One hundred years ago
A curiously tragic story is told this week of the Czar, that being interested in the operations of some labourers at work in the park at Peterhoff, he beckoned one of them, who at once ran towards him, but before reaching him, fell dead, shot by the sentry, before his eyes. The strictest orders had been issued to shoot any one approaching the Czar without leave, and the signal of the Emperor to the poor victim had not been noticed. If this be true, the Czar must, indeed, feel as if he lived in the network of an evil magic, since the very arrangements made to secure him against the attacks of his enemies, seem to be more successful in delivering the death-blow to one whom his own hand had beckoned to his side, than in answering their original purpose.
Spectator, 22 July 1882
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