RUSSIA: Tzar’s Head

According to a book written by General Dietrix who, on orders from Admiral Kolchak, made an investigation of the circumstances of the murders of the Tzar and his family, the heads of the Imperial Royal Family were cut off, preserved in alcohol and delivered to the Tcheka.

General Dietrix’s account of the murders agrees in the main with other reports, but sheds new light upon the unlovely incident. Hitherto no one has been able to explain the discovery of the religious icons which were found some distance away from the pyre upon which the bodies were burnt, and the failure of various investigators to find any teeth among the ashes. The icons, which were worn around the necks of the Imperial Family, were evidently displaced by the act of decapitation and the missing teeth were carried away with the heads. That the heads of the Tzar and his family were removed is said to be proved “beyond doubt,” as ropes, which were around the necks of the bodies, were cut in several places, thus showing that a knife had been used in severing the necks.

Secret agents are reputed to have discovered that when Golostchokov (the man who had charge of the heads) told his secretary about the decapitations, the latter clapped his hands with joy and shouted: “Now, at least, our livelihood is assured! If necessary to get out, we can go to America and exhibit the heads of the Romanoffs in the music halls.”