At four o’clock a.m. the Siberian carriages (Koshevy) were prepared. One carriage had a cover; the seat was made of straw, which was tied with strings to the body of the carriage. The emperor, the empress and all other persons left the house. The emperor embraced and kissed me. The empress gave me her hand. Iakovleff seated himself in the same carriage as the emperor. The empress took her seat with the Grand Duchess Maria; Dolgoruky with Botkin, Tchemodouroff with Sedneff. There were some carriages containing soldiers at the head and some in the rear. The departing detachment was composed partly of our soldiers, but mostly of Iakovleff’s. Two machine guns were with the detachment. A number of cavalrymen from Iakovleff’s detachment accompanied the party. There were also some carriages with the baggage. They all started on their trip about four o’clock. After their departure everybody in the house was distressed and sad. I noticed that even the soldiers had the same feeling. They began to behave in a more humane way towards the emperor’s children. Later, when I was in Tumen, I was told by one of the coachmen who accompanied the imperial party that as soon as they reached the stage posts, the horses were immediately changed and the journey continued without any delay. Once the horses were changed in the village of Pokrovskoe, where the stage post was situated, opposite to a house formerly belonging to Rasputin. I was told that his wife was standing by the house and his daughter was looking out of the window. Both of them made the sign of the cross to the czar’s family.
I had asked two soldiers, Lebedeff and Nabokoff (who were a good sort of men from our detachment), to telegraph to me along the route how things were proceeding. I got a telegram from Lebedeff that was sent from the village Ivlevo. Nabokoff telegraphed me from Pokrovskoe. Both of their telegrams were very brief. “Proceeding safely.” One telegram was sent from a railway station: “Proceeding safely. God bless you; how is the little one? Iakovleff.” Of course the telegram was written by the emperor or empress, but sent by Iakovleff’s permission.
On the 20th of April the committee of our detachment received a telegram from Matveieff who informed them of the arrival at Yekaterinburg, I can not remember the exact words, but we were all surprised at its contents. We were all thunder-struck, as we were previously convinced that the emperor and empress would be taken to Moscow. We began to await the return of the soldiers from the escorting detachment. After they returned Loupin made a report to our soldiers. He scored the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviki. Labedeff and Nabokoff told me the following: Having arrived at Tumen, the emperor, the empress and the other persons were placed in a passenger car (I can not tell you anything about the arrangement in the car); this car was guarded by our six soldiers. From Tumen they proceeded in the direction of Yekaterinburg. In one station they learned that they would not be allowed to proceed beyond Yekaterinburg, where they would be held up. (This was a mistake of Iakovleff’s. Zaslavsky left Tobolsk a few hours before him, and I suppose, informed the Yekaterinburg soviet of the departure of the imperial family from Tobolsk.) Having learned this news Iakovleff turned the train back to Omsk, in order to go forward via Ufa, Cheliabinsk, etc. As I understood Nabokoff, the train was approaching Omsk, when it was stopped a second time. Iakovleff went out in order to find what was happening. He learned that Yekaterinburg informed Omsk that Iakovleff was declared to be an outlaw on account of his intention to take the czar’s family to Japan. Iakovleff went to Omsk personally and had a talk with Moscow by a direct wire. After returning he announced: “I have orders to go to Yekaterinburg.”
Arriving in Yekaterinburg, the emperor, empress, Grand Duchess Maria, Botkin, Tchemodouroff, Sedneff and Demidova were placed in Ipatieff’s house. Dolgoruky was taken to prison. All our soldiers were kept in the car, and later disarmed and arrested. They were kept under arrest for a few days and then released. Each of our arrested soldiers received different treatment. Lebedeff and Nabokoff were treated worse than the others. Matveieff and some of the others a little better. They were released at different times. On one occasion Matveieff went (for what purpose I do not know), to see Goloschekoff and Beloborodoff. When all of them were released and placed in a railway car in order to go back to Tobolsk, Iakovleff came to them and said that he had resigned and was going to Moscow, and that the soldiers should go with him and report about everything that had happened. It was clear that Iakovleff regarded the stoppage of the train at Yekaterinburg as an act of insubordination of the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviki to the orders of the central authorities. What was the matter? Why could Iakovleff not proceed to Moscow? (The soldiers said that he finally left them and went to Moscow alone.) I explain those events in this way: Yekaterinburg was a centre of widespread Bolshevism. It was the capital of the whole Ural region: “The Red Yekaterinburg.” I heard that Moscow reproached the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviki for spending too much money and threatened that they would stop sending them money altogether if they did not expend it more economically in future. Following their local interests, the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviki detained the imperial family in Yekaterinburg as hostages, in order to converse with Moscow in a freer manner and make Moscow more amenable to their demands. Possibly I am mistaken, but that is my idea.
Further, the telegraph operator who remained after Iakovleff’s departure received a telegram that read as follows: “Take the detachment with you and depart. I have resigned and am not responsible for the consequences.” A part of Iakovleff’s detachment was still remaining in Tobolsk; and that is why Iakovleff sent the telegram. The telegraph operator, a very young man, and the soldiers of the detachment departed. I don’t know where they were going. Avdeieff left Tobolsk before Iakovleff, as he was sent by Iakovleff in order to prepare a train for the imperial family.
Some time elapsed when our detachment committee received a telegram from Moscow (I don’t know from whom it came.) It announced that Iakovleff was replaced by Hohriakoff. About the appearance of Hohriakoff in Tobolsk I will tell the following: There were no real Bolsheviki in the Tobolsk soviet. The leaders were mostly social revolutionists. So it was even at the time when almost everywhere the soviets consisted of communists. There was a time when even Nikolsky was temporary chairman of the soviet. Later, Dimitrieff, an extraordinary “Commissar,” came from Omsk to Tobolsk. His intention was to organise the Bolshevik power. A special detachment of soldiers arrived with him from Omsk. At the same time Yekaterinburg claimed that Tobolsk was in their jurisdiction, so another detachment arrived from Tumen. But Dimitrieff, as representative of Siberian opinion, had the upper hand and the Tumen detachment left. Having organised the Bolshevik power, Dimitrieff returned to Omsk. During this period of organisation of the soviet rule in Tobolsk Hohriakoff was the first chairman of the soviet. In those days various Bolshevik detachments arrived from different places at Tobolsk. A detachment of Letts was also formed there. Long before the imperial family had all left Tobolsk, the Letts were already there, and created considerable disorder, as for example, when they searched Baroness Buxhoevden. I do not know who was their commander, but he apparently did not please Hohriakoff, and was relieved by Rodionoff who came from Yekaterinburg. A short time after Hohriakoff took his appointment, replacing Iakovleff as commissar, he received a telegram from someone in Moscow that instructed him to remove all the remaining members of the family to Yekaterinburg. I must not forget to mention that Hohriakoff after being appointed commissar, ordered Rodionoff to come from Yekaterinburg to Tobolsk. When asking for Rodionoff from Yekaterinburg, Hohriakoff had in mind that he would be in charge of the imperial family, but not of the Tobolsk district. Hohriakoff did not act as the chairman of the district soviet, but in the capacity of an extraordinary commissar having supervision of the imperial family. Some time after he was appointed commissar, however, before our detachment was relieved by Letts, I went to the house. Our soldiers were on sentry duty. They did not allow me to enter, saying that that was Hohriakoff’s orders. I applied to Hohriakoff. “They did not understand me,” he answered. For several days after this incident took place I continued to visit the house. But shortly after Rodionoff arrived our guards were relieved by the Letts, who occupied all the sentry posts simultaneously and I was not allowed to enter the house. It was just a few days before the family left. How things went after this I can tell you, as I heard from people who remained in Tobolsk. I remember also that Rodionoff on his arrival, came to the house, assembled the members of the family, and made a regular roll call. This surprised me very much. Shortly afterwards, unexpectedly for me, the Letts assumed the sentry duties and I was not allowed to enter the house. I was told that the Letts behaved in the following fashion. Once divine service took place in the house. The Letts searched the priest. They searched the nuns in a very indecent manner and touched everything in the sanctuary. Rodionoff placed a Lett by the sanctuary in order to supervise the priest. It created such an unhappy effect that the Grand Duchess Olga wept, and said that if she had known beforehand that conditions were to have been like this she would never have made a request for divine service.
After I was not allowed to enter the house any more, my nerves gave way, I became ill and had to remain in bed. The family left Tobolsk on the 7th of May. I was unable to leave my bed and could not bid them “Farewell.” The following persons went to Yekaterinburg: (1) Tatischeff; (2) Derevenko; (3) Hendrikova; (4) Buxhoevden; (5) Schneider; (6) Gilliard; (7) Gibbes; (8) Tegleva; (9) Ersberg; (10) Toutelberg; (11) Mejantz; (12) Katia; (13) Masha; (14) Volkoff; (15) Nagorny; (16) Ivanoff; (17) Tutin; (18) Youravsky; (19) Troupp; (20) Haritonoff; (21) Kokicheff; (22) Leonid Sedneff.
Soon after we were transferred to Tobolsk from Czarskoe-Selo two maids, Anna Utkina and Anna Pavlovna Romanova, joined us. The soldiers did not allow them to enter the house. They remained at Tobolsk and did not go to Yekaterinburg. I do not know where Hohriekoff came from. He was not educated and his capacities were not of a very high order. Previously he had been a stoker on a battle ship, the Alexander II. He usually wore a black leather suit.
Neither do I know the origin of Rodionoff. He was about twenty-eight or thirty years of age, below medium height, not educated and produced an unpleasant impression. He seemed to be a cruel and cunning man. Baroness Buxhoevden assured us that she had seen him during her travels abroad. She met him on one occasion at a frontier station in the uniform of a Russian gendarme. I should say we still felt the gendarme in him, though he was not a good type of gendarme soldier, but that of a cruel man with the manners of a secret service agent. After his arrival Rodionoff searched Nagorny when the latter returned to the house from the train. He found a letter from Dr. Derevenko’s son to the czarevitch and reported it to Hohriakoff, saying: “That is a nice sort of man; he said that he had nothing, and I found this letter.” Then addressing me he added: “I am sure that during your time numbers of things were smuggled in.” Hohriakoff was very pleased, saying: “I have been watching this rascal quite a time, he is a disgrace to us.” That is what the sailor Hohriakoff was saying about the sailor, Nagorny. It could not be otherwise. One was “The beauty and the pride of the Russian Revolution.”[1] The other was a man devoted to the imperial family, who loved the czarevitch, and who was loved by him, and for this reason he perished. Sedneff surely also perished for being “a disgrace,” as he was also a sailor and also devoted to the imperial family.
After the departure of the imperial family I was cut off for a long time from all news and nobody could tell me anything about them. In June Omsk was taken from the Reds. The Omsk Bolsheviki escaped from Omsk on steamers and came to Tobolsk. Our Tobolsk Bolsheviki also ran away with them. Power in Tobolsk was taken into the hands of officers. Tumen continued to remain in the hands of the Bolsheviki. A fighting line separated us. Then I got news about Hohriakoff. He appeared to be in command of something on the river near Pokrovskoe (being a sailor, I suppose). They say that Matveieff was also in command. Tegleva told me afterwards that Hohriakoff was not permitted to go into the Ipatieff house, even though he was sure to be a commissar while there. After Tumen was taken, most of the people who left Tobolsk with the imperial family returned, except the following: (1) Dolgoruky; (2) Tatischeff; (3) Derevenko; (4) Hendrikova; (5) Botkin; (6) Schneider; (7) Tegleva; (8) Ersberg; (9) Toutelberg; (10) Volkoff; (11) Nagorny; (12) Tchemodouroff; (13) Sedneff; (14) Troupp; (15) Haritonoff; (16) Leonid Sedneff; (17) Ivanoff.