THE CZARINA’S FAVOURITE LUCKY CHARM, THE “SWASTIKA,” WHICH SHE DREW IN THE EMBRASURE OF ONE OF THE WINDOWS IN HER ROOM AT EKATERINBURG, ADDING THE DATE, 17/30 APRIL, 1918.
On the left, photograph of the inscription under glass with four seals. On the right, the inscription.
Magistrate,”[74] for business of particular importance, and invited him to conduct the enquiry. Two days later the Minister of Justice appointed him to carry on Serguéief s work.
It was at this juncture that I made the acquaintance of M. Sokolof. At our first interview I realised that his mind was made up and that he had no further hope. I could not believe such horrors. “But the children—the children?” I cried to him. “The children have suffered the same fate as their parents. There is not a shadow of doubt in my mind on that point.” “But the bodies?” “The clearing must be searched; that is where we shall find the key to the mystery, for the Bolsheviks cannot have spent three days and nights here simply to burn a few clothes.”
Alas! these conclusions were soon to be borne out by the deposition of one of the principal murderers, Paul Medvedief, who had just been taken prisoner at Perm. As Sokolof was at Omsk it was Serguéief who interrogated him on February 25th at Ekaterinburg. He admitted formally that the Czar, Czarina and the five children, Dr. Botkin, and the three servants had been killed in the basement of Ipatief’s house during the night of July 16th-17th. He could not, however, or would not, give any hint as to what had been done with the bodies after the murder.
I worked for several days with M. Sokolof; then he left for Ekaterinburg to continue the enquiry opened by Serguéief.
In April, General Ditériks, who was returning from Vladivostok—where he had been sent by Admiral Koltchak on a special mission—came to join him and assist his efforts. Thenceforward the enquiry made rapid progress. Hundreds of persons were interrogated, and, as soon as the snow had gone, work was begun on a large scale in the clearing in which the Koptiaki peasants had found articles belonging to the Imperial family. The mine-shaft was emptied and thoroughly examined. The ashes and soil of part of the clearing were passed through sieves, and the whole of the surrounding area carefully examined. They succeeded in determining the site of two large fires and, more vaguely, the traces of a third. This methodical research soon brought discoveries of extreme importance.
Devoting himself wholeheartedly to the work he had undertaken, and displaying untiring patience and diligence, M. Sokolof was able in a few months to reconstruct every circumstance of the crime with remarkable accuracy.