The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-27

place and that there is no breach in the severe inspection regime. He is youthful
 and urbane, an officer of the guard type,
 speaking perfect French and English. Ap- parently he was chosen by the Duma inn prisonment commission as likely to re- spect the susceptibilities of his prisoner. FORMER CONDITIONS After telling the Associated Press
 correspondent that he had been given or ders to arrest all civilians who asked the soldiers questions about the complex geography of the palace, Captain Kotze- bue consented to say something about the condition of the former Emperor and
 his family in their imprisonment, politely calling Nicholas former Emperor" where all soldiers say brusquely 'Nicho- las Romanoff.
 The former Emperor is not under de- tention, but in all respects a prisoner and is treated accordingly said Captain Kotzebue.
 He is in perfectly good health and in fairly good spirits. When he is with
 his own entourage he has fits of crying. He is no longer allowed in the park, but twice daily from Il to 3 o'clock he is permitted to walk for recreation in the railed garden between the east and west wings of the palace. Outside the railing are six soldiers constituting the called intermediate guard. The regime of the imprisonment of Nicholas is applied also to all courtiers and servants who are prisoners. The former Emperor is not permitted to go into the garden except in my presence. He walks frequently with other prIs- oners prefering the society of the for mer Empress, Count Benkendorff, former marshal of the court; Madame Narych- kine, and Countess Hendrix off. He is required to converse only in Russian when
 
 "The former Emperor's chief occupation of shoveling snow in the garden he en- joys greatly. He takes boyish interest in what is said and written of him. He did not resent abuse. At present he is chiefly resirous of receiving foreign newspapers which are virtually unob tainable
 The former Empress is in better health Her real malady is not of the nerves, but of the heart. She is unable to walk
 any distance, and is carried in chair even from her own suite to her childrens s rooms Grand Duke Alexis, the former heir to the throne has recovered entirely He arose from bed on Friday for the first time. When he heard of his fathers dethronement he cried bitterly, not, in my opinion, from appreciation of the situation, but merely because he was af- fected by his parents misery. The other e-AA~ Marie.
 All letters and communications to the court are brought here first. I am the censor"
 Here Captain Kotzebue showed the correspondent tremendous pile of en- velopes awaiting censorship. Many judg- ing by the handwriting, were from illit- crate peasants. The captain also ex- hibited bottles of solution used for re- vealing invisible ink.
 My chief anxiety" the captin con | tinued, lis to reduce extravaganza and 1 disorder at the palace. This morning I discovered 60 men who were drawing pay for moving frewood from one court yard to another Five men could do the work That is symbolical of the general administration of our empire under the vanished regime"
 The correspondent then visited Ras- putins grave, on the edge of a ravine be- yond desolate and roadless plain cov- cred with deep snow. The grave is sur rounded by an unfinished log chapel which adherents of the monk with the monetary assistance of the Empress planned to raise over Rasputin's bust. Beside the chapel naive are half dozen tiny cells for pilgrims, and near the end is the 1O-foot hole from which the revolutionares disinterred the body. The chapel was filled with soldiers some of whom were inscribing ribald remarks on the log walls One of the inscriptions reads: Here lay Rasputin, foulest of men, the shame of the Romanoff dynasty, the shame of the Russian church. As the correspondent was reading the inscriptions he heard loud shouts. Look ing down into the grave he saw little brown Siberian soldier on his launches doing the Russian squat dance. The soldiers told the correspondent that Countess Hendrikoff, at the request Of the former Empress, had offered large sum to the guards if they would have the grave covered so as to prevent it's
 further dissertation.