Evening star., 1922-01-22

| influence OF the Russian Church,
which is still strong. And the church
takes serious view OF murder"
But" 1 objected. 1.-The commonly
accepted story is that Youssoupnn
shot Rasputin after first attempting
to poison him. Was 1t actually
Dmitri who killed the priest?"
Three men. of whom Youssoupof
was not one, were equally RESPONSE
BILE for removing Rasputin." was the
reply but it was Dmitri who gave
him the coup de grace. Youssoupofr
himself has told me that he was not
even present when the priest was
slain. OF the many varying accounts
of the affair that have been publish
ed, all are inaccurate in one detail or
another.
The decision to remove the priest
was come to by little group of con-
servatives, OF whom Youssoupon was
one. Rasputin was decoyed to the
| Youssoupon palace by means OF q
letter which stated that Princess
| Youssoupoff was i'll and desired to
avail herself OF his powers as a heal
er. After the letter was sent, how
ever. Youssoupoff withdrew from the
| affair and left hurriediy for Aitori, in
| the Crimea. where his mother-in- Law.
the Grand Duchess Nena. had an es-
\ tate. He had left the palace three
hours when Rasputin arrived. Prin-
cess Youssoupoff remained behind.
however. to play the part that had
| been allotted to her.
I kA
w palace three men were await
ing him, the three at whose hands he
was to die. They were the Grand
Duke Dmitri. the Deputy Pourishke-
witch. a member Of the reactionary
group in the duma, and an officer in
the Russian army. Suggesting that
the priest should first partake of some
refreshment, they took him into the
dining room. perhaps the most superb
| in Petrograd.
| "Rasputin was first given a cup OF
| poisoned wine. which was expected to
| finish him. At the end Of half an
| hour, however, as the poison still
/ showed no signs Of taking effect. his
| three executioners decided to shoot
him with their revolvers. They ask
| ed the priest, before they took him
j upstairs TO the princess, to offer
prayer for her recovery. In one cor
| ner Of the apartment, according to the
| Russian custom. there was an ikon.
When, complying with their request,
Rasputin sank on his knees in front
| of this sacred picture, the three dis
| charged their revolvers into his back.
| The priest collapsed and lay appar-
entity dead. Having satisfied them
selves that he was SO. they left him
lying on the floor and went upstairs
to tell Princess Youssoupoff that they
had rid Russia OF the man who had
| been her evil genius.
THE princess heard with relief
| that the execution had been con-
summated, but was anxious that not
a moment should be lost in remov-
| ing Rasputin's corpse from the pal
| ace. She urged them to get rid Of
the body at once, and they left her to
| attend to this. To their amaze
| ment. however, when they reached
the top of the staircase leading to
the hall outside the dining room
they beheld the man they had left
for dead, crawling across the hall on
| all fours with a revolver in his right
hand. Dmitri was the only one Of the
three who had retained his gun the
others having left theirs behind in the
princess apartment.
| Raising himself with a supreme
! effort, Rasputin fired two shots at
the three as they stood paralyzed with
astonishment. Both shots missed.
| Dmitri then fired at Rasputin. his
! bullet penetrating the priests chest
Rasputin then fell dead, but SO tre-
mendous was the mans vitality that,
| Pourishkevitch told me. for more
than an hour after he had ceased to
| breathe his eyelids continued to
| twitch convulsively."
| "In view of what you have told
me-" said the interviewer. how comes
| it that Prince Youssoupoff is every
where known as the slayer Of Ras-
putin?"
My Russian friend smiled.
"a good deal OF credit that actu-
ally belongs to others has been
! handed to the prince" he said. ITO
, take another instance, those Of us
who are aware of the actual facts
smile when We read. as We do read
again and again. that Youssoupoff
has been the saviour OF the Russian
| emigres and that these get enough to
eat only when he has sold some of
lis jewels or pictures. Youssoupoff,
il is true has contributed generously
to the Russian relief funds, and for
time the European headquarters OF
the Russian Red Cross in London was
house in Belgrave square which he
rented. What he has given. however,
probably does not represent one
| tenth OF the contributions to the sup
port Of their impoverished country
men that have been made anony-
mously by. among others. that other
mystery man, Sir Basil Zaharof.
Does the prince himself appear in
his Rasputin film?' was asked.
| "He is its hero. but is represented
by good-looking young French
actor. In this entirely imaginative
film story of the events which led up
to the murder Of Rasputin. Youssoup.
off is not the slayer Of the priest.
The latter is killed by the father OF
a girl with whom he is supposed to
have had an intrigue. The czar and
czarina are represented as having
been pro-German and as having de-
sired a defeat in the field. Nothing
could be farther from the facts. But
this film, from beginning to end. fs
|propaganda for Youssoupoff and is de-
signed to forward his ambition to be
the next Gar Of Russia"