Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-12-26

Ov& By George Gustav Telberg
ands Robert wilton New York:
J George H Doran Company.
Ar Ekaterinburg, on the night of
~ July 1S, 1918, in the basement
IL of Ipatiefrs- house, his prison,
~ Nicholas II was murdered-he
and his wife. their four daughters. their
son, q man-servant. q maid-servant' ana
DR.. Botkin. Yankel Yurovsky. a red. led
the cnfing squad. claiming for himself
the privilege of slaughtering the ex-em-
perur and his son. The bodies OF 6S
victims were loaded upon lorries and
taken, by night. several miles ouslde
of the town to an ananaoneu lIon
made for their coming-hundreds OF
galIons of petrol, several hundreds of
pounds of sulphuric acid The oodes
were hacked into bits. subjected to
the chemicals and fire, and then
substance, is the hideous story. Soon
after this the reds were driven out
of E,katerinburg by the Kolchak gov
eminent This government immedi-
circumstances surrounding the ex-em-
perors death. N. A Solokon of the
Omsk tribunal took the dispositions
that constitute the first part of this book
of evidence. Two Of these six witnesses
looked on at the crime. one of them
Enthusiastically taking part in it. The
others formed a part of the emperors
household Their testimony recon-
structs the daily life of the imperial
family from the time of the emperor
abdication to the Imprisonment at
Ekaterinburg. The second part or
the book. by Robert Wilton, subjects
the evidence to critical analysis and
continues the story beyond the
slaughter of the Romanovs to in
clude the later Investigations that I'M
covered the final disposition OF the
Ekaterfnburg prisoners. Mr.. Wilton,
as correspondent OF a London paper,
lived in Russia for sixteen years. He
took an active and unremitting part
in following clues to the particulars
of this monstrous crime. The chain OF
evidence leads back to Sverdlov, the
Red Tsar of Moscow. to Lenin. to
Berlin Such is the official story of
a crime that no age, however dark
il may have been, can surpaSS in hor-
rible details and in diabolic concep-
ton.
A CYCLE OF ADAMS LETTERS; 1851
1865. Edited by Worthington
Chauncey Ford. Boston: Houghton.
Miff1in Company.
The period of the civil war is covered
by this cycle of Adams letters. During
this time Charles Francis Adams, jr..
served as an officer of cavalry in the
army of the east Throughout the
period, also, Charles Francis Adams, his
father. was minister of the United States
to Great Britain With him, IN the
capacity of confidential secretary, was
another son. Henry Adams. This situa-
ton gives the source and indicates the
character of the correspondence in hand
The fresh seizure of these letters upon
the readers attention and interest. de-
t,.,1T Irrir in haf
them and him, constitutes their drst
outstanding feature. ,: Underneath this
appeal of vigorous personality there
lies a substantial historic content whose
effect here is to re illuminate half
forgotten situation. On the one hand,
these intimate and Informal letters set
out, afresh, the official and CONNER
cial attitude of England toward the idea
of secession and the movement OF the
south in that direction. BY incidence
alone they indicate the firm and pafrlouc
position of our minister in this per1oo
of English disaffection toward the union
A hundred sidelights mark the char
acter and extent of this disaffect1on. as
they, indicate also the state OF English
affairs generally at this point On the
other hand. the letters from the front
Of war give innumerable pictures OF the
daily life Of the soldier in the years
from 1851 on to the close or the war.
From beginning to end 1t Is the vlUo
and vital quality Of the Correspondence
that moves ono back to an almost literal
nartaking of the ideas and activities
that marked this momentous and critical
period
LINCOLN; The World EmancfPat0f.
BY John Drinkwater. author OF
abraham Lincoln" etc Boston:
Houghton. Miflin Company.
After his impressive and successful
MAY, abraham Lincoln" John Drink
water, in his power OF intelligent ana
sympathetic conception in his art OF
dramatic Interpretation. must pc &C.
counted an authority on the subject OF
the great emancipation. In this volume
Mr.. Drinkwater studies Lincoln as the
inheritor and the embodiment OF those
characteristics and ideals that nave
marked the progress OF the Angio.Saxon
race and that have, moreover, denneo
the influence Of this race upon the gem |
eral advancement Of mankind. From
this point Of view he presents Lincoln
as the symbol of that unity which |
should bind together indissolubly the |
two great representatives of that race
Great Britain and the United States. |
Interesting and suggestive. |
SWEET ROCKET. BY Mary John
ston. author of ITO Have and to |
Hold" etc. New York: Harper &
Bros
In rare and fugitive moments of spe-
cial clairvoyance one knows himself
to be, not an Individual complete in
himself, but rather, to be the sum OF
all that has gone before him-hts
ancestry, all mankind. the animal life
that is slowly lifting to his present
plane, the growing and reproducing
things of inanimate nature, the solid
earth itself, the stars and the great
immanence that we have to call God.
This idea of unity, of tho oneness OF
man with the whole of life, is the idea
that Miss Johnston sets as the founda-
ton of the little story in hand In a
beautiful, and beautifully remote cor
ner of the south stands the estate of
Sweet Rocket" Here are grouped q
handful of people. who have moro
poignant and more continuous pos
session of this sense of being a part of
the world and of all life than the ave-
rage man or woman commands. The
little drama is built to show the practi-
cal application of this idea, to limit 1t
to the confines of a possible seizure by
the spirit, to show its effect in an
enlargement of ones grasp Of life. ana
posture of attitude A poetic and
beautiful creation that Is highly sug-
gestive and stimulating.
AERIAL TRANSPORT. BY G. Holt
Thomas. London: Holder & Slough
ton.
After q dozen years of study ap-
piled to aircraft as an element in war
fare. Mr.. Thomas turns to It here an
An element in commerce as means
of transport Stating the essence of
the problem as that of speed, the au-
thor moves out from this starting
point to give a practical discussion of
the ways and means by which the SUBJ
Ject of aeronautics may be made to
contribute practically and efficiently