Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-21
HON0RS. TO TOLSTO|
Russian Duma Adjourns Out of
Respect to His Memory.
DECIDED AFTER WRANGLE
Action Held by Extremists to Be
Challenge to the Greek Church.
BODY Is TAKEN TO YASNAYA
Funeral Will Be Held Tomorrow,
With Burial at Old Home Un-
der Poverty Tree"

ST. PETERSBURG, November 21.-The
duma adjourned todays session out OF
respect for Count Leo Tolstoi, who died
at Astapova yesterday. The decision to
adjourn was reached only after a
wrangle, the members of the extreme
right contending that to honor Count
Tolstoi would be TO challenge the Greek
Catholic Church. 1t also was asserted
that the duma was a state institution TO
which the count was especially opposed.
In proposing the adjournment the presi-
dent eulogized Tolstoi. whom he described
as the pride of Russia and the glory of
mankind" adding: May the merciful
God open to him the kingdom of heaven"
Many societies and organizations are
preparing to send deputations to the fu-
nera'.
ASTAPOVA, November 21.-A special
train bearing the body of Count Leo Tol-
stoi to Yasnaya Poliana, the family es-
tate in the government of Tula, left here
at 3:05 o'clock this afternoon.
The countess and the other members
of the family and intimates who were
here when the author died yesterday ac-
companied the body, and the newspaper
correspondents were also accommodated
ON the train
Due Early in Morning.
y halt for the night will be made a,
the railway junction at Gorbatchevo, and
the train is due at Zaseika, the station
near iasnaya Poliana, early tomorrow
forenoon. The distance from the depot
20 the Tolstoi home is not great and the
81 Of tn Rms cnSfO
probably Will be borne to the house on
the shoulders of the mourners.
Since early morning the countess had
sat in the statIOnmaster's hut, where
her husband died, With her head bowed
upon the casket and weeping. She ap-
peared not to notice the derile Of peasants
admitted to the death chamber and quit
ted her position only when M. GunzDerg,
the sculptor, came TO take a death mask.
Leonido Pasternak, the portrait painter,
sketched the scene. This was as simple
as 1oistoi could have wished. rhe body
reposed in a plain oak coffin. at the foot
of which few wreaths of fir, emblem
attic of Immortality. had been placed. The
platform of the railway station was COW
cred with ir boushs spread by the peas
ants Of the neighbOrhood.
The Stationmaster has consented to the
transfer of his humble home, in which the
count died, to Yasnaya Poliana, where.
together with its furniture. it will become
q part Of the proposed Tolstoi museum.
Peasants Mourn at Bier.
Peasants all day long passed through
the death chamber hung with pine
boughs, where the body of Count Leo
Tolstoi lies. Many Of them knelt beside
his bier. The silence at times was
broken by chants for the repose of the
soul of the deal. Countess Tolstoi sat
beside the body for hours, often kissing
the face. THE light of the world is
out she said repeatedly.
She left the hut only to attend mathis
in the school chapel. expecting that
requiem would be sung. When informed
that this was not permitted she tainted.
Tolstoi left a written wish that he be
buried without pomp. wreaths or rites
under Poverty Oak, on a htlOck at
Yasnaya Poliana, where he played as
child, and where the peasants were ac-
customed to congregate. The funeral will
be held tomorrow, and the police have
been mobilized to prevent public demon
strations.
The crowd that gathered around the
hut where Tolstoi lay dying in the early
Sunday morning hours awaited breath
lessly the verdict of DIR. Thtchurovsky
and Dr. Usoff. two of the leading heart
specialists of Moscow. who had been hur-
riedly called into consultation. The for
mer had carried Tolstoi safely through
a similar crisis i'm 1901 in Crimea. and the
hopes of the people rested OH him.
The examination was brief, lasting less
than half an hour. Tolstoi failed to rec
ognize either of the physicians and ask
ed who are these strangers?"
When informed, he said, What fine
men,"
Unconscious When Death Comes.
He died without regaining conscious
ness In the interval between the last
two attacks Of cardiac failure the patient
was clear Of pain.
Throughout a heart-breaking night a
motley crowd, made up of the most va
ried elements imaginable. pressed around
the low hut. There were distant rela-
tiyes of the aged author. TOlstOians, viii
layers, and many churchmen, among
them the Abbot VarsofOnius, who did not
lose hope until the end OF seeing Tolstoi
and extending to him the olVe branch on
behalf of the church.
All alike stood spelbound, knowing that
q matchless personality was departing as
the Sunday dawn dispelled the foggy raw
population Of Astapova was there. Then
a voice from the hut came quietly, Leo
Nicholaevich is dead.
There was moment or silence. Then
every head was barred and there were
sounds everywhere of sobbing.
one called out His heart was burst
by his unbounded love for humanity
and this and similar phrases ran from
mouth to mouth through the weeping 8
Russians gathered there.
The Body Embalmed.
Later in the day all the peasants in the
district fiocked here. None was excluded
from the death chamber. through which
there was a constant stream of visitors
including many school children. The
ho,iv has been embalmed. All visitors
have been given permission to photo
graph the body II they wish. NJ. Gunz-
berg. the sculptor, will take death
Friends of the dead writer have started
movement for the acquisition of the
house where he died. a national me-
Grand Duke Nicholas Michaelovitch has
cent a message to Countess Tolstoi saw
ing my whole soul Is with you and your
family at this sad moment" Numerous
other kilograms of sympathy have come
from organizations and individuals
Judge Landis Postpones Hearing.
| . cIIcAGO November 21,-Judpe lands