New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-08-09
THE LOOT Of MOSCOW
To Be Recovered from the Bed
of the BereSina.

rmpcror Nicholas has just given orders
,.- the beginning of a piece of work
Itch cannot but excite the most eX-
'.aordinarv interest both here and in Eu-
enc II is siugularly appropriate that
,his enterprise should be begun this fall,
- ,uet one hundred years will then have
.,onscd since the treasure of the Imperial
palace Of the Kremlin, of the churches,
Tho ,nonasterics and the palaces Of the
,,tat mobiles at Moscow. which had been
'arried off by Napoleon and his Grande
,r,,sc. when the city burst into flames,
core lost i'm their greater part beneath
.bo cracking ice of the Beresina.
These treasures filed innumerable four
.ons even those that should have been
5syo,cd to the transport of the sick and
wounded being ruthlcssly pressed into ser
vice. as well as the caissons of the ar
,ulerv. OF course, the knapsacks of the
soldiers. the travelling carriages Of the
grsst digitaries Of the imperial entour-
age. and the saddle rolls of the cavalry,
were filled 10 overlooking with loot. Every
resdcr Of history will recall now when
,hs rctrcating grand armec reached the
banks Of the Beresina. it was found that
The Russians had burned the bridge. the
niles Of which may still he seen at very
low water.
Immediately the French engineer and
,ontoou corps were set to work TO con-
struct now ones. under the personal direC-
ton % tho Emperor. who watched the
work day and night encouraging the men
sboring half naked In the broken water
and hinderng floating ice. one of those
bridges. opposite the village OF Boily. was
reserved for the infantry: the other. a
little lower down, on a level with the
Village of Stoudienks, was for the cav
airy and wagon trains. and the sbas
Of the two villages were destroyed To get
the wooden beams required for their con-
struction.
Napoleon was one OF the first to cross
and thus escaped the terrible panic which
ensued on the same afternoon and follow
ing day. when. pressed by the relentless
Cossack cavalry and mown down by Rus
sian guns from the low hills behind. the
Grand srmee lost all semblance of order.
The rout and "sauve qui peut" which then
began-cavalry, artillery. treasure wag-
ons infantry. all attempting TO crowd
upon the narrow bridges at the same time
has been described by pen and brush
many time. but quite inadequately. For
under such weight and attacked on all
sides. first one bridge gave way, precpi-
tsting thousands into the terrible Bore
sina, while all who were trapped on the
eastern bank piled pell-mell on the re-
naming bridge, which yielded. too. the
number of lost being estimated altogether
at twenty thousand.
In 1878 an attempt was made to recover
some Of the treasure, but before it had
been in progress more than few days
It was learned that the non-commissioned
officers and men employed there were
selling to the neighboring land owners all
sorts OF costly objects. many Of them
being church vessels. crosses and icons,
at mere nominal prices. Work was i'm
medately stopped. naturally. and the Gull
prts punished.
Two years later a flotills Of those mar
row log-rafts in which timber is con-
vsyed down the Boresina became strand
ed owing to unacCountable banks of mud
Just where the loot of the grande armee
had disappeared. Before the river had
resumed It's normal level the RATS, which
10 avoid the shadows have only a depth
Of q couple Of feet at the most, had been
caught and had become firmly Embedded
IN the mud, and sank deeper and deeper
with the passage Of time.
TO-DAY it appears that they form a sort
oi broken tmber mattress over the lost
treasures Of Moscow. concealed in its turn
ny heavy deposits of mud and Of sand.
in 1895 the government at the instance Of
Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolalvitch, who
oEns some property in the district, set
oredes 10 work. but while II brought 20
Inc surface quantity Of small valuable
objects and Of bones. It was unable really
10 penetrate the now interviewer mattress
Of deep sunken wood filaments. The mat
ter Was then referred 10 q commission,
presided over by the grand duke Things,
however move slowly in Russia. Besides.
there have been internal Instructions,
the war with Japan and other matters to
occupy the attention OF the authorities,
70 II is only recently that the commission
Presented IT'S report 10 the Emperor eX-
paining Al great length the means de-
Nsed by engineers for removing the OBJ
strucuon and recovering all that lies be-
meath. Gar Nicholas, immensely inter
sstsd, has given orders that the work
shall begin with as little delay as pos-
able, and the operations are 10 be started
u the course Of the present month.
Naturally the undertaking arouses no
Where so much interest as in Moscow,
whose ecclesiastical authorities hope TO
regain priceless altar furniture and his
toric objects long since deemed irrevoca-
bly, lost.