Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 197, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1918 — DIES LIKE A COWARD [ARTICLE]

DIES LIKE A COWARD

Ex-Czar Wilts at Death; Propped to Post Collapses When He Faces the Flrinfl Squad—German Paper Gives Account o' Execution.

Amsterdam.—With two hours given In which to prepare for the end, Nicholas Romanoff, former. Russian emperor, was taken out by his executioners in a state of such collapse that it was necessary to prop him against a post, says the Lokal Anzeiger of Berlin, which claims to have received from a high Russian personage an account of the emperor’s last hours. Nicholas was aw’akened at five o’clock on the morning of' the day of his execution by a patrol of a noncommissioned officer and six men. He was told to dress and was then taken to a room where the decision. of the soviet council was communicated to

him. He was informed the execution would be carried out in two hours. The former emperor, it Is added, received the announcement of the sentence of death with great calmness, but when he returned to his bedroom he collapsed in a chair. After a few minutes he asked for a priest, with whom he was allowed to remain unattended. Subsequently he wrote several letters.

When the escort arrived to take him to the place of execution Nicholas attempted to rise from his chair, but was not able. The priest and a soldier were obliged to help him get to his feet. The condemned man descended the stairs with difficulty and once he fell down. 1 As he was unable to stand wifhout support when the place of execution was reached, he was propped against a post. He raised his hands and seenjed to be trying to speak, but the rifles spoke and he fell dead.