IE Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine 1! opyrlyht, 1912, by American-Examiner. Great Britain Rights Reaerved. The Czarina' Drawing of Grand Duke Sergius Hitting Vassili Morosoff for Defending His Wife's Honor. Morosoff Was Sub equently Fatally Injured in His Duel with the Grand Duke. FEW persons know that the unhappy Czarina of Rus sia is quite an artist. This little gift is one of her few comforts as the wife of the superstitious and fear-ridden Czar. Here on this page are show a few of her sketches depicting court life. In the text Count ess Von Branitzkaya, for many years the Czarina's fa- -. vorite lady-in-waiting, throws a new' and sinister light upon the death of Grand Duke George, -the Czar's brother. .' ' ' By COUNTESS VON BRANITZKAYA HIS . is .the Inside story, of ' given , .me lots books about the me- iragie -romance ; or., tne oumww- mj eyes flare peen opened. inave.Degun to.efee.Hfe from a dif , ferent point of .view. ; But i don't see why my brother (meaning the Czar) doesn't see the point. He could change the situation with one stroke, by making conditions equal . to those in France or England. The King of England is better off than, a Czar of Russia." The Grand Duke ' paused, pon dered and continued: "But j tell you what it is. My' " brother Is a tennis ball of the high bureaucratic clique and the rival members of his dynasty..: He merely ( . moves in their hands as they turn him. The trouble with him is that -he. has neither ' brain nor eyes to grasp things as they are. He was raised up, like me, in the belief that the Czar of Russia is the man al mighty ' and" his ' family a - super human society. I think our Greek Church is the fundamental cause of all this Russian slavery. How long it is going. to last, God knows."-.-. "Your high- " ness, but what would you do if you were a ' plain Russian subject?" I asked, curious- The young Duke looked at me serious ly and said: "By Jove, if I were not his brother I would grab . him by his neck and keep him a year in those dun geons In which he keeps po litical - crimi nals. In the meantime 1 would make the, people free, curb the lies of the -clergy and the arrogance of the officials. I would not stand .-Editions as they are. But the trouble with- Russian' intellectuals and the peasants is that they are worshippers of. the Oriental negative' philosophy. There is no use to argue with my brother, be- Grand Duke George, brother of the Czar of Russia. -As lady-in-waiting to the Czapina- and con- ,. fidante of the unfortunate Duke, I came into possession of many facts which I now reveal for the first time. Indeed, I myself played an -. important part in the events which led up to the Grand Duke's, tragic end. :' ' When the Czarina presented the . Czar with . a second daughter, and ' his brother, George, thus remained heir-apparent, , his hostility to the Grand Duke, -to whom he had al ways been greatly Opposed, was immeasurably Increased. ; The Grand Duke George ..was an . interesting, romantically ,' disposed youth. He had made the acquaint ance of a Caucasian Cossack officer, with whom he became greatly Im pressed. George retired from the court ' life, gave up his gambling and sporting, began to read books 'by the Cos-- tack officer .and - became taciturn and : serious. . The . change in him , . was so great . and unexpect-. L ed that every body was amazed. At , first the royal family thought be bad fallen in love with ; somebody, but when they learned what " had really hap pened, they - became alarm- r.ed and lectur-, ed him severe- , ly. George had always , been sympathetic 'a --.'i..s.:v-iiM.',",!-' ii mm i i - . flu mbp I Iter II f Mr&t$ Vv-vfefl s ''fimS iiWHl :mm$!4fr mk S- rsrw I II .. . h .. f.o as, because . . V -l 40 vvtuvr How the Czarina . Pictured Countess Branitzkaya Con fessing to the Court Chap lain the Love-Affair of ' the Czar's Brother. orttic and rank, "manner and of his artistic temperament. But when I heard of his changed views aild life and saw how he was ostra . cized, I often conversed with bim '" on the subjects that Interested him. Mv fpeHn? tnwnrd th vnnnr man y. brought him closer to me, and he cause he wouldn't change it without 'casually beean to nour out his force." ; Heart. . one oay wnue I was taking i was so snocsea at tne views of ' a walk in the Winter garden he ap- the heir-apparent that I could " proached me and asked: hardly believe the. evidence of my '; "Countess, please tell me, have ears, you been much in France and in "Your Highness," I remarked, "I England?" am afraid of the boldness ot your 'Yes, quite frequently, I replied. 5 "Well, and have you observed -the " great difference of life between those countries and Russia?" he went on. , "I have found that there the peo ple are all more or less on a level, and more or less free. But the people in Russia are divided into r q ecu a IVfl kov. tyiam ntvaffv and more luxury than any other coun- try In the world," I said. The Grand Duke offered me a .aeai. we toog a seat unaer tne wopica paim rrees, ana ne Degan: f- .'"We have in Russia the bureau- A.1 1 LIl. I . . . . u..v., nuiv,u id just as uau as waa the feudal slavery. I never thought and never knew of it Only since my friend, Lieutenant Peter Platonoff, has explained it and has A Drawing of Mystic Nature by the Czarina for Her Husband. The Czar Revels in Draw " ' ings Such as This and Has a Private Collection of Thousands His frank and revolutionary talk had dazed me for several minutes. I was made an involuntary con spirator and thus dragged in the family secrets of the dynasty of Romanoffs. My duty wad to tell the Czarina what I had heard from the lips of a conspirator. I pon dered about the situation tor sev eral minutes and decided to Keep secret what the Grand Duke had told me. Two months after this I came again to the court. I met the Czarina in a very nervous condition. "What do you think," she began hoarsely, "the Grand Duke George has married a plain Caucasian gTrl and now they are on a secret honey moon trip in Finland! The Czar is mad at him and wants to deprive him of the rights of heir-apparent if he does not give up his wife Two officers have been sent to ar rest the couple and to separate them forcibly. I don't know how it is going to end. It la a terrible scandal!" The Czar was so furious that for two days he did not leave his apart ment and cancelled all his engage ments. His newly married brother and his wife were caught in a small Finnish town and brought as pris oners to St. Petersburg. I waj curious as to what would happen and Intended to telephone to the Grand 'Duke, but realizing that he was watched by spies, I gave up my daring intention. In the evening of the same day my Dutler came views. I don't know what His ' Majesty would do if he had heard what you have told me." "Oh, I know what he would do. He would send me out of European Russia. But I am not going to tell my views to donkeys. I tell them to the people I respect and trust. I trust and respect you as I do my friend, Peter Platonoff. To-day I committed a terrible crime by shak ing hands with the officers of my regiment and offering them cigar ettes. But soon I am going to com mit a still greater crime by marry ing the sister of my friend, Peter Platonoff! She is a beautiful Cau casian girl and I simply adore her. This is her photograph." The Grand Duke pulled out the picture of fascinatingly pretty girl, handed it to me and asked me my opinion of his plan. I said that as long as she was below the rank of a Countess the marriage might be declared morganatic, and he, being , the Czarevitch, would be put In a critical position. "But I don't mind the objection of my brother or the family in the matter, and I don't care about be ing - the heir-apparent. I would rather be a happy family father than an unhappy candidate for a tyrannic throne. If my brother Nicolas wants he can make my younger brother Mlhall heir-apparent." The young Czarevitch put the pic ture of his bride in his pocket, light ed a cigarette and continued: "Countess, I confess to you con fidentially that I can turn another page to my family if they pinch me too hard for my liberal views and marriage. I know the secrets of the situation, and if I should join a group of conspirators I could ac complish something. Countess, have you ever heard of the secret subter ranean galleries of the palaces?" I replied that I had heard that such existed, but I never had been in one and did not know where they were. "There are two subterranean passages from each of the Czar's big palates which lead out to certain-churches. Through them I could lead my whole regiment In half an hour to the Czar's private apartment without being seen by any of his senti nels. I would need only to cap; ture or kill the sentinels and guards which watch his private apartment and then I could ar rest him and bring him out or do what I want "With my regl ment (the Grand Duke, being the Czarevitch, was the chief of a guard regiment) I could overthrow the regime of my brother in a few hours and cap ture the throne. It mar seem fan tastic to you, but you know -it has been done fre quently by our dynasty. Cather ine the Second did the same thing with her husband, Peter the Third. Alex- a cu.tu u .t ander the First Sklcl by the overthrew his father, Paul, with the conspirators, and so on. You, of course, know that. No one of the Russian rulerd since Peter the Great has died his natural death. They were either ae asslnated, poisoned or secretly strangled by their own family. It'a already in our blood. But the truth is, I am not inclined to such con spiracies. I am too much a gentle man. At present I am- only inter ested in getting married." "But what will the Dowagei Czarina, your mother, say?" I asked. '0h, well, I don't care what she will say. She will get more mad at me than she is at Nicolas now. You know she has her own ambltiond. Her scheme is to get the throne from Nicolas for herself. Plehve, Bobrlkoff, Alexeyeff and Goremykln are all her secret- agents. That's the reason they all plot against Nicolas and Wltte. My uncle Vladi mir has secretly joined them, and I should not be surprised if they finally dethroned Nicolas. I believe Witte is a sincere and big states man, the only minister I respect. But he, poor man, can do nothing alone. Nicolas does not trust him because his wife is a Jewess. But what nonsense! He has begun to hate the Jew simply because he was In love with a Jewess himself and' could not marry her. Now Witte stands alone between the two fires. I really pity him." The chamberlain entered and brought me &n order ot the Czarina. The Grand Duke bowed and left. v 1 Ai Czarina Illustrating the Sentinels of the Royal Palace Being Fee1 in and said that a lady and a gent leman wished to see me without having given their names. I told him to Invite them in. To ray surprise, the Grand Duke George, . accom- panied by a fasci nating pretty wo man, entered. " Countess, I have the pleas ure to introduce to you my wife," he began. "I came to bid you fare . well. I am going to be exiled to Caucasus and my wife is going to be sent abroad. I wrote to my brother that if he .wants to punish me he should ex- . lie us both to Siberia,' instead of separating us. I would rather be In Siberia, with my wife Intimate Scenes of Russian Court Life Drawn by the Wife of Russia's Au tocrat, and an Explana tion of the Tragic Mystery of Grand Duke George's Death After He Had Eloped with a Caucasian Beauty than alone in Caucasus. I know he will not read my letter, but throw it in the waste basket. But I will escape from Caucasus and join my wife somewhere abroad. She will live in Paris and wait for me. I will disguise myself as a pilgrim and by bribing the frontier soldiers I can get out of Russia all right. When I am in Paris they can't touch me. But I know that they are going to watch my mall and do every thing to separate us. Our most earnest request to you Is that you permit us to use your address for our correspondence. You see, I will send a special messenger with my letter to you house day and night It was evi dent the spies had detected the secret 4 - One day coming to the court the Czarina met me with an artificial politeness, and I felt intuitively that there was something wrong in her relation to me. Toward even ing she said to me that the Czar wished that I should receive the sacraments In their palace chapel. I felt it strange, but said I wag very pleased with the honor. But before getting the communion one has 'to confess to the priest, and I had te do so. Thinking of it, I re alized that , the proposition' of the Czarina1 was to and you can mail it to my wife. Your mall Is not watched by the police, so my wife can ad-' dress her let ters . to me in your name. The envelopes will . have only a let ter 'R.,' which means it Is to be 1 forwarded for me. It is a terrible, situa tion, isn't It?" "But what can you do in Paris, ' in case you es- fnnn from the Caucasus?" I The Czarina's Picture of the Czar's the role I was asked. " The Gallant Before Dinner Salute, playing and find out ' from their palace chaplain what I had confess ed. It was a diplomatic way to try my loy alty and to get to the bottom of the secret plot in which I was Involved. I went to the palace chapel, knelt before the solemn old chaplain and began to con fess. As there was- nothing else left for me I told briefly of aaents of your brother, the Czar, would tlnd you thore and separate you again." "Well, .we. might leave Tarls ln-t cognlto and; take a steamer - to America.- We . would arrive in ' America.. as .common tourists or emigrants, would buy a small farm out In the country and live a retired life forever. Who would know that a Mr. and Mrs. Jones, as we would be called, .were once actors In a historic drama? Who would know that I was the heir-apparent to the Russian throne if I kept it secret?" I expressed my admiration of the romantic plans of the young couple, but doubted the possibility of re alizing .them. However, I gladly consented to act as an agent be tween the Grand Duke and his wife in the matter of their correspond ence. Before leaving he told me that he would join In the future a group of conspirators and act as ho bad once told me. Then he bade me good-by and left. The following day the Grand now it came about. "Didst thou sot realize that in doing bo thou wert a tool of the devil?" asked the priest solemnly. "No," r answered. "I never be-' lieved in the existence of the devil." The priest - shook his head, crossed himself and continued: ' "Dost thou regret it and promise solemnly to discontinue such treacn erous doing?" - "Yes, I do," I stammered. ; This established me again at the court and I wrote to the Grand Duke George and his wife how the situation wad. I received a short note from bim saying that he was in despair about his wife and the banishment. It had made it utterly impossible for. bim to escape. An army of spies and desperate people surrounded him. HI life was made a regular torture. Shortly afterward I read the dis patch that the Grand Duke George had died while bicycle riding neaf The Czarina's Drawing of a Duel Between Grand Duke Sergius arid Vassili Morosoff. Duke was sent to his' country estates in the Caucasus. About the tame , time bis desperate . young wile, accompanied by a gendarme officer, left Ruasla for Paris. For three months everything in regard to their correspondence went well. Suddenly. I began. to realize that my letters were being secretly opened before I received them and that a strange figure shadowed my his country estate in the Caucasua I was greatly shocked at the newt and suspected that there must have been something wrong with his sud den death. Ail my investigation of it,' however, has not revealed the mystery. What became of his young, exiled wife I have been unable to learn. I received her last letter from New York aad never heard of her more,