Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-03
RASPUTTN'S DEATH
ENDS INTRIGUES
Staying of Monk Closes Life
of Conspiracy and
Mystic Power
NoBLEMEN ASSASSINS
Act Believed to Be Connected
With Treachery of Pro-
3 Germans


LONDON. Jan 3.
As details continue to come In from Pet
.ograd about the violent death Of the Rus
Fan monk Rasputin. they weave themselves
into tale which rivals the most fantastic
Piece Of fiction
Rasputn who ls said to be the conressor
Of both the Russian car and the C2arna,
f. now reported 10 have been slain by
Russian nobleman To hide scandal I'M
volving powerful members of the Russian
court
The body was hidden In the Neya River
but was later recovered
on Friday night two young men both
members Of the highest circles of Russian
nobility, accompanied by another whose
rame is said to be notorious throughout
the Russian Empire for his iutriEues drove
In limousine TO a house owned by Prince
Yusupoff Sumaro<on Eston. About
O'Clock on Saturday morning shots were
heard in the garden OF the house. Soon
Pfterward two big motorcars drove up to
the house, one passing into the garden
The authorities, having been Informed Of
the shooting went 20 the place and upon i'm
vestigation found blood upon the snow No
body was found, however
Another version stated that two men wcr"
seen entering one of the automobiles sup
porting a figure between them that was
wrapped in "A fur coat
Prince Yussupum is married TO a second
cousin of the Car His wife, Princess
Irene, is daughter Of Grand Duke Alex.
ander.
WELDED GREAT POWER
Raspu.in who regarded himself a mystic
with divine powers welded greater iuiu-
ence at the Russian court than any other
man. He was feared even by the most
powerful mobiles. II has been said that he
was consulted by the Czar on matters of
state and that he was in the highest coun.
ellis on ths eve Of war
This Is the third time that report has
come out of Russia announcing the as
sassinatlon Of the notorious mystic and
adventurer, Gregory Rasputin. who ts sup
posed to have exercised such an influence
for evil upon the mind of the ear OF
Russia. The first time was in July. l!l4.
when, exiled from PCtrograd. he was
stabbed by Julia Gusova at Tyumen ST.
IBERIA then on May !. 1916, his death was
reported from Bucharest.
It has been stated by those who have
been in n position to penetrate the do
mestc surroundings of the Russian inn
perlal family that the interest of the car
I'm Rasputin was purely that Of an in
vestgator who used the monk as a means
to gather information from and at times
10 communicate with the mass Of the people
from whom his exalted birth and rank
separated him. From Rasputtn. II is said
Nicholas learned of the horrors of vodka
and Immediately set about to eliminate
them.
When Rasputin lay wounded in Tyumcn
in 1914 his Majesty sent to him the court
physician, Professor Scrgius Pctrovitch. 1t
was then that Rasputin made this startling
accusation against lllodor, the mad monk,'
who is now in New York:
"It is all that cursed Illiodor But, to
the confusion of himself and my enemies
! will live, and they will have no9ses put
-around their necks.'
When interrogated. the Guseva woman
declared that she had attempted to Kill
Rasputin because he had spread tcmpta-
tion among the innocent. No connection
could be established between her and
Illiodor.
SUSPECTED AS PRO-GERMAN
The attempted assassination Of last
spring is supposed to have been due to
political causes, Rasputin had been well
acquainted with General W y. SIOUX
homlnon, who was Russian Minister Of
War during the fatal campaign in East
Prussia, when traitors We're believed to
have betrayed the Russian armies in the
field and left them without reserves Of
munitions at home. In June. 1915. SDUll-
homlinoft resigned and was later arrested
and lodged in the fortress Of Peter and
Paul.
Among the witnesses sought was Ras-
putin, who was known for his pro-Ger-
man sympathies, II was said that he
had been discovered hy the secret pu-
Iitical police and would create a sensa-
tion at the trial Before he had a chance
10 testify, however he disappeared. Then
came the news Of his assassination from
Bucharest which however. proved false.
His long immunity from arrest as n wit
ness is said 10 have been due to a certain
clique OF the Ministry who, If not actually
pro-German, were nevertheless working for
a separate peace looking 10 a desertion of
England and France and a subsequent
treaty with Germany
The complete reorganization Of the Min
istry under pressure of the Car and 5Duma
alike. a month ago, changed all that. The
trial of SoukhomIinoff was ordered ana
Rasputin was brought 10 PetrDgrad. where
he lived under police surveillance, ready
II has been reported, To tell all he knew.
The Car first met Rasputin i'm 1905
through the Countess Iguateff wife of a
former Governor OF Siberia, and much in
terested IN the cult Of the Chylstv's sect Of
1aggellants. which Rasputin was trying to
revive, In the Countess's circle, where the
Czar was then an occasional visitor. We're
the Montenegrin Princess Militia, wife Of
the Grand Duke Peter Nikulaievitch; Prince
Putjatin, Court Marshal Count Benclen-
dorm, Prince OroR, and finally General
SoulthOminoff.
II has been said that when the war began
the genuine AIuscOytes gradually dropped
away from the circle leaving only Baltic
Russians, with German ideas, behind, and
that the circle then became the center Of
German propaganda 10 which BrussloN re-
ferred in April, 1915, when he took COM
Inand OF the southern Russian armies and
said to the war correspondents:
mot a line can you write from here
: net a message will go forth tin something
~happens. In PetrogTad they have a switch
board with connections with Berlin
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