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Show THE RIOT OF THE STRELTSI. The Streltsi ran through all the inner rooms of the palace, looked into the store-rooms, under the beds, into the chapels, thrust their spears under the altars, and left no place without a visit. From a distance they saw Theodore Soltykof going into one of the chapels. Some one cried out "there goes Ivan Naryshkin," and the unlucky man was so frightened that he could not pronounce a single word, or even tell his name. He was at once killed, and his body thrown below. When it was ascertained who it was, and that he was not a Naryshkin, the Strelsti sent the body to old Soltykof, and excused themselves by saying that his son had been killed by mistake. "God's will be done," said the old man, who had even the presence of mind to give the messenger something to eat and drink. After they had left the house, in trying to console his weeping daughter-in-law, he quoted a Russian proverb to the effect that "their turn will come next." A servant who overheard this, and who had a grudge against his master, immediately rushed out and told the Streltsi that his master had threatened them. They returned and murdered him on the spot. In the Church of the Resurrection the Streltsi met one of the court dwarfs named Homyak. "Tell me where the Naryshkins, the Tsaritsa's brothers, are hid?" they asked. He pointed to the altar, and they pulled out Athanasins Naryshkin, drageed him by the hair to the chancel steps, and there cut him to pieces. His younger brothers, his father and his relatives, as well as Matveief's [Matveyev] son, who description of these events we chiefly follow, took refuge in the apartments of the princess Natalia, Peter's sister, which apparently were not searched. On the portico between the banquet hall and the Cathedral of the Annunciation the Streltsi killed the privy-councilor and director of foreign affairs, Larion Ivanof, who had been one of those sent to negotiate with them, his son Basil, and two lieutenant-colonels. Between the Patriarch's Palace and the Miracle Monastery, opposite the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Stretlsi caught the old Boyar Romadonofsky, seized him by the beard and dragged him to the Office of Expeditions. There they raised him up on the points of their spears, and then threw him to the ground and cut him to pieces because, as they said, he had been too severe with them in the expedition to Tehigrin. The dead bodies, with the spears still sticking in them, were dragged along the ??? to the gates of the Kremlin, amidst cries of "Here goes the Boyer [Boyar] Artmon Serghesivith Matveief [Matveyev] !" "This is the Boyer [Boyar] Prince Gregory Gregorievitch Romadonsofsky!" "here goes a privy councilor - make room for them!" When the bodies had been dragged to the L?? Palace, where the t??? used on popular assemblies stood, they were hacked into small pieces amidst cries of "They loved to exalt themselves; this is their reward." The crowd that stood around were obliged to express their satisfaction, because everybody who was silent was accused of being a traitor, and as such was beaten. Peter Naryshkin, who knew nothing of what was going on, was found in a house on the other side of the river Moskva, and was tortured and killed. Great efforts were made to find Doctor Daniel Von Gaden, a Jew by birth, whom the Streltsi believed to have poisoned Tsar Theodore. The rioters went to his house, which was near the Pogany Pond, and arrested his wife. They also searched the house of his partner, Doctor Jan Gutmensch, but as they found no one, they left it. A new crew came, and succeeded in finding a frightened man who had hidden himself in the garret, and took him to the Kremlin, together with Von Gaden's wife, threatening to keep them until the doctor was found, and in case of his not being discovered, to kill them both. Partly from anger against the boyers [boyars], and partly from genuine sympathy, the Streltsi took on the cause of the serfs. Many of them had been serfs themselves, and knew the oppressions to which they were subject. They wished not only to set the serfs free and "restore right and justice to the land," but also to gain adherents to their own cause. With this aim they attacked the Departments of Justice and Serfage, broke open the chests of papers and scatter them all through the streets, and then, going afterward to the house of the chief boyars, declared to the serfs that they were free. This action produced little effect; they were joined by a few of the common people, who were slow to move and were frightened, rather than excited, by the events of the day. The Streltsi were a mob, but still a mob of soldiers. As in many similar cases, a few nobles were betrayed and given up by their servants. A few others owed their safety to the devotion of their faithful slaves. That night strong guards were left at the gates of the Kremlin with strict orders to let no on in or out. Pickets were also stationed at the gate of the Kitai Gorod and the White Town. On their way home parties of Streltsi entered various houses and demanded refreshments. If any one dared refuse them they beat the masters and servants and excited general terror. But such conduct excited the reprobation of the leaders. Early the next day, the 26th, the Streltsi came again, fully armed, with the beating of drums, and advancing to the gilded lattice near the apartment of the Tsar, demanded with loud cries the surrender of Ivan Naryshkin, the councilor, Kirillof, and the two doctors, Daniel the Jew and Jan Gutmensch. The princesses endeavored to save the lives of these people, but they were obliged to surrender Kirillof and Doctor Gatmensch, although they succeeded in saving the wife of Doctor Von Gaden by concealing her in the room of the young Tsaritsa Martha, the widow of Theodore. The others were killed. The Streltsi then went to the residence of the patriarch and threatened with spears and halberds, not only the servants but the patriarch himself, demanding the surrender of the traitors concealed there; looked through the cellars and outhouses; turned topsy-turvy boxes and beds, and not finding any one, again came to the patriarch and repeated their demands. The patriarch, who had put on his robes, replied that there were not traitors in his house, but that he himself was ready to die. - Scribner. |