THE LAST PRISON
The intimate connection between Berlin and Moscow yielded many living
examples among the visitors to Tobolsk. Many, if not all, of the spies,
emissaries, and other agents appearing there had been at one time or
another in the German capital. Yakovlev, the special commissary sent to
remove the prisoners from Tobolsk, was no exception to the rule.
His appearance was preceded by certain events which must be related
here. The soldiers forming the guard at Tobolsk grew tired of Pankratov
and his everlasting speeches. By the end of the first week in February
(1918) they had decided to get rid of him and of Nikolsky. On the 9th
they turned them out of the Kornilov house and drove them out of the
town. They then telegraphed to Moscow, reporting what they had done, and
asked that a proper commissary--not an appointee of Kerensky--should be
sent. But Moscow remained obstinately silent. The time for action had
not yet arrived. Meanwhile, the Soviet at Omsk, representing Western
Siberia, sent a representative to Tobolsk. He arrived on March 24th.
This man was a certain Dutzmann, a Jew. He did not interfere with the
prison _régime_; indeed, he never came near the governor’s house.
At the end of March, Alexis had a severe attack of his illness--the
worst ever known. Both legs were paralysed. The pain was excruciating
and unremitting. Day and night he cried aloud in his agony, and the aged
and infirm mother had to sit by and comfort him. After a whole month of
suffering the patient began to improve and the pains grew less, but he
was still a cripple and could not be moved without serious danger. At
this juncture appeared the Soviet emissary, Yakovlev. Neither the
soldiers nor the captives were surprised. Only a few days later they
understood what an important part he had come to play in their lives.
Yakovlev reached Tobolsk with an escort of 150 horsemen late in the
evening of April 22nd and unobtrusively took up his residence in the
Kornilov house. Colonel Kobylinsky saw him next morning. Yakovlev handed
him an order from the Tsik, signed by Sverdlov, intimating that the
bearer was entrusted with a mission of the highest importance and that
he must be implicitly obeyed, but no hint was given as to the nature of
the mission. Yakovlev then had the men of the guard mustered and showed
them a similar document, by which they were informed that any
disobedience to him would be punished with death. To sugar the pill,
Yakovlev told them that he had brought them a lot of money, the Soviet
having decided to pay at the rate of three roubles a day instead of
fifty kopecks, the rate fixed by the Kerensky Government. Altogether,
Yakovlev showed himself to be an expert in the art of handling peasant
soldiers, but he had to overcome opposition of a more subtle kind from a
Jew named Zaslavsky, who had insinuated himself among the guards as the
representative of the Uralian Soviet. This man had previously caused no
end of trouble by “discovering” “plots,” and had almost persuaded the
soldiers on one occasion to insist that the Imperial captives should be
transferred to the town lock-up. In fact, here once more it was only the
coolness of the resourceful Kobylinsky that had saved the situation.
But this noxious individual did not have things all his own way. The
Omsk Soviet also had its representative among the guard--a Russian named
Degtiarev. Now the two Soviets--that of Omsk and the one at
Ekaterinburg--being constantly at odds, their emissaries were naturally
jealous of each other. Thus it was enough for Zaslavsky to take one view
in order that Degtiarev should take the opposite one. Zaslavsky had for
some reason immediately stirred up opposition to Yakovlev and tried to
persuade the soldiers that he was a spy come to deliver the prisoners.
With Zaslavsky was an Ekaterinburg workman named Avdeiev, who figured
prominently in subsequent events. It is noteworthy that Yakovlev came to
Tobolsk by way of Ufa--a roundabout journey from Moscow--apparently in
order to avoid Ekaterinburg. Yakovlev had friends in Ufa. It is probable
that he had met Avdeiev there. He appears to have imagined that Avdeiev
might help him to prevent or allay suspicion in Ekaterinburg. In this he
was mistaken.
At a meeting of the soldiers on the 24th, Degtiarev, backed by Yakovlev,
attacked Zaslavsky with such vim that the men threw him out, and he made
haste to escape to Ekaterinburg to relate a purely imaginary story of
Yakovlev’s designs to release the Romanovs. But there is evidence to
show that he first communicated by wire with Sverdlov. Zaslavsky’s
poisonous character may have been the only prompting necessary, but it
is not impossible that he may have been “inspired” from Moscow to play a
part in the intricate conspiracy that was to exterminate the Romanovs.
Certainly Yakovlev underrated his capacity for mischief, as will appear
later. Sverdlov tried to make the world believe that Nicholas II. was to
be brought to Moscow for trial. But this may have been only an
afterthought. In any case, it was easy to have him intercepted by
playing upon local ignorance and suspicion through Zaslavsky.
Meanwhile, during these two days (the 23rd and 24th), Yakovlev had been
repeatedly inside the governor’s house, and on each occasion had gone to
the boy’s room, appearing suddenly, looking fixedly at the patient, and
then going away. Nobody noticed his strange behaviour at the time. They
remembered it afterwards. No one knew as yet what he had come for. On
the night of the 24th Yakovlev went to the telegraph office, taking with
him an expert operator who had come with him from Moscow, and had a long
conversation over the wire with Sverdlov, the substance of which--as
transpired later--dealt with the boy’s sickness and the impossibility of
moving him. Sverdlov gave him “new instructions” to the effect that he
was to bring Nicholas and that since the boy could not come he would
have to be left behind for the present.
From the telegraph office, Yakovlev went straight to Colonel Kobylinsky
and, for the first time, disclosed the object of his mission. “But what
about Alexis?” remonstrated the commandant. “That is the trouble,” was
the reply. “I have satisfied myself that he is really too ill to travel,
so my orders now are to take the ex-Tsar alone and leave the family here
for the present. I propose to start tomorrow. Arrange for me to see him
at once.” It should be explained that as the roads would, in a few days,
become impassable, and the river-ice break up any moment, owing to the
advance of spring, it was necessary to leave Tobolsk at once or wait
several weeks till the rivers were clear of ice. Hence Yakovlev’s haste.
But as he was apparently well acquainted with the character of the
Empress, he insisted that Nicholas should receive him alone.
The ex-Tsar appointed two o’clock on the following day for the
interview. Alexandra became furious on learning that she was not to be
present. When Yakovlev entered the drawing-room, she met him with
flaming eyes and asked him how he dared to separate husband and wife.
Yakovlev, with a shrug of the shoulders, addressed himself to Nicholas:
“The Moscow Central Executive Committee have sent me as Commissary
Extraordinary with power to remove the whole family, but as Alexis
Nikolaievich is ill I have received orders to leave with you alone.” The
Tsar replied: “I shall go nowhere.” Yakovlev remonstrated: “You must not
say that. I have to carry out orders. If you refuse to go, I must either
use force or send in my resignation, and then someone else will come who
will be less humane. Have no anxiety; I answer for your life with my
head. If you do not wish to go alone take anybody you like. Be ready to
leave tomorrow at four.” Yakovlev thereupon left without addressing the
Empress.
Kobylinsky remained in compliance with a request from the ex-Tsar.
Alexandra and Tatishchev and Dolgoruky stood by. “Where do they want to
take me?” asked Nicholas. “To Moscow,” was the reply. “Yakovlev let it
slip out when I inquired how long he would be away before returning to
fetch the family.” The ex-Tsar nodded, as if the news confirmed his own
knowledge. Turning to his followers he declared: “You see they want me
to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. But I would rather cut off my hand
than do so.”
Alexandra, much agitated, interposed: “I am also going. Without me they
will persuade him into doing something, as they did once before....” And
she fired a volley of abuse at Rodzianko for his part in the abdication.
But in the stress of the moment she had forgotten her sick boy. The
hours that followed will ever be recalled by all who survive as the most
painful of their memories. This distracted mother, too feeble to stand
for more than five minutes, paced her room like a caged tigress. She
summoned her favourite daughter Tatiana and burst into a storm of
weeping. For the first time her attendants saw her lose all
self-control. In broken sentences she disburdened herself of her sorrow,
revealing in her distress the innermost thoughts of her mind: “The
Germans know that their treaty is valueless without the Tsar’s
signature.... They want to separate him from his family in order to
frighten him into some disgraceful act.... He will be afraid to refuse
on our account.... It will be a repetition of Pskov....” She wrestled
with herself, praying that she might not have to choose between her
husband and her son, hoping that the river might suddenly open and
prevent any travelling. At last she came to a decision, and, jumping up,
cried: “It is enough, I go with the Emperor.” Nicholas entered the room.
She greeted him with the words: “I shall not let you go alone.” “As you
will,” was his reply.
Volkov, the Empress’s confidential man-servant, deposes that he saw her
in the Tsarevich’s room, and as she was going out inquired what was the
matter. Alexandra replied: “_Gosudar_ (the Tsar) is to be taken away to
Moscow. They want him to conclude peace. But I am going with him. I
shall never permit such a thing. What would our Allies say?”
Madame Bittner spoke to the Tsar at this same juncture. She suggested
that “they,” meaning the Germans, would take him “out of the country.”
He replied: “God grant that it be not so. Only not abroad!” This witness
deposes that the whole family dreaded the idea of being sent abroad,
_i.e._, to Germany.
In this connection I recall a remarkable passage in one of the
depositions. Some member of the household at Tobolsk was reading out of
a newspaper the statement that the Brest-Litovsk treaty contained a
clause assuring the safety of the Imperial family. The Empress broke in
with an angry exclamation in French: “I had rather die in Russia than be
saved by the Germans.” (_Je préfère mourir en Russie que d’être sauvée
par les allemands._)
It was then settled that the party with the Tsar should include:
Alexandra, the Grand Duchess Maria, Prince Dolgoruky, Dr. Botkin, and
the servants Chemodurov, Demidova, and Ivan Sednev. On receiving the
list, Yakovlev said: “It is all the same to me.” The soldiers were again
assembled on the evening of the 25th to be informed of the Tsar’s
removal. To forestall any objections, a number of them were selected to
accompany the party.
* * * * *
The vehicles that were to convey the travellers to Tiumen, where they
would find a train, did not differ from the ordinary Siberian
_tarantass_--a large basket swung upon long flexible poles uniting two
springless axles, the baskets being filled with straw. Into these
vehicles the travellers tumbled and disposed themselves as best they
could. Alexandra had a _troika_, the others a pair of horses. She
beckoned to the Tsar to mount with her, but Yakovlev sent Maria to join
her mother, and shared his _tarantass_ with Nicholas.
The roads were terrible. No traveller who has not experienced springtime
travel in Russia can have any idea of them. At some places the party had
to alight and walk through deep slush. The Empress was better off than
the others as she had a stronger team. Yakovlev was hurrying as fast as
horseflesh could go. Relays waited at stated intervals. The travellers
passed from one _tarantass_ into another. It was better to lose no time
as every day the roads became worse, but there was another reason:
Yakovlev was evidently afraid of being stopped by the local soviets and
wished to rush past before they had had time to oppose him.
Throughout the trip he conversed with the ex-Tsar on politics,
endeavouring to talk him over to a certain point of view--but the Tsar
would not give way. This much the coachman who drove them could swear
to, although he could not catch all the details of the conversation. He
noticed that Nicholas did not “scold the Bolsheviks,” but somebody else.
They reached Tiumen on the 28th at 9 p.m. A special train was in
waiting. They started westward, but had not travelled far when at a
wayside station Yakovlev heard that Ekaterinburg would intercept him.
What he feared had happened. The only hope lay in circumventing
Ekaterinburg. For this purpose it was necessary to return, go east as
far as Omsk-Kulomzino, and thence switch on to the Cheliabinsk-Ufa
railway. But he was too late. The soviet at Ekaterinburg had wired to
Omsk that the ex-Tsar was escaping eastward, and a cordon of Red guards
stopped the train at Kulomzino. Yakovlev detached the engine and went
across the Irtysh to Omsk, and there, with the help of his private
telegraphist, spoke with Moscow. He was ordered by Sverdlov to proceed
_via_ Ekaterinburg. As might be expected, they were met by a strong
force of fanaticised Red guards at the station at Ekaterinburg (April
30th). Yakovlev’s authority was flouted and the escort and guards that
were with him imprisoned till he had departed empty-handed on his way to
Moscow. The unfortunate Romanovs thus came into the hands that were to
massacre them and take their belongings.
Yakovlev had no hand in this foul conspiracy. He had been quite sincere
and consistent in his efforts to bring the whole family safely to
Moscow. There is no indication whatever, in all he said, that the object
of this removal was to bring the Tsar to trial. On the contrary, the
conversations with the Tsar, continued in the railway carriage, where,
again, he was separated from Alexandra, gave additional colour to the
version already given by Nicholas himself--that it was intended to
restore the monarchy under certain conditions.[8] Speaking of Yakovlev,
the ex-Tsar afterwards said: “Not a bad sort--evidently sincere.”
Alexandra did not cease to bewail her misfortunes, weeping over her son
and her husband.
On reaching Moscow, Yakovlev must have had some doubts about the
sincerity of the Tsik. Anyhow, he resigned his commissaryship and
eventually joined the White forces, and then mysteriously disappeared.
An interview with him, published in a Red organ at the time of his
journey in charge of the Imperial captives, contains some very
instructive features. It passes over in silence the attempt to evade
Ekaterinburg and falsifies the dates of arrival and departure at Tiumen
so that the glaring discrepancy between this and the arrival at
Ekaterinburg (two days instead of half a day) should not be noticed;
ignores, in fact, all the local soviet intrigues and protests, quite
needlessly, that he did not mention politics in his conversation with
Nicholas. Vasily Vasilievich Yakovlev had been a naval officer and was
therefore of Russian noble blood. He had committed some political
offence, had spent many years abroad--in Berlin. Who were his real
chiefs? It is not difficult to guess.
Two other commissaries went to Tobolsk to remove the remainder of the
family--Tatiana had been left in charge of the invalid and household.
Olga, the eldest daughter, did not enjoy her mother’s confidence in the
same degree. She took far more interest in literature than in the
practical affairs of life, and would hide herself in a corner with a
book or tell stories to the soldiers, utterly forgetting domestic
trifles. Anastasia, still a child, and rather backward, could be left in
Tatiana’s care. Maria went with the Imperial couple because she was too
grown-up to remain under her sister’s care. She was a very attractive
girl, and it used to be rather a joke among the grand duchesses to twit
her on her “conquests” among the Komisars.
The two successors of Yakovlev were:--A sailor named Hohriakov and a
certain Rodionov. The latter was afterwards identified as a former
gendarme officer. He used to inspect the passports at the German
frontier, and served some time in the Russian Embassy at Berlin as a spy
on Russian revolutionaries. When taxed with it, he admitted the
impeachment. The sailor, a typical good-natured peasant, soon made
friends with all the children. Rodionov, on the contrary, went out of
his way to torment and ill-treat them. He forbade the grand duchesses to
lock their doors at night, informing them with a leer that he had a
perfect right to come into their rooms whenever he liked. With every
appearance of enjoyment, he announced that in Ekaterinburg they would
have to observe stricter rules, which he himself had devised. Hohriakov
was nominally senior to Rodionov, but the latter did what he pleased.
Here must be recorded a circumstance which was destined to play an
important part in the detection of the murders of Ekaterinburg. Before
separating, it had been understood between mother and daughters that
they would take measures for safeguarding the jewels that had been
brought with them from Tsarskoe, worth not less than a million gold
roubles (£100,000). A letter from the maid Demidova
[Illustration: THE IPATIEV HOUSE: THE ROOM IN THE BASEMENT WHERE THE
IMPERIAL FAMILY WAS MURDERED
A vaulted semi-basement, 18 by 16 feet. Photographed from the spot where
the so-called “Lett” soldiers stood while firing their revolvers. The
Tsar and his son sat in the center of the room and behind them was the
Empress, also seated. The other victims stood at the further wall.]
[Illustration: YANKEL (JACOB) SVERDLOV, THE RED TSAR
He organised the murder of the Romanov family, and was despised and
later killed by Russian workmen. He was President of the “Tsik”, i.e.,
Prime Minister and Ruler of the Red Inquisition. He posed for his
portrait with his portfolio at the entrance of his palatial offices in
the Hotel Metropole in Moscow, located on the square which is named
after him. He is dressed in a short shirt and shabby overcoat with only
a cap of expensive fur to befit the high office of the wearer.]
[Illustration: RELICS FOUND NEAR THE PYRES
A pectoral cross, set with emeralds, belonging to the Empress, and the
Empress’s great diamond pendant.]
[Illustration: PEARL EARRING BELONGING TO THE EMPRESS]
[Illustration: IKONS (HOLY IMAGES), BELONGING TO THE EMPRESS AND HER
DAUGHTERS]
[Illustration: THE ENTRANCE TO THE SHAFT NEAR EKATERINBURG]
from Ekaterinburg gave the necessary indications. The grand duchesses
were “to dispose of the medicines as had been agreed.” This meant that
the jewels had to be secreted in the clothing in such a way as to escape
search (Nicholas, Alexandra, and Maria had been “searched” very
thoroughly and brutally). For some days the grand duchesses and their
trusty servants worked at the task, sewing up the valuables in their
bodices, in their hats, and even inside their buttons. The Empress had
few if any valuables with her--possibly because there had been no time
to secrete them--but thanks to the precautions now taken, the grand
duchesses managed to smuggle all that was of greatest value into their
last prison-house. Womanlike, they clung to these relics of former
happiness, and perhaps deep down in their hearts slumbered some hope
that the gems might help them to escape.
Leaving Tobolsk by steamer on May 20th the family and household reached
Ekaterinburg on the 22nd without incident.
In handing over his prisoners to the Ekaterinburg Soviet, Yakovlev
obtained the following written acknowledgment:--“Russian Federal Soviet
Republic. Uralian Regional Council of Deputies. Receipt. 30th April,
1918. I, the President of the Regional Uralian Council of Deputies,
Beloborodov, have taken over from the member of the All-Russian Tsik
comrade Yakovlev the interned: former Tsar Nicholas Romanov, the former
Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna, the former Grand Duchess Maria
Nikolaevna, and the persons accompanying them. All these persons are
under arrest and under guard. The President of the Uralian Regional
Sovdep. (Signed) Beloborodov.”