The growth of the Nihilist or secret revolutionary party in Russia was extremely rapid during the latter part of Alexander's reign, and all efforts to suppress these societies effectually seemed to come to nothing. A third attempt was made upon the life of the Emperor when, April 14, 1879, a man named Solovioff shot at him. The same year an effort was made to wreck the train by which the Tsar was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Finally, as the result of conspiracy, he was murdered March 13, 1881, by the explosion of a dynamite bomb thrown at his sleigh, while driving in the Newsky Prospect in St. Petersburg. Although horribly mangled, he lived to speak to the miscreant who threw the infernal machine and some hours later expired, surrounded by his family.
Thus ended the career of a man whose life was one of turmoil and trouble from the start of his reign. There is no doubt that he wished to do the best possible for his country, and having freed the serfs he was actually upon the point of proclaiming a constitutional government at the very time when he fell a victim to the mad policy of those implacable theorists who believe that the killing of lawful rulers is the sure way to the cure of human ills.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
