Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1910-05-05
RUSSIA AND ROYALTY
! Shadow That Darkens the
 Path of the CzarS.
THE FEAR OF ASSASSINATION
Plots That Were Woven Around Alex. ander IT. and the Bomb That Snat- tered His Body-An Internal Machine That Failed to Kill Alexander III.

That Failed to Kill Alexander ILL. The shadow that falls across the path of the cZars may extend the world round Wherever the ruler of all the Russias may happen to te. there the shadow of fear lies.
 Once in Paris, once in the palace gardens, Alexander II. was fired at. Again in the Winter Palace square one Solorieff. wearing the uniform of HI official, passed the guards one day. and again the cZar was fired upon Alexander ran for the palace. Solo. ref followed him and fired three times The czar ran in zigzags. how ever. and so escaped. Not long after ward two mines were laid to blow up the imperial train. One did not ex- plode. but the second wrecked the train. Once more the cZar escaped. Watching eyes had saved him, their owners having persuaded the ruler to take another train.
 Later Alexander II. owed his life to the fact that he came late to func= ton at the palace. A bomb blew clean out a large portion of the imperial resi- dence but the czar was not present.
 But of all the attempts on the lives of Russias rulers two stand out most clearly for their amazing ingenuity. One tells the story of little unpre- tentious shop in Malaja Sadovaja street. KoboZeff, 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 thoroughfares 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 his purvevcrs and was most affable and apparently harmless.
 The dealer inspired confidence, and his custom increased gradually. No wonder. for most of the parcels that 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 thoroughfare and mine laid be- heath 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 ments by going off to lunch with the Grand Duchess Catherine Michaelovna.
 Among those who were watching on behalf of the terrorists was beauti- ful girl-a countess. too-named Pe- rcvskaya. It was she who. seeing the altered arrangements, gave warning. The czar would return to the palace another way. Along this route four men carrying bombs were stationed. One threw his. Men and horses were killed all oround, but the czar stepped from his coach unscathed. 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 in his book. Tragic Russia" '"The czar fell as if cut by scythe. His legs were shattered to pieces" So died the czar who had escaped as by miracle many times.
 Alexander III. followed. and there were attempts upon his life. The fourth was one of the most sensa- tional in the entire list of nihilist plots.
 On bright autumn day the impe- rial train travelled at full speed on the track we'll 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 1t when an assistant was taken i'll.
 The court physician attended the fever. with symptoms of some ine1- plicable 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 l Borki tr" cling at the speed of eighty kilomeler> aa hour. Then the cleo trical h,'. notified the cook that the imreria finily were ready for lunch | con. A .ew seconds after the bell sounde" terrific noise was heard. and a "i"!ent explosion changed in the twinkIing of an eye the luxurious im- l perial train into a heap of broken Iron. of wrecked cars, of mutilated corpses. enveloped in smoke and made all the more narrowing by the moan ing and cries for help of the wounded Yet the czar escaped The dining room car that the nihilists had ins tended should be grave for the czar. ! his family and his suit saved him, for 1 although its roof and floor were wrecked its sides were preserved They inclined toward the center. prop ped each other like two cards and re- mained in that position, protecting those who were there from being