Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-01-21
Assassin. Identified.

murderers (consiting Of four Rus
SLAMS. one Lett. two Germans and
eleven Jews) are on record and their
photographs in the hands of the omsk
government.
But we can imagine how the mis-
cradle prisoners, by this time for
saken of hope, with the loss of much
they held dear behind them, sat
waiting for death; that when they
heard the steps of the ruffians on the
stairs they guessed 1t meant murder,
sudden, bloody and all embracing. We
can imagine that the wailing, broken
shieks of the women, the running feet
of the children, crazen with terror, at
tempting to escape where no escape
was possible. the sighs Of dying lips,
the last murmured prayers.
In the cold words or the report Oh
the judicial inquiry is the pathetic
record:
1--WE found in one of the upper
rooms of DR.. Ipatieff's house Now
occupied by the staff Of the Czech
General Gaida) numerous bullet
marks on the waltN scarcely the
height of a mans waist from the
floor and on the floor ITSELF"
There is a tragedy In each syllable
Those marks were. not high up as
where men had fought, but low
down and on the floor, as If unarmed
creatures had crouched to avoid their
fate. The bloodstains from the fioor
have disappeared. but the judicial In
vestigator found ".little pools OF clot-
ted blood filing the bullet holes to the
-brim," showing what must have been
spilled there.
corpses Chopped, Packed in Barrels
The very night Of the murder the
corpses were taken to a neighboring
wood, there hacked in pieces and
packed in barrels. Some OF the local
inhabitants say that these barrels
were burned, others that they were
buried, others agar that they were
thrown into an adults MT lake,
When Ekaterinburg was taken
from the Bolsheviki the commission
consisting Of repres sntatives OF the
'of the government, the army and OF
lawyers and doctors) appointed TO fns
vestigate the last days and the death
of Nicholas Romanofr and his family
arrested several people supposed TO
be witnesses of the tragedy, but their
evidence regarding the disposal OF the
bodies was contradictory.
Strange to say when the ashes OF
the fire in which. many testified, the
bodies of. the Romanoffs bad been
burned, were carefully raked over
womens shoe buckles. corset steels,
shreds of clothing, q Cross Of the
Altar Order Of Malta (of which the
Car was hereditary grand MASTERY
and some Of the third largest dia-
monds in the world (which the Car
ina usually kept sewn ip Der bodice)
were found, but no beness--Yet 1ne
ashes had been undisturbed up to the
time of the investigation.
The disused shaft Of a coal mine
nearby, flooded by the waters OF
neighboring lake. was then pumped
out, but no corpses could be found
there either. Mystery, therefore,
shrouds the sequel to this ghastiy
tragedy, and the conflicting stories OF
the very witnesses Of the last sad
scene once again illustrate the unre-
liability of human testimony, we on
liz know that though the bodies have
not yet been traced, 1t Is pracucaliy
certain that the ex-emperor and MS
family ended their lives in the cruei
tortures described.
But the murderers were not con-
tent with their terrible vengeance
On the same night they despatched
the ex-Czar with his wife and chill
dren. the gang proceeded to Alapai-
-evsk, where the following members OF
the former imperial family had peen
taken three days before: Ex-1fano
Duke Serge, who at the beginning OF
the war was in command of the ar
tiuery and who until his murder had
lived in comparative freedom IN EKa-
terinburg; ex-Grand Duchess Eliza
beth. sister of the ex-Empress, VINO
became a nun, after the murder OF her
husband, the Grand Duke Serge at
Moscow, in 1905; ex-Grand Dukes
.Iohn. Gabriel, and Igor, the ex-
Cars second cousins; Prince Paiei
and others. This little group OF inno-
cent people the murderers now re-
solved to destroy by throwing them
into a deep pit in the AlapaieVsk
mines. They were dragged to the
edge Of the abyss. Silence fell on
the company while, in careless ac-
cents, a man gave the terrible ordei'
>"They are all to be thrown in"
One of the murderers in whom a
shark of humanity remained roughly
blindfolded the former Grand Ouch
ess 5 Elizabeth. All the others were
thrown In at random:
AS Serge was being pushed toward
the shaft he grappled with one Oh tne
assassins and almost succeeded In
drawing the man over.
To destroy the evidence OF their
crime the murderers next thre" oy-
Mantle and hand grenades into the
pit, expecting that the explosions Of the
latter would ignite the dynamite ana
cover all traces Of the dastardiv
deed. But for some reason the gre
nades failed to explode properly and
the pit remained open.
Three months later, in, octoper'
the region of Alapaievsk, they took
out all the corpses, and after photo
graphing them. buried them under the
local church:
Michael Romanoff Disappears. .
The murderers apparently COM
pleted the series of, their crimes IN
Perm. whittier they proceeded from
Alapaievsk. Ex-Grand Duke Michaei
vanished soon after their arrival.
Thus the last of the Romanoffs was