ca sta
ton on the St. Petersburg Warsaw rail-
Wayl, having provided himself with a
cloak of the naval pattern The morning
OF the murder Sasoneff and Sikorifsky
met on bridge over the canal near the
N arsaW station each being armed with
an internal machine. the ingenuity of
which IS minutely described.
Details Of the Murder
The Indictment then describes in detail
The murder Of Won Plehve and bis coach
man; how SasOneff was stationed in
front of the Warsaw hotel and Sikorifsky
beyond the canal bridge, and says the
t3mb struck the carriage between the
minister and the epachulan. killing both
and iniuring eleven others Il also gives
The official account of the wounds in
ihcted upon the minister. According to
lhis account the whole lower part of the
face Was disfigured. both Jaws were brok-
On. splnters from the carriage were i'm
bedded in the face. the upper lip was torn
orr there We're two fractures of the
skull. and the right arm. thigh and thir-
teen ribs were broken.
The interesting fact is revealed that
Sasoneft WAS not recognized as the muir
derer until he regained consciousness and
shouted. Long live the fighting organ
5Zation,"
Boatman Was Bride Proof.
sikorifsky having ascertsined that Won
JlehYe was dead. escaped to OstrOff.
where he took a boat telling the bOatman
u row near the Baltic works. where the
. battleshiD S.aVa was anchored He threw
&rSis bomb into the river and the bOatman
thought ne was attempting TO blow up
the SlaTa. Although the DOatman was
offered ten roubles. he put inshOre and
insisted upon handing over Sikorifsky 10
the police.
his incident gave rise to the report that
an attempt had been made TO destroy the
SILVA. which report was denied the
time by the Associated Press. The whole
narrative, I'M fact confirms the Associ-
ated Press statement regarding the ar
fair. The bomb was subsequently found.
The indictment saws that Sasoneff and
SikOrifsky. after long refusal, confessed,
the former TO the murder and the latter
q an accomplish. SasOneff declared that
: Tho. fighting organization aims TO secure
y political liberty. with tho object of secur-
y Ing social standing and the downfall OF
the existing regime.
Evidence CT the State.
The indictment states that the govern
mcnt undertakes 10 prove tho case As
rccited by the production OF twenty eight
Witnesses III will also place in evidence
publications of the social Revolutionary
party. photographs OF the Hotel Dunord
explosion, q photograph OF the scene OF
the Won PlchYe murder revolutionary
proclamauons subsequently, issued the
proceedings IN the trial Of assassination
of Minister SipiaguiOn and those who at
tempted 10 murder Rogdanovitch. The
Sasoucif and Sikorifsky, for having
formed part, in 1894 of "a secret society
styling Itself the fighting organization OF
The social revolutionary party. the avOwed
object OF which was To forciby change
the existing form OF government in Rus
S7a. overthrow the existing statutes Of the
empire and also murder persons in office
by means Of explosives the same Sason-
eff having OF June 20 deprived NOr
1'iehvc of life by throwing an explosive
engine filled with dynamite. from the ex.
piosion OF which Won Plchvc was killed
and the lives Of others endangered. tho
coachmsn being killed. and injuries beine
inflicted upon several others. but not de
privinC them OF life; said Skorifsky FOR
having on tho same day agreed with the
accused Sasoneff together 10 bring about
The murder Of Won Plehve.T
The Indictment IL dated Nov - and
signed by the prOcuratOr OF the court OF
appeals.
AMENDMENTS CARRIED.
A -, -