New-York tribune., 1906-06-16
AssASSINATING A DUMMY.

Each attempt upon the life of an Old World
rer serves 70 recall to my mind the extraordinary
story Of the Nihilist Solovief, who suffered death
on the galows for shooting at dummy Of Alex
snder Il The latter toward the close of his reign.
had lost lHs nerve. owing 10 the frequency of the
attempts made upon his life. and had announced
70 MS encourage that he had made up his mind
20 give uo the custom of his daily drive through
the streets OF St. Petersburg the ground that
be hated driving, hated saluting and hated bein!
stared
General Count Alexander Alderberg I'd. who was
e. the tine the Minister and Chief OF the Imperial
Household, as we'll as hts chief confidant and al
wiser represented TO him how unwise II would be
&c disappoint the people. Finding the Car obsti-
nate. he conceived the idea Of a waXen figure.
made in the likeness of his master, with practical
FONTS worked by interior mechanism 1t was SO
cOnstructed by an English firm that, when wound
gg # turned its head slowly from side to aide.
With a slight bend of the body raising its hand
salute 1t was an admirable likeness and quite
trAcieut 10 deceive the subjects of the Gar. es-
pscalv as the imperial carriage was always dri7en
tearing gallop. almost surrounded by an escort
ccossacas.
Emperor In his daily drives. and il this dummy
;hat received fair in the breast the bullet of the
pistol fred by the nihilist would-be assassin.
solovien. An inch lower down and II would have
mashed and stopped the mechanism. AS IL was.
the dummy continued TO bow and salute just as if
nothing had happened, and Reuters correspondent,
IL describing the affair for the foreign press over
the wires that evening, wrote follows:
luckily the Emperor, who was accompanied as
usual, by General Count Adlerberg. was untouched
As 50 often happens IN such cases, the asss ssln
doubtless through excitement. entirely missed his
aim The remarkable thing was the seoolness. and and
tyncng the slightest alarm he continued TO salute
@ s at ali had fT haPpene haseF in S the o aternoon
when the news Of the attempt on his life had
q the Winter Palace. and the car in answer to
theI continuous cheers at length appeared on the
Balcony and bowed repeatedly.
OF course. # was the Emperor in flesh and blood
who appeared on the balcony. The only sufferer.
therefore, IN this whole affair the would-be as
sessn. For only did he get credit for his
colness and courage. and for the excellence of his
sr, but he suffered death the gallows for hav-
hg after ALL done nothing worse than shoot at a
dummy. But il would have been impossible to let
hin Of without revealing the whole truth.
To those TO whom this story may sound incredi-
be would merely recall the fact that the Sultan.
Until the death Of his fosterbrother the other day.
vas frequently represented by the latter when
or'Ving through the streets on Friday to the
mosque for weekly prayers. The two men bore
sueh striking resemblance 10 each other that
j was almost impossible to distinguish between
hen and IL is well known at Constantinople that
whenever Abdul Hamid alng, felt his
nerves more than usually unstrung he would de-
pu'e his foster brother. who Of his con-
aoenial attendants. take his place in the i'm
penal equipage for the drive 10 and from the
mosque, and 10 acknowledge the salUtations of the
Nools and Of the populace. In fact IL not
eu-A after the ceremony was over, and the Sultan
Asa made Up his mind whether not he would
grant audience 10 the foreign diplomats and visit
O's witnessing the Salamlik, that could feel
cute sure whether the crowd had been rendering
oDlsance 70 the Sultan himself his double.
ana Il q double. why dummy at St
se'eFs0uFg. in the reign OF the Inflated Alexan-