The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-01-20
EARLY DETAILS OF ATTEMPT.
Policeman Reported Killed and officer
and Marines Wounded.

and Marines Wounded.
st. Petersburg, Jan. 1S.-The car and
other members of the Romanoff family,
and other important personages, had a
narrow escape from death to-day from
a charge of grapeshot which was fired
from a gun of saluting battery on
the Bourse Esolanade at the close Of
the ceremonial OF blessing the waters
of the Neya, in front of the winter pal
ace. At first it was supposed that the
affair was an accident, and that no one
was injured, but this evening 1t is
known that policeman was killed an
an officer and three marines were
wounded, and it is believed that the fir
ing of the deadly charge was the carry
ing out of a deeply laid plot against the
car, in which artillerymen were en-
listed. -. .+,..s
The ceremony Of the blessing of the
waters was held in connection with the
feast of the Epiphany. 1t had just con-
cluded in front of the winter palace at
/ o'clock this afternoon, when simulta-
neously with the salute fired from the
st. Peter and st. Paul fortress, a show
er of bullets, swept over the little
chapel built over the frozen .Neva in
front of the palace, where Emperor
Nicholas and other members of the
Romanoff family wer participating in
the service. Some Of the missiles went
high, entering windows of the row of
splendid salons facing the waterfront,
from which the empress, the ladies of
the COURT, the members Of the diplo-
matte corps, including Ambassador
Mccormick, Secretary Eddy, and Sec
ond Secretary Bliss, and all the high
dignitaries Of the state, army and navy
were witnessing the spectacle below.
Fortunately, these bullets passed over
the heads of all present, striking the
opposite wall, and Gathering down on
the floor of the White salon. p,
The first impression of those who
heard the crash was that it was due to
falling crystals from the chandeliers,
caused by conclusion from the booming
guns. Nearly everybody recently has
been under a nervous strain particu-
larly since the serious developments of
| the strike situation, and when the truth
was realized the windows were hastily
vacated and the greatest excitement
reigned within the palace.
| Lieutenant General Fulton, chief of
police of St. Petersburg, picked up a
bullet the size of a birds egg in the
| White Salon. He was immediately sur
rounded by officers of the Guards, who
examined it and expressed the opinion
| that 1t had come from shrapnel shell
| which might have been fired from the
battery on the Bourse Esplande, which
| replied to the salute of the st. Peter
and st, Paul fortress. 1t was then sug-
gested that the gun might have been
charged with a loaded cartridge by
mistake.
There was at first no evidence outside
that any one knew what had occurred
The crowds of people who formed blacl
lines along the quays, the Palace bridge,
the steps of the Bourse and every other
! point of vantage in the wintry land
scape did not betray the slightest ex-
citement. Neither did the imperial par
| tys in the chapel below. Although the
actual ceremony was ended, the car re-
| NAMED and accompanied the metropoli-
tan and clergy as they circled the pa
| vilion around the chapel to bless the
standards of the famous Guard regi-
| ments assembled there.
| Additional particulars which leaked
out later showed that the car had a
remarkable escape. There remained nc
doubt that the missiles came from a
gun of the Bourse battery, which was
| loaded with grape. Some of the bullets
! actually struck the little open chapel in
| which the emperor was standing, cut
! the staff of one of the standards and
fairly riddled the basement windows Of
| the palace. Here the policeman was
killed and the officer and three marines
| wounded. Had the gun been aimed q
little lower the charge might have
wiped out most of the Romanoff fam
lily.
1t develops that one of the bullets
which entered the Nicholas hall, where
1 the diplomats were, struck down a gold
ell plate from the wall. Many of the
diplomats, however, did not suspect the
cause of the fall OF the plate until aft
| erwards, although they noticed that
something unusual had happened, espe
cially at the reception, which did not
take place in the hall where it generally