The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-08-18
BAIsHEl 10 SIBERIA.
ROMANOFF FAMILY REMOVED TT
TOBOLSK.
Reasons Given Out by Provisional
Government Us Political and Mill
tary.

tonight tina Former Emperor Nichola
and his family were removed toda'
from the palace at Tsarsk oe-Selo ant
1t was reported they were bein,
transported to Tobolsli. Siberia.
The deposed Russian emperor an,
the members of his family were spirit
cd away under circumstances of ey
treme mystery yesterday morning
No one except the local military or
ficers and officials especially sent from
Petrograd witnessed the departur
ana according to statement mad
TO the Associated Press by N. ". Ned
raon, vice president of the council
OF ministers, the account publishe,
In the only newspaper which report
ell the departure was imaginary.
1t appears that the plan was
remove Nicholas before dawn, bu'
the train arrived at Tsarsk oe- -Selo acv
eral hours late. Instead of the sor
geous imperial train i'm which Mich
OILS was taken to Tsarskoe- -Selo fron
Mohilv in March an ordinary traii
composed Of three sleeping cars. !;
dining car and several third cla$
coaches was sent, a second train wa
assigned to take the baggage and ser
wants, 90 of whom accompanied tn
ex-emperor and his family into exile
Nicholas was very much depressed il
appearance but ex-Empress Aleyan
dra, who was seen walking for tn
first time in months. seemed please
at the prospect Of change in sur
roundings. In view Of the need 70
special precautions the guard between
the palace and railroad station wa
not composed Of any single unit, bu
OF delegations of eleven men from
each battalion OF the Tsarsk oe- Sci,
garrison. An hour after the train ar
rived Nicholas appeared on the step
Of the palace dressed in a colonel
uniform with a khaki blouse and n,
decorations. He entered an automo
bile accompanied by Prince Dolgor
oukoff and Count Benckendorff, form
er court marshals. who thus far hav,
shared his captivity. They were fol
lowed by the Former Empress Alex
andra, who was accompanied by Coun
tess Naryshken, her close friend an,
former lady of the court; all tn
four grand duchesses, with thei
maids of honor. and finally by Alexi.
the former heir to the throne,
whose side was the gigantic sailor
'Derevnko. the protector of Alex
since his birth and his constant com
panion.
In order to keep the departure Sc
cret as long as possible the train I,
kept on q side track to which Mich
olas and his party went. The pub
Tic was unaware of the transfer unit
late last night. In order to keep u
the fiction that Nicholas was still H.
the palace the guards RENAME,
around the park and special vigilance
was shown in keeping the peopl,
away.
Many rumors are current in regard
to the motives for the removal
the imperial family and as to it's des
tination. The semi official new
agency says the demands for Nicho
las transfer were due to fears of tn
authorities that attempts would
made to liberate him i'm connection
with n counter revolution. A preva
lent theory is that the discovery
the letter In which General Guerko
former commander Of the Southwest
ern front, expressed loyalty to tn
former emperor and OF plots to Of
feet the escape of Nicholas caused tn
council of deputies to demand his re
moval to n safe place-either To
bolsk. Siberia. or Krostroma. whicl
was the original seat Of the Roman.
off family. M. Nekrasoff said. how
ever. that all stories that the remova
was connected with the Guerka af
fair or with attempts to liberat'
Nicholas were untrue. the transfer
having been decided upon last month
"Our motives were political am
military" lie continued. Eve dccide'
to get Nicholas out OF the way be
fore circumstances might arise which
would mako this difficult. 1t is abso
lutely untrue that the council OF dcpu
ties compelled the government {
act"
Tobolsk Is an out of tho way tow
OF Western Siberia. far from the raj!