The evening world., 1921-03-28
Get QuiCkS
of The Ages /.
XVIII. THE FALSE" DIMITRIs.
BU SUetOz0r TOniOrOf
Co1grgit. 1921 nv The pr-ss Publishing o..
The New York Evening World

! XVIII. THE FALSE" DlMlTRls.
| One Of the most amazing and per-
sistent OF get-rch-quick schemes oh
record was devised in that paradise
Of get-rich-quick schemers the Rus
| sian Empire. The same scheme was
launched successfully by four pre-
tenders to the throne Of the Ro-
inanoffs between 1903 and 1915.
The story Of the first Of these four
attempts to break into the Romanoh
line by fraud has been partly told in
| Moussorgskys opera Boris Go
dounoff," based on the great poetic
drama of the same pane by Pushk,n
and Karamzin. with this music
tragedy American operagoers havcN
been made acquainted by the Metro
politan Company.
The first OF the False" Dimitrls
was a young monk, Grishka Cor Greg
ory) Otrcpeff, who had heard his
spiritual chief, Father Pimon. rcia,e
the tragedy Of the killing of Prince
Dimitri, the heir apparent to the
throne, by Boris Godounoff, the Tar
tar, who had made himself Car by
the simple and direct expedient OF
killing of the previous administra-
ton
Noting his own resemblance 10
Prince Dimitn in years and in ap-
pearance, Grisnka issued from the
monastery Of the Miracle and pro-
claimed that Prince D.mitr had
escaped the GodOunOff massacre. AS
visual proof of his assertion he boldly
declared: And l am Prince Dimitri."
At that time in Russ a there was a
general disposition TO believe any
thing that anybody affirmed with
sufficient vehemence and persistence
"a state Of mind that has been OBJ
served in many countries at various
{ mes before and since.
1t took Grishka OtrepCh two years
| TO convince the Russians that he was
indeed the son of the murdered heir
apparent, Dimitri Dimitrievitch. BY
1905 the adventurous young monk WAS
reigning in Moscow and reaping the
| fruits of his astonishing enterprise.
The rich harvest might have lasted
! long If the successful masquerader
| had not committed the indiscreuon OF
announcing his engagement to a
! Catholic Princess, Marina Mnishek.
daughter of the NOevode of Sandomir.
| That proved too much for the Ortho-
! dON Russians. who ended his career N
| 1906 by numbering him.
But the Dimitri myth was too prom
| iSing to be readily abandoned as {
means to the seizure 'of vast wealth
and unlimited power
For the next forty years Russia
| re sounded with the din Of Dimitris.
Ii
! first False" Dimitri. the second
| False" Dimitri proclaimed that the
! first "talse" Dimitri had escaped the
sword Of Nasili Shuisky. As proof of
I his assertion he added: ANA am he
He was approaching the throne
/ when the Poles and CosnCks abap-
doned him for reasons of their own.
and he stumbled and fell, never 20
rise again.
"Ialsc' DmitrI II. was followed by
False" Dimitn III. ana False" Dim.
| i,ri ~, of whom the las. ba sed n ,
I claim to the throne on the bold ale
/ cation tit he was the son of the drst
/ impostor and therefore ws entitled
to the succession.
The last claimant was captured by
Christian Albert, Duke of Ilolstein,
and handed over to car Alexis
Michailovitch, who ordered his head
cut off. With him the race of False"
Dimitris ran out.
The adventures Of the Dimitris
furnish a revelation of human cred
ulity that would BE- laughable II it
were not tragic. TF But none Of the
series was 50 richly endowed with
humor or handicapped by simplicity
as the pretender to the throne OF the
| French BouTbons who based his claim
upon the extraordinary confessions "I
am the late Dauphin."