No doubt exists that the murder was accomplished by Nihilists.
The conflict of evidence is, as usual, very great, but according to the Minister of the Interior and the Times' corre- pondeuts, an elaborate plot had been framed to kill the Emperor, either going to the review or returning from it. On the usual route outwards a regular mine had been laid, subsequently dis- covered ; while on the return route to the Palace three assassins were posted, presumably with bombs. Of these one was killed by the explosion, one escaped, and one named Russakoff, a mining student of niueteen, who threw the first bomb, was arrested, and confessed. It is doubtful if he implicated others, for placards exulting in the " execution of the sentence passed in 1879 " were immediately posted up ; and not only was Alex- ander III. threatened, but an attempt has, it is reported, been made upon his life. The Society is evidently in full vigour, and it remains doubtful whether its members seek a definite end, such as a Constitution, or are desirous of the anarchy which a failure in the succession would cause, or have sworn a vendetta against the House of Romanoff. The first solution is the most probable, as the conspirators obviously find agents all over the Empire, chiefly among young students, but the directing mind remains undiscovered. It would seem to be one peculiarity of the conspiracy that its closest secrets are known abroad, especially at Geneva ; and another, that it has not the smallest hold over the body of the people. No riot or movement of any kind followed the assassination.
