Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-09-15
RUSSIA AND ROYALTY
A Shadow That Darkeas ths
 Path of the Czars.
THE FEAR OF AsskSS!NATION
Plots That Were Woven Around Alex snder II. and the Bomb That Shat tered His Eody-An lnfernaI Machine That Failed to Kill Alexander Iii.


 tered His Eody-An lnfernaI Machine
 That Failed to Kill Alexander Iii.
 The shadow that falls across the path of the ears may extend the worl,! round Wherever tLe ruler of all the Russias may happen to te, there the shadow of f1ar lies.
 Once in Paris, once in the palace gardens, Alexander H. was fired at Again in the Winter Palace square pne SolorieH. wearing the uniform of an official. passed the guards one day. and again the cZar was fired upoH. Alexander ran for the palace Solo, ref followed him and fired three times. The cZar ran jn ZgZags how ever. and so escaped. Not long after ward two mines were laid to blow up tbe imncri;sl train. One did not ex- plode. hut the second wrecked the train Once more the cZar escaped Watching eyes had saved Eisa. their owners having persuaded the ruler to take another train.
 Later Alexander II. owed his life to the fact that he came late to Il func- tion at the palace, A bomb blew clean out a large portion of the imperial resi- dence, but the cZar was not present.
 But of Ill the attempts on the lives of Russia's rulers two stand out most clearly for their amazing ingenuity. One tells the story of a little unpre- To; Soln ,io street. I<obozeff. then unknown to the police, took the shop and set out to impress the police, who were al- ways making sudden Inspections of premises along the thurOughfares through which Alexander II. passed. that he was nothing but a provision dealer Nearly every one in that street was paid spy. but kobozeff joked with his customers, pleased bis purveyors and was most affable and apparently harmless.
 The dealer inspired confidence. and his custom increased gradually. No wonder, for most of the parcels tEat his customers were carrying away by day contained nothing but earth earth that during the night hours had been scraped by the man and his wife from beneath the street. It was by such ingenious method that tun- nel was hollowed and cleared under the thoroushfare and a mine laid be, meath the way the cZar often passed, an innocent couch upon which the housewife slept covering the entry to the tunnel.
 Yet all the work was useless. On the day the scheme was to be carried out the czar upset all the arrange :nents by going off to lunch with the Grand Duchess Catherine Michaelovna. Among those who were watching on behalf of the te,rorsts was beauti- rcl cirl-a countess. too named i's- rcYSl:ara. It was she who. seeing the altered arrangements. gave warning Thc czar would return to the palace enothe: way. Along this route four men carrying bombs were stationed. One threw his Men and horses were killed all around but the czar stepped from his coach unsettled. A second man holding a bomb came forward and threw it. "This time the effect was awful" says Waclaw Gasiorow- ski, who describes the incident iD bis book. Tragic Russia" "rhe czar fell as if cut by a scythe. His legs were shattered to pieces" So died the czar who had escaped as by a miracle many times.
 Alexander III. followed. and there were attempts upon his life. The fourth was one of the most sensa- tiona! in the entire list of nihi!ist plots On a bright autumn day the impe- rial train travelled at full speed CD the track well guarded by soldiers. It waS toward noon The imperial family were in the dining car. where lunch was about to be served. The cook and his help were making the last prepara- tions for it when an assistant was taken ill.,
 The court physician attended the man and. having stated that he had fever. with symptoms of some mex plicabe ailment decided that the man could not remain in the imperial train and he was left at the next station.
 The train moved forward toward Borki. travelling at the speed of eighty kilometers an hour. Then the cleo trical bell notified the cook that the imperial family were ready for lunch con. A few seconds after the bel sounded a terrific noise was heard and a violent explosion changed in th( twinkling of &:2 eye tue luxurious in perial train into a heap of broke! iron. of wrecked cars. of mu.ilatet corpses. enveloped in smcke and mad all the more narrowing by the moan ing and cries for help of the wounded Yet the cZ"r escaped. The dinin room car that the nihilistS had in tended should be grave for the cZal his family and his suit saved him. fo