I t is likely that, whatever is said or written, the fate of the Russian Royal Family in the summer of 1918 will always be the subject of argument. The times were fluid with the White Russians about to overrun Ekaterinburg, the Siberian house in the Urals, in which they were last seen-together, under close house arrest, and in the hands of the revolutionaries who hated them. But no very satisfying identification of any of the victims has ever been made, and Sokolov's official local investigations were interrupted by the fall of the White Russian Government in 1919. The "remains" were smuggled out of Omsk in Siberia and remained in Sokolov's or Bulygin's hands. Accounts by Robert Wilton of The Times, by Pierre Gilliard, who shared early captivity with the Royal family, and by the Russian Staff Officer, Dieterichs, have reached no accord.
This translation consists of that part of Sokolov's very full and detailed history of the last days, the likely fate, and subsequent investigation of this historic case.
The Ipatiev House, where the bullet holes and bloodstains were carefully studied, contained burned and rifled relics, and more were recovered from the disused mine shaft near Koptyaki. Over 350 lbs of sulphuric acid and a lot of gasoline were delivered there on July 17 and 18, but many effects of the Royal Family were recovered from the shaft-clothing, buckles, gems, pearls, ornaments, a few charred bones-a human index finger, well-groomed, and fragments of skin, together with the corpse of ( ? Anastasia's) a dog. The Commandants Yurovsky and Yermakov and three of the guards Yakimov, Agafonova and Medvedyev, according to the latters' testimony, knew the details of the assassinations.
Did Anastasia survive? Were the Bolshevik Press telegrams fake or a double cross-after the "cover" murder of others? These indeed give room for speculation.
The book tastes genuine and the detail is convincing. I, myself, having had to "reconstruct" single and multiple bodies from fire and burial on more than one occasion would feel bound to report that there is insufficient human remains for proof-but the circumstantial evidence seems compelling enough. This is a fascinating factual account of a murder investigation.