Nicholas II still alive, says daughter

January 8, 1919


According to the British Wireless Service sent by Atlantic cable to the New York Times,  and based on a report from a special correspondent of the Morning Post in Archangel,  Nicholas II and his family are alive.

The New York Times states, however, that it is "necessary to treat the story with reserve."

The unnamed correspondent stated that "a friend of mind, Prince M, who has just arrived here that he had a long talk with Grand Duke Kirill, on November 18.  The Grand Duke told home that he had just received a letter from Grand Duchess Tatiana, daughter of the Emperor, who wrote that the Empress and her daughters were still alive and that the Emperor had not been shot.

"The Bolshevik office who was ordered to carry out the sentence of death told the Emperor that it was a matter of indifference to him who was shot. He had orders to produce a corpse -- bullets in the head of a victim would make identifications impossible.

"Count T, who was present at the conversation, offered to sacrifice himself, saying he considered it his duty.  The Emperor protested vehemently, but was overruled by Count T and the office.  The Emperor escaped, but no one knows where he is at the present time.

"Dr. Botkin has also written to his sister to the effect that 'the greatest crime of the twentieth century has miscarried.'"

[If the Empress and the Grand Duchesses has survived,  Grand Duchess Tatiana would not have written to Grand Duke Kirill.  The families were not close.   Grand Duke Kirill was living in Finland in 1918.   Grand Duchess Tatiana would not have known that Victoria Melita, pregnant with her third child, left Russia with her two daughters were able to leave Russia in June 1917, and were joined by Kirill not long afterward.]