File on the Tsar
Sir: Sir Thomas Preston in his letter (March 11) about the mas. sacre at Ekaterinburg gets the equally horrible murder of the Rornanovs at Alapaevsk wrong. Princess Elena was not crown princess of Serbia and was married to prince Joan (John) not Igor. Count Paley, morganatic son of the grand duke Paul, was by this time known as Prince Wladimir Paley. Those killed also included Prince Constantine.
While there is little doubt that a murder took place, the possibility remains that one member of the Russian Imperial family escaped. Paul M. Bykov, chairman of the Ekaterinburg Soviet, agreeing with the Wilton/Sokolov reports, in his book published in this town, renamed Sverdlovsk, in 1926, dismissed this possibility without evidence, but Beloborodov, who was associated in the murder, admitted in the late 'twenties to having identified all the bodies. Shortly after the massacre, however, it is known that the Reds instituted a search for a member of the family said to have escaped. This has lent credence to the ' Anastasia ' claim.
Little or nothing is known unfortunately about the subsequent lives of the actual murderers. Voikov, a member of the Ural Soviet, became ambassador to Poland and died there. The other regicides disappeared completely.
Gordon Kerr 82 Anderson Avenue, Aberdeen Aberdeen,
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