The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-01-24

ST. Petersburg, January 19.-The cere~
mony of the blessing of the waters this
year was accompanied by an event more
mysterious, unprecedented and extra"r-
binary than any offered by the annals
of Russian history. For a Russian SOW
ereign to fall by the land of an assas-
sin is no new thing in Russian records,
but that the Emperor should narrowly
sartillery, while he was engaged in a
solemn religious rite, surrounded by
priests of his church, is so difficult TO
realize as to be almost incredible. Yet
this is what happened today and the
Russian public is left wondering ana
mystifed.
BY the merest chance the imperial
family escaped unhurt; but public ppm
ion is stunned by what might have been
the tragic results of the affair.
st. petersburg, Jan. 19.-The festival
Of the Epiphany, the blessing of the
waters, had just concluded at L o'clock
this afternoon when simultaneously
with the salute fired from the st. Peter
and St. Paul. fortress a rain of bullets
swept over the little chapel built ovel
the frozen Neva in front of the winter
palac where Emperor Nicholas and
s every member of the Romanoff family
were participating in the service. The
missiles went high, entering windows
of the splendid row of saloons along
the water front from which the En-
press, the ladies of the court and the
members Of the diplomatic corps and
high dignitaries of the state, army and
navy were witnessing the glltterlng
spectacle below. Fortunately the bull
lets passed over the heads of all present,
striking the opposite wall and clatteT-
ing down on the ~parquetted floor Of the
white salon Everybody had been Ia
boring under a more or less nervous
strain because of the strike situation,
and the windows were hastily vacated
and the greatest excitement relgned
within the palace. Lieutenant General
Fulton, chief of police of st. Petersburg.
himself picked up a missile in the
White salon. 1t was of the size Oh d
birds egg. The police chief was i'm
4 mediately surrounded by officers Of the
y guards who examined the bullet and
expressed the opinion that it a come
from a Shrapnel shell which might ave
been fired from the battery located on
the bourse esplanade and which replied
to the salute of the st. Peter and st.
Paul fortress. explaining that a gun
might have been discharged with a
loaded cartridge by mistake.
In the meantime there was no evil
dence outside of what occurred. The
crowds of people who formed black
lines along the quays, the palace bridge.
the steps of the bourse and every other
point of vantage in the white arctic
landscape did not betray the slightest
excitement. Neither did the imperial
party in the chapel below.
Although the actual ceremony was
ended the Emperor remained and &C
companied the metropolitan and clergy
as they circled the pavilion around the
chapel to bless the gorgeous standards
Of the famOuS Guard regiments assem-
bled there. Then the procession moved.
back to the palace and the original pro-
gramme was carried out. The Emperor
displayed splendid nerve. He did not
show a trace of excitement. He re-
,ceived the diplomats in his usual cor
dial, gentle manner, reviewed the guard
regiments on the square behind the
palace and subsequently, a luncheon
served in the state dining room.
When the correspondent of the Asso-
ciated Press (who was about to go down
to the White salon when one of the mis-
SHE'S flew right over his head left the
&aShce he saw a hole in window of an
.ner salon and holes outside IN the
tstucco of the massive red building.
Additional particulars show that the
Emperor had a miraculous escape.
There is no doubt that the missiles came
from a gun OF the bourse battery which
was loaded with grape, not with shrap-