When I performed duty inside the house I never saw the empress enter the commandant’s room. I do not think it ever happened, as Iourvosky treated them badly. The empress’s rosary, which was found in the commandant’s room, was probably forgotten there at the time of the packing after the murder.
Usually I saw the emperor wearing a grey or black jacket with a standing collar and brass buttons. He wore boots and grey hair was noticeable in his beard. When the grand duchesses walked in the garden they wore summer clothes, usually blouses and skirts of various colours.
I can not explain anything more. My statement has been read to me and is written correctly.
Signed: Philip Proskouriakoff.
N. Sokoloff.
Present at the examination:
Iordansky, Public Prosecutor.
V
EXAMINATION OF ANATOLIE IAKIMOFF
[Anatolie Yakimoff whose deposition is now given, was a workman, who became one of the senior guards of the imperial family during their last days in Yekaterinburg. His statement bears the impress of truth, and one gathers from it that he possessed some education and was more enlightened and tolerant in his views than were his fellows. Although Yakimoff never spoke to any of the members of the imperial family, we are able to see them vividly by his crude descriptions of their daily life. This workman-guard denies that he was present at the actual execution, but he insists that he and the others to whom it was related, were convinced that the czar and his family met their deaths in the manner described by Medvedeff.
It is curious to notice the respect with which this peasant-workman always mentioned the imperial family. Avdeieff, so he says, referred, to the imperial family as “They,” and Yakimoff follows his example, but it is apparent that this implies no disrespect on his part.—Editor’s Note.]
In 1919 from the 7th to the 11th of May, the Investigating Magistrate for Important Cases of the Omsk Tribunal sitting in the town of Yekaterinburg, examined, in accordance with Articles 403-409 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Anatolie Alexandrovitch Iakimoff, peasant, thirty-one years old, belonging to the Orthodox Church, married. The accused deposed as follows:
I am a workman.
I specialised in work on milling machines; my father was also a workman. He was born in the Ugovsk factory of the Perm District. My mother’s name was Maria Nicholaevna. I am the eldest son of the family.