Evening star., 1924-05-16
BY f. A. MACKENZIE.
ECorrespondence of The Star and the Chcag
Daily News.)

kCouespondence Of The Star and the Chcag e
Daily News.)
PARTIV.
= MOSCOW, April 25.-For an hour
on most days all were allowed to go
into the garden or stable for exer-
else The garden was fenced high all
round and hemmed in by trees.
saw one little snapshot, that has not
been published, showing the emperor
and one of his daughters digging.
They looked very shabby and the en-
peror very hopeless.
Can one wonder? All his friends
him. Since the day of his arrest br
come-from them. Even his cousin
the King of England had been silent
That, let me add, was not King
Georges fault. He had tried to write
and his advisers, who had stopped at
least one message en- route, played a
very mean role in their attitude to-
ward the fallen emperor.
For food the family and attendants
were allowed two portions of meal
dinner room at the corner of Nos-
nesensky and Glavni prospects. II
the meals were like those l ate in
those rooms later, they were as
coarse, greasy and poor as could be
asked. There was stove on Whlch
their servants could heat the food.
There is a great convent outside
racks SI.efneprs and School, mI The eu nuns m there
regularly brought bread, honey and
eggs for the prisoners. Official ac-
counts declare that nothing was al
lowed to reach them; the guards took
Nv for n inr r.
ing the first few weeks the food was
frequently delivered to them. Ger
tainly on Easter day they received
the pascha and the kulich, the cakes
and eggs which all orthodox Russians
treasure at that time.
Some Musings of the Czar.
Nicholas assumed an air of indiffer-
ence. His jailerS would try to pro-
woke him with taunts and stings. He
went on as though he did not hear
friendly fashion with his guards, but
they were forbidden to reply.
He was idiotically indifferent to
ALL around him." his captors angrny
say.
But they were wrong. After his
death some scraps of paper were
found in his room, with some of his
reflections written on them:
They are robbing the eXchequer.
and foreigners are at the head. While
the country is in trouble they are
thinking only of themselves.
Teace and prosperity must come.
To be shut up in monastery
to have terrible death.
The righteous have no crown The
criminal has no end. What a difficult
time; every one does what he pleaSes.
This is picture of our time. The
people are corrupted. the throne of the
czar is shaken, and when 1t falls 1t
threatens to destroy for all time the
power and glory of Russia. There are
not only little pictures on the WINDOW,
but whole icicleS.
The empress took her captivity i'm
patiently. At every turn she showed
her contempt and scorn for her guards
She continued to complain of her treat
ment. She sought signs and symbols,
and drew the swastika on her wall as
a symbol of luck. She wrote much
mystical, religious reflections.
The continued illness of the
czarevitch kept him from feeling things
as much as did the others. He had his
papa now more with him. Nicholas
would take the boy in his arms and
carry him from room to room.
Insults for the Daughters.
On the girls, imprisonment fell
hardest of all. They tried to amuse
themselves in every way they could,
and the guards, wondering that they
could sometimes laugh and romp, re-
tailed amazing tales outside about
their conduct The guards never hes
ttated to repeat their coarsest mu-
zhik tales when the young girls were
by, and to punctuate them with loud
outlaws. One or two seemed to take
a half maniacal delight in drawing
the most obscene pictures in places
where the young women would not
fail to see them.
When darkness came on the family
would gather in the sitting room and
sing in low tones, the voices of the
girfs row and then rising above the
others Sometimes it was hymn.
often the "Cherubim'S Song, and at
times melancholy Russian songs.
They asked to be allowed to go out
10 church. Permission was refused,
but on three occasions, including Eas-
ter priests from the neighborhood