Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1906-09-21
DEATH OF CEN. TREPOFF.
MOST HATED AGENT OF THE GAR
is DEAD IN HIS VILLA
AT PETERHOF.
WAS A NATURAL DESPOT.
Father Scorned as Much Before as Son
Was in Recent Years-Czar
Thought Much of Him.

ST. PETERSBURG. Sept. 1I.-Gen.
TrepoF, the most hated agent OF the
Car, died Saturday evening i'll his villa
at Peterhof. The cause of death is Of
fcially announced as angina pectoris. 1t
is popularity believed, however, that
Trepoff was a victim of poison admin
iStered several weeks ago as Climax
of a terrorist plot.
On August - Trepof was taken VIC
lently i'll. On the same day his cook
and three other servants were thrown
into prison. Trepoff had been i'll since
that date, but not confined to his room.
On last Wednesday he was present at
the parade of the PaYlOysky regiment,
and on Thursday he was present at the
landing stage when the Gar and fam
lily embarked on the royal yacht for a
cruise in French waters.
Trepoff a Natural Despot
Gen. Dmitri Feodorvich Trepoff was
police spy, not a soldier, as his title
implied. His name was indelihly linked
with reaction and oppression in Russia.
In many respects he was remarkable
man. He was natural deSpot. a tyrant
by inclination. education and conviction.
He was one of those men who have cOo-
stantly appeared, like evil geniuscs, iii
Russian history.
1t was Trepoff who became the guild
ing spirit OF the reaction after Nicholas
ii. had issued his famous manifesto i'll
the fall of 1905, promising the people
share in the government.
Like his father before him, TrepOff
was Il police master With all that the
name involved in Russia, and the story
of father and son is full of dramatic
incidents. The elder was found one
morning as a baby upon the back door
step Of a German family, by whom he
il
name of Trepp-hof German for door
step Yard.
Father Hated Before Him.
The father entered the Russian serv-
ice as an agent of the famous third
section and in the late '10s it was to
him that Alexander H. contided the task
of unearthing and running down the
terrorists who were plotting against his
life. The fight between liberalism and
reaction then, as later under Trepoff's
son. was in full swing. and then, as
later, the energies of the police We're
directed against the student agitation.
1t was the elder Trepolf whom Vera
Sassulitch tried to assassinate on Febru-
airy ), 1873.
Dmitri followed his fathers footsteps
in the police department. He attracted
the attention of Sergius, then governor
general of Moscow, and by him was
named police master of Moscow. Trep-
off soon became Sergius' right arm III
fighting the revolutionary student agi-
tation.
As project of the Moscow police Trep-
off proved himself a master of espionage
and intrigue, but incompetent in the po-
lice regulation.
Trepoff's rule was so despotic, so
cruel. so inconsiderate, that he incurred
the enmity of the mobiles, who regarded
| him with contempt, and of the people.
who looked upon him with hatred. Six
times did he escape assassination, and
he boosted that his was charmed life.
Car Calls Trepoff.
When, early in January, 1905. the Car
took from Grand Duke Sergius the gov
ernorship of Moscow. Trepoff found him
self without an occupation. for he was
dismissed. Then came the massacre of
January %. and the Gar and the grand
dukes decided to place ST Petersburg
under the rule of a virtual dictator. Ire
poff was selected, and he was installed
in the winter palace, where he ruled like
ear. He was given the title first of
chief of police, then later chief of the
Russian secret police. He had full com
mand of the military in the st. Peters
burg district. All civil officials were
made responsible to him.
But with Trepoff in the saddle the aspect
of affairs changed. Troops filled the
streets and dead walls were placarded
with notices that the slightest disorder
would be suppressed without mercy.
Many Plots to Kill Him.
During those trying weeks plot after
plot to kill him was discovered and frus.
trated Two of his own nieces We're in
yolved i'll one conspiracy They attempt
ed to execute the sentence of the terror
lists. But in his dungeonlike room in the
center of the palace, where no bomb
could reach him save by SCATTERING a
dozen walls, with the telephone con
stantly at his side, he issued orders and
received reports.
question. He had almost a contempt
for death. Finally the Gar was com
PEELED to yield to popular clamor and
take from Trepoff the dictatoriaI powers
he had been intrusted with. Still the
Gar was made to believe TrepOff alone
was capable of safeguarding the lives of
himself and the imperial family. And
so he retired to Tzarskoe-Sel0 to become
master of the palace.
In all six actual attempts on the life
of Gen. Trepof have been made within
the last three years. and only last July
Gen. Kozloff of the headquarters staff
was assassinated at Peterhof by ter
rOrist who believed he was firing upon
Trepoff. But Trepoff escaped the bomb
and the bullet only. as popularity be-
i4thSu, " Ian ii NlcIlui 10 poison.
His Death Was Painless
The death of Gen. Trepoff took place
between and 8 O'Clock Saturday night. !
At 6 o'clock he told his wife he felt
tired and would rest on the sofa in his
private cabinet. He asked that he be i
called at O'Clock. When his valet en-
tered the room at that hour he found
his master dead. The body already was
cold. The features were tranquil. in |
dicating the general passed away pain !
lessly.
1t was known for two weeks that since
the Gar relieved Gen. Trepoff of his |
functions as governor of the palace at
Peterhof his condition had been grave
Gen. De Dioulin Succeeds
Gen. De Dioulin, former project of st. !
Petersburg, will succeed the late Gen.
Trepof as commandant of the impe-
rial palace.
The police at Warsaw Sunday d,s- |
covered the headquarters of the revo-
lutionaries in Leznos street. and seized |
q supply of bombs and weapons and i'm
6QpumpptS Two +orroriStS