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RESPONSIBLE FOR "BLOODY
SUNDAY"
The late Grand Duke Vladimir was a son
of Alexander I., and was credited with be-
ing very able, headstrong,. and unscrupu-
lous. He will be chieflv remembered in
Russia- as the author 'of the massacre of
?'Bloody Sundav.' January 22, 1905.
A procession of working men, headed by
Father Gapon, a priest, and carrying sacred images
and a portrait of the Czar, was approach
ing the Winter Palace to lax-' a number of
labour grievances before the sovereign,
when, without warning, a squadron of
cavalry intercepted the crowd, arid a body
of infantry fired upon them; .On -all sides
men fell wounded and dead; tlie ikons and
banners -were riddled with Hhot; arid 'the
snow ?was stained , with ; blood. ? Before
tranquillity was restored about 500 persons
had been ruthlessly slain and 1,500
?wounded. Vladimir afterwards admitted
having given permission foe the massacre
to take place, but justified his conduct by
aKSerting- tliat the procession was largely
composed of Anarchists led by conspirators
who desired to sack the Winter Palace as
the_ French revolutionists sacked Versailles.
This statement was denied by Father
Gapon and other leaders of the men. To
wards the end of 1905 Vladimir resigned
all his army appointments. .-.?.,. ? ?
..It is said that the, Czar's father, Alex
ander ITT., owed his throne to the Grand
Duke. By drastic means he suppressed
the plots and conspiracies that imperilled
the throne; arid it has been reported that
ih certain eventualities he would havo de
posed the , Czar arid declared himself , the
ruler of All tli*! Rnssias. As an off-set
to Nihilism he founded a league knOwn as
the White Gross Society, the members of
which' were sworn to report all Nihilists
?whom they happened to meet. The Grand
Doke, as befitting one of his imperious
ideas, could not endure being thwarted.
One story related of him is that in re
monstrating with the chief stationmastcr
at Warsaw over a trivial matter he called
the man such offensive names that he
struck the Grand Duke. An officer im
mediately ran the stationmaster through
the body with his sword. The station
master,' unattended, bled to death, and- the
Grand Duke thanked the officer^ During
the night the bedy wasnnceremoniouslr dis
posed of, and next day it was officially in
timated;that the stationmaster had died of
heart disease.
' In 'a press interview in Februarv, 1905,
the Grand1 Duke Vladimir said:— ''A Con
stitution would mean the end of Russia in
the future as a' State. Anarchy would
supervene, arid, wlieri that w~.is overcome,
the; Envnire would be in a condition of dis
integration. Finland, Poland, arid perhaps
bther frontier provinces ?would have broken
away. Russia is not ripe for a Constitu
tion, Go out amone the peasants, who com
prise ' the bulk of the Empire's population;
and try to. explain to the peasant govern
ment , by suffrage. .He knows nothing of
sOverhmerit, nnd does riot even know what
the word' means.- He knows his Emperor,
ind for,, him., the. Emperor is eyerythinp.
Sivfe hith a vote' arid dll would be anarehr.'
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