The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-24
NICHOLAS LIVES
 ON SPECIAL TRAIN Steam Always Up Ready to
 Depart Instantly SLEEPS FIVE HOURS War Has Made Grand Duke Nicholas Hero of the Day-Innumerable
 Anecdotes Are Related
 of Him

Petrograd, July 1.-(Correspondence of the Associated Press )-The head
 quarters of the Grand Duke Nicholas
 is on board a special train of six cars in which he jumps from one field of activity to another at frequent inter
 vals as the necessities of strategy dic- tate.
 Sometimes the train stands on the same siding for fortnight at a time, some times only for an hour, but at all
 times the locomotive has steam up, ready at an instants notice to be "n
 the way again. It is in this moving habitation that the commander-in-ch in chief of the Russian armies spends practi- cally all his nights and a considerable proportion of his days
 He has also a fixed headquarters To- cated fare behind the lines in little cated far behind the lines in little has never yet aroused the curiosity of the German areoplane or Zeppelin scouts. The place is we'll but unos- tentatiously guarded.
 The grand dukes train consists of new locomotive. a sleeping car, a dining car parlor car and an ordi-
 nary first class coach, followed by two baggage vans, each containing a high
 powered motor car which can be quick ly unloaded and used for trips to points not reached by the railroad lines. Whenever the train stops sentries with fixed bayonets take their places silent ly at each doorway and at the front and rear. By night the train runs without any lights visible from out
 side, except the necessary signal lamps. The commander -in- chief and his staff. behind curtained windows S,
 H. Irt1 tx.4, .,tx vt,@ .l duke seldom retires before midnight
 and four or five hours is as much as
 he allows himself for sleep.
 Throughout the empire the war nas made the grand duke the great popular hero of the day. His lofty stature, his fearless honesty. his sharp naughty se- verity his reputation for firmness and justice, his strict adherence to disc.- pline are all qualities which appeal to the popular mind more directly in time of war than in peace. Innumerable an- ecdotes are related of him and on all sides one may hear the hope ex- pressed that he will go into politics after the war and rid the country of some of the obvious drawbacks of the | old bureaucracy. But those close to the grand duke say that he has no in- l clination for politics. and many doubt whether the qualities which make hinl | a popular idol as commander in chief would appear with equal advantage fl his sphere of action were political
 rather than military.
 l One of the grand dukes pet aversicns l Is the Germano- Russian population of
 the country, which Is particularly mum
 erous and influential in the northwest and is also rather firmly established | in Petrograd. Many of the Russo-Ger-
 mans are excellent citizens and unques- l tionably loyal to Russia; many others however, are either admittedly pro- German or of doubtful loyalty. The i grand duke has been the chief packer
 of the campaign which has recently been carried out in Petrograd agalrs'
 this class of citizens. It is said that the grand duke recently remarked tc his nephew, the Czar. You may fec quite at ease with regard to the Ger mans at the front. will undertake tc 1 give them a thorough beating. l only | wish YOU could be sure that the enemy
 in your own court would be as well 1 handled"