He said that Botkin, Haritonoff, Demidova and Troupp were killed, but the family itself was taken away. He said that by killing the aforementioned people they simulated the murder of the family. He said that for the same reason the house was devastated, also some things were burned and others thrown into the waste basket. I remember he told me that somebody had found pieces of a holy image and an Order of St. Vladimir which was always worn by Botkin. In a short time after this Volkoff came to Tobolsk. He said that Hendrikova, Schneider and himself were taken from the railway car in Yekaterinburg and sent to prison. From there they were transferred to a prison in Perm. Afterwards they were taken out of the Perm prison, and led out to be shot, but he fled on the way and escaped. The others were executed. In Tobolsk I heard for the first time about the murder of the imperial family. I saw it in the Omsk newspaper _Zaria_, or may be in a Tobolsk newspaper _Narodnoe-Slovo_. The Bolshevik communication described the “execution” of the Emperor Nicholas “the sanguinary.” In regard to the character and private life of the members of the imperial family, I state the following: The emperor was a very clever man, well informed, and very interesting to talk with; he had a remarkable memory. He was very fond of physical labour and could not keep well without it. He was very modest in his needs. Even in Czarskoe-Selo I saw him wearing old trousers and worn boots. He drank very little. During dinner he drank not more than one glass of port wine or Madeira. He liked the simple Russian dishes, borsch, shchy and kasha. I remember very well one day he came to the wine cellar and seeing some cognac, ordered Rojkoff to give it over to me and said: “You know, I don’t drink it myself.” I never saw him drinking anything except Port or Madeira. He was very religious. He hated, and could not stand Germans. The particular characteristics of his personality were kindness and a mild disposition. He was exceptionally kind. Of his own will as a man he would never cause any pain to anybody. This quality made a very strong impression upon other people. He was kind, modest, straight and frank. He behaved himself in a very modest and natural manner. In Tobolsk he played checkers with the soldiers. I am sure that many soldiers had very kindly feelings towards the imperial family. For example: when the soldiers (good regular soldiers) were leaving Tobolsk they went secretly to the emperor to wish him farewell and kissed him. The emperor’s idea was that the Russian man was a mild, kind-hearted fellow; he did not understand many things, but it was easy to impress and influence him by kindness. The czar himself was of this type. I often pitied him, for the soldiers frequently permitted themselves to act with rowdy manners, generally in the absence of the imperial family. They often made a number of dirty jokes in reference to the imperial family. Perhaps they were afraid to do it in