Felix Yusupov

Granger, for the ones who get it done.

when to the general surprise the latter rose and said that owing to the absence of several important witnesses for the prosecution he moved an adjournment of the proceedings until an indefinite time what had happened what had brought about such an extraordinary change this was the question which one could hear everywhere after the court had risen and the assembly dispersed comments without number followed upon this decision which no one would have thought possible a few hours before in spite of the severe censorship over the press the principal liberal organs of the capital published short commentaries which revealed the feeling of intense indignation that prevailed in every class of society the words shame shame were heard on all sides it is not at all wonderful that they found an echo among some determined spirits who resolved at last to free russia from the scourge of rasputin whose hand was seen again in the whole disgraceful affair this however was not an easy matter considering the fact that the prophet had become very careful and that his followers had him watched wherever he went for fear of an attack which they strongly suspected was being contemplated the house where he lived sixty-four gora kovaya street was always surrounded by policemen and secret agents who examined every person who entered or went out of it rasputin himself had also grown suspicious even of persons with whom up to that time he had been upon friendly terms and he avoided the numerous invitations that began once more to be showered upon him he spoke again of returning to siberia which was always with him a sign that he did not feel himself at ease in the capital i had an opportunity to observe this restlessness the second time that i met him at the house of that mr debach whom i have already mentioned when he declared to us that he was sick of petrograd and of the many intrigues which were going on there but that was before the war and it seems that after it began the ideas of rasputin changed and that he was always saying that he considered it his duty to remain beside his friends at this hour of national peril the fact that his feelings had changed on the last point proves that he was aware of the danger in which he stood and of which it is likely that he had been warned by the numerous spies who were but too ready to keep him well informed of all that was his interest to know one thing seemed certain and that is the activity which he began to display during the last weeks and days of his evil life in favor of the conclusion of a peace which he now said russia ought to make if she wanted to escape from further sin as he termed it why his feelings had undergone such a change it is impossible to say but one may make a pretty near guess one of the principal motives which actuated him undoubtedly was the idea that existed among a certain circle of persons that if peace were made with germany the english and french officials working with russian officials in perfecting the defense of the fatherland and whose presence already had prevented so many malversations would depart this would leave once more a free field for the rapacity of all the civil and military functionaries of the war office and commissariat departments who could make a new harvest of rubles as a result of the unavoidable expenses which the liquidation of the war would necessarily entail there were however some persons who seeing the dangers in the path in which this nefarious individual was leading russia decided that as nothing else could bring about his removal it had to be affected by violent means i do not seek to excuse them far less to take their part murder remains murder but if ever an assassination had an excuse this was the slaying of rasputin which also implied the destruction of the crew of unscrupulous people of which he was the tool there was something of self-sacrifice in the conspiracy to which he fell a victim something of an intense love of the fatherland in the spirit that armed the hand of the man whose pistol sent him away to eternity one may condemn the deed and yet excuse its motive though i am not trying to do so yet i shall not be the one to cry out for vengeance against the over-excited young people who risked everything in the world to deliver their country from evil of the details of the murder we know very little and even the travellers who have gone abroad since it was committed could only speak vaguely about the circumstances that attended it it is certain however that there was a deeply laid and well-organized plot to kill the prophet that about a dozen persons some of them belonging to the best and to the highest social circles were concerned in it and that at last lots were drawn to select the man who was to execute the victim among those persons were members of the conservative faction of the duma some officers of several guard regiments and even ladies of the smartest set of petrograd That something was known concerning this plot in governmental circles can be seen from the fact that the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Protopopov, who had always been one of the most ardent disciples of Rasputin and who had been working with him for the conclusion of a peace which both considered to be useful to their personal interests, hearing that he was going to have supper at the house of Prince Yusupov, sent there the prefect of Petrograd, General Balk, with instructions to watch over the prophet.

When the prefect appeared upon the scene, he was politely asked by the master of the house to withdraw, as his presence was not required.

Young Prince Yusupov, who, by the way, is well known in London, was the husband of the Princess Irene of Russia, the first cousin of the Tsar.

By virtue of his position he could be whatever he liked, even to dismiss curtly the principal police official of the capital.

At the supper which he gave on the night when Rasputin was killed, about a dozen people belonging to the best circle of Petrograd society were present.

It seems that after this had been accomplished, one of the conspirators went to Tsarskoye Selo and informed the Tsar of what had taken place, as well as of his own share in the deed.

In the meanwhile the authorities had become suspicious.

And this will be part of a Russia series.

The last book I read was by Felix Yusupov, or Prince Felix Yusupov, which was Rasputin: His Malignant Influence and His Assassination.

People really liked that.

But this book, I think, is very timely.

Rated PG-13.

[mysterious music] On a cold winter night in 1916, Felix Yusupov anxiously prepared to pick up his dinner guest.

If all went as planned, his guest would be dead by morning, though four others had already tried and failed to finish him off.

The Russian monarchy was on the brink of collapse, and to Yusupov and his fellow aristocrats, the holy man they'd invited to dinner was the single cause of it all.