Alexander II_ The Last Great Tsar - Edvard Radzinsky [189]
“ ‘To the Fate of Nicholas II
“ ‘New York Times correspondent Ackerman reported in his paper the following news, written by the abdicated tsar’s personal servant.
“ ‘“Late on the night of July 16–17, the guard commissar walked into the tsar’s room and announced: ‘Citizen Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov, you are to come with me to a meeting of the Ural Soviet.’ … Nicholas Alexandrovich did not return for nearly two and a half hours. He was very pale and his chin was trembling.
“ ‘“ ‘Give me some water, old man.’
“ ‘“I did and he gulped down a large glass.
“ ‘“ ‘What happened?’ I asked.
“ ‘“ ‘They informed me that in three hours they would come to shoot me,’ the tsar told me.
“ ‘“After Nicholas’ return from that meeting Alexandra Feodorovna and the tsarevich went in to him and both were crying. The tsaritsa fainted and the doctor was called in. When she came to, she fell on her knees before the soldiers and begged for mercy, but the soldiers responded that this was not in their power.
“ ‘“ ‘For the love of Christ, Alice, calm yourself,’ said Nicholas several times in a quiet voice. He made the sign of the cross over his wife and son, called me over, and said, kissing me: ‘Old man, do not abandon Alexandra Feodorovna and Alexei.’
“ ‘“… They took the tsar away, but no one knew where. That same night he was shot by twenty Red Guards.”’”
That was how people imagined what had happened when they still believed: “The family has been evacuated to a safe place.”
THE FIRST STATEMENTS
Soon after Ekaterinburg was liberated, Lieutenant Sheremetievsky appeared before the military commandant.
Before the Whites’ arrival, the lieutenant had hidden in the village of Koptyaki—18 versts (12 miles) from Ekaterinburg on the shores of Lake Isetsk. Not far from this little village, surrounded by ancient forest, there were old abandoned mines. The lieutenant recounted:
“On July 17 a few peasants from this village were detained while walking through the forest by a picket of Red Guards. And were turned back. They had been detained near an obscure area of the forest known as the Four Brothers. They were told that the forest had been cordoned off and maneuvers were going on—there would be shooting. Indeed, as they were walking home, they heard muffled hand grenade explosions.
“After the fall of Ekaterinburg, when the Bolshevik detachments were retreating from the town toward Perm, the Koptyaki peasants immediately went to the Four Brothers to see what had happened there.
“Four Brothers”—the name had been given to the spot because of four tall pines that had once stood within the ancient woods. The pines had long since fallen down and died; only two half-ruined stumps remained. And the old name, Four Brothers. Not far from those pathetic stumps, 4 versts [2.5 miles] from the village itself, were some old mines concealed by trees. At one time prospectors had dug for gold here, but all the gold had been taken away long before, and the old mines had filled with rain. A small pond had formed in one of them, which had been given the name “Ganya’s Pit.” About 50 sazhens [350 feet] from Ganya’s Pit there was another mine, but without a name. This nameless mine was filled with water also. This is where the peasants went, to the deep forest, to the abandoned mines.
Fresh branches and burned wood were floating on the surface of the nameless mine. The mine edge showed evidence of grenade explosions. The entire clearing by the mine had been trampled by horses’ hooves—and carts had left deep ruts in the wet earth.
They found traces of two bonfires, one by the nameless mine and the other right on the forest road under a birch. These were strange fires. In one of them the Koptyaki peasants glimpsed charred human bones. When touched, the bones immediately disintegrated. Digging in the forest, the peasants found a charred emerald cross, topaz beads, a child’s military buckle,