On the 20th of April the committee of our detachment received a telegram from Matveieff who informed them of the arrival at Yekaterinburg, I can not remember the exact words, but we were all surprised at its contents. We were all thunder-struck, as we were previously convinced that the emperor and empress would be taken to Moscow. We began to await the return of the soldiers from the escorting detachment. After they returned Loupin made a report to our soldiers. He scored the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviki. Labedeff and Nabokoff told me the following: Having arrived at Tumen, the emperor, the empress and the other persons were placed in a passenger car (I can not tell you anything about the arrangement in the car); this car was guarded by our six soldiers. From Tumen they proceeded in the direction of Yekaterinburg. In one station they learned that they would not be allowed to proceed beyond Yekaterinburg, where they would be held up. (This was a mistake of Iakovleff’s. Zaslavsky left Tobolsk a few hours before him, and I suppose, informed the Yekaterinburg soviet of the departure of the imperial family from Tobolsk.) Having learned this news Iakovleff turned the train back to Omsk, in order to go forward via Ufa, Cheliabinsk, etc. As I understood Nabokoff, the train was approaching Omsk, when it was stopped a second time. Iakovleff went out in order to find what was happening. He learned that Yekaterinburg informed Omsk that Iakovleff was declared to be an outlaw on account of his intention to take the czar’s family to Japan. Iakovleff went to Omsk personally and had a talk with Moscow by a direct wire. After returning he announced: “I have orders to go to Yekaterinburg.”