The New York herald., 1921-02-20
Cars Guard Is Transferred.

determined 10 take some radical meas
ures.
Cars Guard Is Transferred.
ION July Avdiev and his subor-
dnate. Moshkin, were arrested and re-
placed by Commissary Yourovsky. a
Jew. and his underling, Nikoulin. The
guard, consisting, as has already been
said. exclusively OF Russian workmen,
was transferred to neighboring house,
that of Popov.
"Yourovsky brought ten men with him
nearly all of them Austro-German
prisoners of war-chosen' among the
executoners of the Tchrezvychaika.
From that day onward they were on
guard in the interior--the exterior posts
were guarded by Russians.
"The house for special use had be-
come a dependency of the Tchrezvyt-
chaika. and the life of the prisoners now
became one long martyrdom.
"On Sunday, July II. Yourovsky sent
for a priest. Father Storojev,, and al
lowed a religious service. The prisoners
had been condemned TO die, and reli-
gious consolation could not be denied
them.
"A little after midnight Yourovsky
entered the room occupied by the I'M
perial family, awakened them and theif
followers and told them to follow him
Tho preteXt given was that he mus'
take them away, that the town was in
a state of revolt"
01Iuarc then tells of the actual exc
cution, facts of which have been fully
related in THE New YORK HERALD. His
story bears out absolutely the McCul-
lagh interview with the executioner
Then Clilliard says:
when all was over the commissaries
took the Jewels off their victims and the
bodies were transported on sheets ano
stretchers to the motor lorry which was
at the door of the yard in the wooden
enclosure.
"Ihey had to hurry before day broke
The funeral cortege passed through the
sleeping town in the direction of the for
est Commissary Vaganov rode at ita
head, as all encounters must be avoided
Just as the clearing was reached he saw
a cart approaching with some peasants
in It, 1t was a woman of the village OF
Koptiaki, who left home in the night
with her son and daughter-in-law tc
sell some fish In the town. They were
ordered to turn back at once.
Find Jewels on Women's Bodies.
After great difficulties, as the roads
were very bad, the lorry reached the
clearing. The bodies were placed or
the ground and partly undressed. II
was then that the commissaries dis
covered a large quantity of jewels which
the Grand Duchesses had hidden under
their clothes. They took possession oi
these, but in their hurry they let some
Of them drop to the ground and these
were trodden down.
The bodies were cut in sections and
placed on large stakes and the fire
helped with benZine. The more resist
ing parts We're destroyed with sulphuric
acid. For three days and three nights
the murderers labored at their work oi
destruction under the direction of You
rovsky and his two friends, Ernakov
and vaganov. One hundred and seven
ty-five kilogrammes of sulphuric acid
and over three hundred litres of benzint
were brought from the town to the
clearing.
"At last, on July 20, all was over
The murderers made away with al
traces Of the stakes and tho ashes were
thrown into the mine shaft or dispersed
round about the clearing, so that moth
ing should be revealed Of what had
happened.
Paul Medviedev tells us this In his
deposition. After the crime Yourovsky
came up to him and said:
"'Guard the outer posts for fear that
the people revolt! |! And during the days
that followed the sentinels guarded the
empty house as though nothing had
happened and the prisoners were be-
hind the enclosure.
"The Russian people had to be de-
ceived and were not to know"