6 JANUARY 1917, Page 10

The war has been-crowded with romantic adventures by sea-and land

in every part of the world, but perhaps nothing is more send sational, snore reminiscent of blue lights: and the accents of warning and suspense from the-orchestra, than the murder of the monk Ras- , putin in Petrograd. All the circumstances are melodramatic in a high degree. The -round hole out in the ice, the .footmarks, on the snow, the drops of blood, the recovery of the body from the water dented with wounds, the-suspicion- .that the :murdered man was killed at the Paiace of one of the most aristocratic families in Russia, , and the story of the mad .dog seem too theatrical for-real life, and , yet they happened.