Stories of all sorts were circulated, as that her majesty had escaped and was lying concealed, or that she had simply been removed for a time by the Japanese, who could bring her back at any moment. In the official account of the murder, and of the trial of Count Miura and the _soshi_, held in Hiroshima, Japan, for which I am indebted to “The Korean Repository” for 1895, the following words occur: “The accused Miura Gow assumed his official duties ... on September 1, 1895. According to his observation, things in Korea were tending in the wrong direction, the court was daily growing more and more arbitrary, and attempting wanton interference with the conduct of State affairs. Disorder and confusion were in this way introduced into the system of administration that had just been reorganized under the guidance and advice of the Imperial government. The court went so far in turning its back upon Japan that a project was mooted for disbanding the _Kurentai_ troops (Koreans under Japanese officers) and punishing their officers. Moreover, a report came to the said Miura that the court had under contemplation a scheme for usurping all political power by degrading some and killing others of the cabinet ministers suspected of devotion to the cause of progress and independence. Under these circumstances he was greatly perturbed, inasmuch as he thought that the attitude assumed by the court not only showed remarkable ingratitude towards this country, which had spent labor and money for the sake of Korea, but was also calculated to thwart the work of internal reform and ‘jeopardize the independence of the kingdom.’” The report then proceeds to state that the accused felt it necessary to apply a remedy which would on the one hand “secure the independence of the Korean kingdom, and on the other _maintain the prestige of this empire in that country_!” The report further proceeds to state, that conferences were held with the Tai Won Kun and with Japanese officials, at one of which, October 3rd, “The decision arrived at on that occasion was that assistance should be rendered to the Tai Won Kun’s entry into the palace by making use of the _Kurentai_, who, being hated by the court, felt themselves in danger, and of the young men who deeply lamented the course of events, and also by causing the Japanese troops stationed in Seoul to offer their support to the enterprise. It was further resolved that this opportunity should be availed of for taking the life of the queen, who exercised overwhelming influence in the court.”