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PLEHVE S ASSASSINATION.

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PLEHVE S ASSASSINATION. Graphic Stories of Eye-Witnesses Fresh Outrages Threatened. (Central News Agency.) St. Petersburg, Thursday Evening. — I have just returned irom the scene of the great crime after interviewing a number of eye-witnesses. Thousands ot people have gathered in the vicinity, and the windows of ihe Warsaw Hotel and station are crowded vlfch curious spectators. The remains of the carriage have been removed, and the only barrier remaining and guarded by the police is <me which marks tne actual spot upon which M. de Plehve died. One eye-witness stated that just before 10 o'clock he saw M. de Plehve's carriage crossing the bridge over the Obvodny Canal. As it passed the Minister's motor- car, driven by his private detective, went forward. Another detectivc riding a bicycle followed the carriage. Everybody Jcuew that the Minister was on his way to the sta tion en route to Peterhof to present his weekly report to tha Czar. Suddenly a man darted out of the Warsaw .Hotel—an establishment much frequented by railway employes. The carriage was rhen moving swiftly, and passed the man before he could get near it. He made a ((nick spurt, however, and threw a homo which immediately exploded under the rear part of the vehicle which the assassin was following. The explosion was of such ter- lhc force that it must have contained mel- inite, lyddite, or some other high chemical explosive, and it raised a great cloud of dust and yellow smoke. The carriage was smashed into a shapeless mass, and the horses, frightened, cut, and bleeding, dashed forward, dragging merely the pole and cross-bar after them for 80 yards to the centre cf the canal bridge, where they were stopped by a police officer on a motor car. M. -de Plehvo and his coachman were thrown to the roadway among the cushions and a heap of splintered woodwork. Both were suffering from terrible wounds. The Minister's lower jaw was smashed, but his limbs were not crushed as much as might have been expected, and the probability is that death must have ensued instantly and mercifully from shock to the heart. The coachman was dreadfully injured. He was removed to the station ambulance- room, where he died in the course of the forenoon. The Minister's body remained on the spot, with the face covered by the cape of a thoughtful gendarme, until the arrival of the Prefect, followed by M. Mouravieff, Minister of Justice, and M. Lapuchin, Di- rector of the Police Department of the Min- istry of the Interior. By their orders the body of M. de Plchve was removed to a house on the Fontanka now under repair. The cyclist detective who had followed the Minister's carriage behaved with much nerve and resource. He saw the assassin rush after the carriage and throw the bomb. The detective immediately sprang from his machine and threw himself upon the miscreant, hurled him to the ground, and kept him pinned there until assistance arrived and he was handed over to the police for removal to prison. The fellow strbve desperately to commit suic-de with a I revolver, which he had drawn from his pocket the moment he threw the bomb,but I the detective was too strong for him. The murderer was so close to the car- riage when he threw the bomb that he him- self sustained a rather serious wound in the stomach. He had declined to give an ac- count of himself. He is apparently about 25 years of age, of fair complexion, and has a turned up moustache. He had in his pos- session two small bombs and the revolver already mentioned. So far his identity has not been established. Of the twenty or more passers by who were injured by the explosion, seven are seriously hurt. One girl of 13 years is miss- ing, and it is feared that she was blown bodily over the low parapet of the canal bridge by the force of the explosion and drowned. An officer of the Ismaelovsky Regiment is amongst the persons seriously inj ured.. Another eye-witness states tnat he was in a tramcar which was passing the Warsaw Hotel at the moment full of passengers in- side and outside. He Ileall Uvo explosions, the force of which was so great that the tram passengers were thrown in a. heap upon one another. All the passengers state that the assassin was dressed in rail- way uniform. As the hotel and restaurant are much frequented by railwaymen, it is assumed that the assassin was aware of the fact, and thought that the place was ad- mirably suited for his purpose. It is stated that the cyclist detective who seized the murderer was slightly wounded either by the explosion or by the latter's re- volver. ATTEMPTED SUICIDE OF THE MURDERER. Another report is to the effect mat fhe assassin, on being removed to the Alexan- dria Hospital in the Fontanka, took poison, but was immediately given an effective emetic. A policeman who waf on auty near the Warsaw Station states that he has been alongside a battery of 12-inch guns engaged in firing practice, but has never before I f heard so tremendous an explosion as that caused by the murderer's bomb to-day. Parts of the Minister's carriage, says this man, were found 400 yards away from the scene. The news of the tragedy wa.s broken to the Emperor by Baron Subborg. who was also going to Peterhof by the same train by which the Minister of the Interior had ar- ranged to travel. On hearing of the murder he went to the scene, verified the facts, ob- tained particulars, and proceeded to Peter- hof. The prisoner is so badly injured that it has not yet been deemed advisable to in- terrogate him. Senator Dornovo has been instructed to take over the charge of the Ministry of the interior pending the definite appointment of a successor to the murdered Minister. REIGN OF TERROR BEGINNING. St. Petersburg, Thursday.—The assassina- ¡ tion, happening in their verv itidst, created a veritable panic in high official circles. The tragedy at home completely overshadows the disastrous events of the war. It is not merely the single individual crime v-hich appalls, but the knowledge of what it fore- bodes. The police possess clues which lead to the conclusion that de Plehve's murder was the result of a carefully prepared plot, the de- tails of which have been elaborated v.-ith deadly accuracy.. The authorities are convinced that de Plehve's assassination is a link in a Jcng chain of similar crimes. It is fuHy realised that a new Nihilist reign of terror has been inaugurated. OMINOUS DECLARATION BY THE ASSASSIN. A Reuter's representative interviewed a moujik, who at the time of the assassination of M. von Plehve was in a cabaret exactly facing the scene of the crime. He said "I sat drinking tea with some of my com- panions when there was a deafening explo pion in the street. The windows were blown to atoms, and the street was full of smoke. "When the smoke had cleared I saw a wrecked carriage, and the remains of a man lying on his back. The body was in a ter- rible state. The face was barely recognis- j able. The body of the coachman was quite zo yards further away. The horses were just living, and were writhing in agony. "A workman had just seized the mur- derer, a young man wearing a hat with a plume. The police rushed up and arrested the man, who cxclaimed 'That is nothing compared to what is to come. I am not the only one.' --(Reuter Special). "AGED YEARS IN A FEW HOURS." I St. Petersburg, Thursday.—The Czar was waiting to receive M. de Plehve in audience, when, instead of the Minister of the Interior himself, came a telegram announcing his as- sassination. The news was a fearful shock to Nicholas II., who realised that the man on whose judgment he most relied had been torn from him in the hour of national peril. The Cswr withdrew to his private apart- ments, and remained in seclusion till the af- ternoon, when he Emerged to ascertain all the details of the crime. His Majesty seemed to have aged years in a few hours. Several Grand Dukes, as well as Ministers of State, port wn hisil yreaetawor moned to Peterhof by the Czar, and returned this evening to St. Petersburg. It has been decided that M. de Plehve shall have a state funeral, with exceptional marks of honour. The Czar himself has re- solved to follow the coffin to the grave, not- withstanding the urgent representations of his advisers that he will thereby expose him- self to the danger of assassination.—"Daily Express." DEMONSTRATIONS OF SATJSFAC- TION. New York, Thursday. -The news of .the assassination of M. Plehve electrified lie Jewish quarters. Thousands of Polish and Finnish Jews surrounded the bulletin o.jards containing the news, cheering wiidly women donned their Sunday clothes, ana ihe 1.ii- dien made holiday. I JO good to be true," were the woids heard (n every side. Men and women cm braced, saying, "This means temp.)? £ • rv safety for our friends in Russia and lJ« 'anJ." It is even said that arrangements arc afoot for musical parades, to be fo'low>d by an e?>- h-b-tion of fireworks. This evening notices of thanksgiving meet- ^eTe sent out. to the various Polish ai?d ■Jewish soc eti.es. E ven the more c;m* na- tu e eh-rt.ent among the Jews. whih depre caring purple celebration of the tragelv, (If es not c0I,ccal its approval of the uetri.—Laffan. NO REGRET AT THE ASSASSINATION. Berlin, Thursday.—The German Press dis- cusses M. de Plehve's murder with entire freedom, a rule usually observed here when dealing with dead men. M. de Plehve's mis- deeds are fully recorded, with strongly ad- verso comments. The "Tagcblatt" says:—"Mingled with the horror that every murder inspires is a feeling that the assassination was an set of justice—the execution of a man who c'm- mitted a succession of barbarous crimes against humanity." The "Voss ische Zeitung" declares that despair impelled the murderer to wreak re.- venge for all the suffering that de Plehve had inflicted and for all the acts of injustice and tyranny he perpetrated. The "Berliner Zeitung" says:—"We re- fuse to condemn this murder. Russian aes-i potism produces political assassinations as surely as fire produces heat." The "Volkszeitung" believes that the oxecrations of millions of Russians will fol- low de Plehve into the grave.—"Daily Ex- press." POLICY OF MADNESS AND CRUELTY. The death of Von Plehre closes another chapter in the terrible feud between the If Jews of Russia and the Russian bureau- cracy. One dark chapter was written when General lgnatiev drove the Jews into the Pale of Settlement When Von Plehve stepped into the shoes of the murdered Sipiaguine, it was taken for granted that a "dies irae" had dawned for the nonconform- ist elements in the Empire. His appoint- ment was read as the political signal, "Full i speed astern," and the reading was correct- By Jews Von Plehve will always he re- membered as the man at the helm during the Kishineff massacres. It was from Von Plehve that the awful circular to the Gov- ernor of Bessarabia came, calling attention to the butchery of Jews that was in pre- paration, and warning the Governor only to "admonish" the mob, and not to restrain it by force. The result, of the circular was two Jays of rape,(pillage, and murder carried on under the eyes of police and soldiery. Later on the Russian authorities denied the au- thenticity of the circular. But it did not look a fraud. It fitted in too well with all the facts of the massacre. To Jews throughout the world, at any rate, Von Plehve is the man of Kishineff. Why this bitter feud? Von Plehve, who could be epigrammatic, posed a.s a generous statesman—the disciple of the Liberal Min- ister of the Interior (Tolstoy). "I am neither a Liberal nor a. Conservative, nor even Von Plehve* (he said, sarcastically). "I am merely the chief of the police, and the. guardian of the status quo." The "status qno." he pretended, was imperilled by young Jews who, he complained, were "giving themselves up entirely to the revo- lutionary movement." In combatting "this deplorable tendency," he had done "no mere than his duty." In other words, he had determined to teach the Jews a lesson, and Kishineff was that lesson. Latterly, however, the Minister had seen the madness and cruelty of this policy, So, after the lesson of Kishineff had been ad- ministered he changed his tone. He pro- claimed that he had always been a. friend of the Jews and an "admirer of the good qualities of that intelligent race." He re- ceived Mr. Lucien Wolff and Dr. Herzl, to ihr latter of whom he promised assistance for Zionism—and the cause of Jewish emi- gration—at the expense ot the Jews them- selves. His assistance of Zionism has taken the form of local persecutions of Zionists, which threaten to drive the movement un. derground. But his promise of alleviation has borne fruit, in actual extensions of Jewish area of residence. Before the war he was even thinking of consulting Admiral Aiexeieff on the possibilities of settling Jews in Man- churia; though trie wives and children oi Jewish soldiers (who have been sent to the Far East in vastly disproportionate num- bers) have been hurried away to the Pale of Settlement. The fear is now that, a new era of repression may be <1.t. ha.nd, with a, new king that will out-Rehoboam Rehoboam. St. Petersburg, Friday morning.—The offi cial Government Gazette publishes the fol- lowing brief account of yesterday's tragedy "Un the 38th July, at 10 a.m., when the Secretary of Wate for the Interior, M. de Plehve, was proceeding to the Bait ic ilailway Station on his way to Peterhof, as he was passing viong Ismailoffsky Prospect, an ex- plosive r,omb was thrown under his carriage hPa. man standing on the pavement. "The Minister and his coachman, Ivan Fillipoff, were killed by the explosion. "Among the bystanders who suffered were Captain Tsv?tsinsky, of the Semeovoffsky Regiment. Severely injured:—Prizenberg, soldier of the 37 th Foot; Leiba Moshkoffsky, stiopman; Philip Trainoff, cabman; Ivan 1\.pomtsov, painter Avanasieff, commission- aire Lavrenlieff, railway servant; Olga Bimofuba and het three year old grandchild and Fridrich Hartmann, soldier of the Re serve. "The assassin, who was slightly injured by the explosion, was arrested on the spot, and has refused to state his name. An investb nation of the crime is being conducted by the examining magistrate for specially im- portant cases, the, result of which will be pub- lished this morning. PREVIOUS RUSSIAN ASSASSINATIONS. The following is a list of murders and at- tempted murders on Russian officials within recent years:— M. liocoliepoff, Minister of Education, as- sassinated February 27, 1901; M. Pobiednosrtseif, shot at in March, 1901; M. Sipiaguine, Minister of the Interior, as- sassinated April 15, 1902 General de Wahl, Governor of Vilna, shot at M ay 18, 1902 Prince Oboleuski, Governor of Ivharkoff, assailed in August, 1902; M. Bessonofl, Kharkotf Chief of Police, also wounded August, 1902 General Bogdanovitch, Governor of Ufa, assassinated May 19, 1903 Prince Gulitizin, Governor-General of Cau- casus, attacked October 27, 1903: M. Metlenko, Chief of Police, fired at in Grodno, November 12, 1903 and General Bobrikoff, Governor of Finland, assassinated June 27, 1904. Czar Alexander II. was assassinated on March 13, 1881, and in 1883 the Chief of the Secret Police was killed at St. Petersburg, while in 1891 the Chief of the Moscow Secret Police was also assassinated. AT THE LOSS OF THE CZAR'S "DIS- TINGUISHED MINISTER." The Press Association is authorised to state that the King, on receiving the terrible news of the assassination of ,M. de Plehve, telegraphs to the Emperor of Russia to ex- press his sympathy with him at the loss of his distinguished Minister, and received a very kind reply. St. Petersburg, Friday.—It now seems certain that the assassin of M. de Plehve, who is neither a Finn nor a Pole, but from his accent a Southern Russian, is a member of a revolutionary society. He has been closely examined with the object of discov- ering his associates. It has been discovered that his name is Porosnieif, but no further admission of any value has been drawn from has* | The authorities are convinced that he 11'1_'5 accomplices. This conviction is supported by the well-known observation that while assassins who use revolver or dagger may act alone, thuse who throw bombs never. Innumerable arrests have been made of aU sorts and conditions of men, including nu- merous students, male and female. The Czar, on being notified of the manner of M. de Plehve's death, is said to have kept repeating, "My God! My God!" The < aanna was not intormed for a long time, as it was feared the news would distress her. The Russian newspapers state that the assassination of M de Plehve will not change the Government policy, and this suggests that General Wahl will be called upon to take the place of the murdered Minister.—"Dailv Chrouicie." PROBABLE SUCCESSOR. Berlin, Friday.—There is a rumour here emanating from a usually well-informed quarter that M. Witte has been offered the po.st of Minister of the Interior with the title of Chancellor. M. Durnowo, who is appointed temporary Minister, is a man of straw.—"Daily Chronicle." "I HAVE PERFORMED AN ACT OF JUSTICE." Paris, Friday.—The murderer is reported to be all accomplice of the young man who was killed some time ago by a bomb explo- sion at the Hotel du Nord. The police, in- deed, are convinced of this. He must be a Nihilist, for he was heard to shout, several times, "Long live the Social Republic!" To the questions put to him he repiied "I shall say nothing. Please let me die. You will not know who 1 am. I have performed an act of justice, of which I shall have the glory. I have no accomplices. I am determined to reveal nothing. if the Russian Government perseveres in the same policy, M. von Plehve's successor will meet with the same fate." Eight persons were arrested, but six of them have been released.—"Morning Lea- der." St. Petersburg, Sunday.—The remains of the murdered Minister of the Interior were interred to-day fit. Vovodevitchid Convent, close to the grave of the father of the de- ceased, who died at the age of 81, and of his mother, who lived to the age of 75. The funeral procession was witnessed by many I thousands of people, some of whom had as- sembled at a very early hour in the morn- ing. Previous to the interment, a funeral service was held at the house of the late M. de Plehve, at which were present the Czar, the Empress Dowager, most of the Imperial Grand Dukes, and a lady-in-waiting, repre- senting the Empress, together with the Brit-j- ish, French, German, Italian, Austrian, and i Spanish Ambassadors, and other members of the Diplomatic Corps. The Czar and the members of the lYnperial House aid not leave until after they had v it~ nessecl the start of the procession to the grave. There were a very large number of beautiful wreaths, which came from all parts of the Empire, including Finland. There irs said to be good reason to believe of the Empire, including Finland. There irs said to be good reason to believe that M. Wot-tle will be re-called to power as successor to M. de Plehve as Minister cf as successor to M. de Plehve as Minister cf the Interior.—Central News. ONE THOUSAND ARRESTS. A telegram from St. Petersburg states that as a consequence of the assassination of M. de Plehve about a thousand persons were ar- rested on Saturday.—Reuter.

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