The collapse of the royal train. From the history of two icons

Memoirs of political and public figures are very often found in the margins of emigre periodicals, which provide materials for the history of very important and controversial events in the history of pre-revolutionary Russia. One of the most controversial, overgrown with legends, the event was the collapse of the imperial train on October 17, 1888 in the area of ​​​​st. Borki of the Zmievsky district of the Kharkov province.

Almost 50 years after the catastrophe of the imperial train, the former Manager of the Polesye Railways, an engineer of communications N.N. Iznar on the margins of the emigrant newspaper Vozrozhdenie (Nos. 149-150 of October 29 and 30, 1925) published little-known memoirs “The collapse of the imperial train. October 17, 1888. (From the memories of fifty years).

Let's say a few words about the author of the work. Nikolai Nikolayevich Iznar was born on September 23, 1851 in Odessa in the family of a Frenchman who transferred to the Russian service to organize irrigation work in the Kherson province. He graduated from the Richelieu gymnasium, and later entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, and three years later he entered the Institute of Railway Engineers. In 1879 he became an engineer on the Nikolaev railway, took an active part in the construction of the Polesskaya railway, and in the late 1880s. transferred to the Ministry of Railways. In 1890, he was a participant in the Berne International Conference on the Organization of International Passenger Communication and, on behalf of Russia, signed a corresponding document following the results of the conference in Bern. In all likelihood, he left the service in the ministry already under S.Yu. Witte, who held a ministerial post in February-August 1892. During the First World War, he was an active member of the military-industrial committee. In 1920, he went into exile through Finland, where he settled in Paris. He served as Chairman of the Union of Russian graduate engineers in France, as well as vice-chairman of the Financial and Commercial and Industrial Union. According to some reports, he was a Freemason. He died on October 1, 1932 in Paris at the age of 81.

The text of these memoirs has not yet been introduced into scientific circulation, however, this text contains a number of interesting features. Firstly, before the readers is not just a text of memoirs that he himself saw (the author was not a direct eyewitness to the events, he only had the opportunity to observe the general situation around the collapse of the Imperial train, but also showed the reaction of society to these events). The author tries to include eyewitness accounts in his text, in particular, his “close relative and friend”, the manager of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway, engineer V.A. Kovanko, who became a direct eyewitness and participant in the tragedy that unfolded near the station. Borki around 2 p.m. October 17, 1888. In addition to including testimonies of participants in the events in his memoirs, he focuses on the controversy that is contained in the second half of the work.

The author himself says that he was actually forced to write this essay by the publication of the memoirs of A.F. Koni, who led the investigation into the crash of the royal train. The publication of the memoirs of the famous lawyer took place in the Pravo i Zhizn publishing house in Moscow at the same time - in 1925, when an article by N.N. Iznar. The polemical nature of the second part of the author's memoirs shows the depth of contradictions between representatives of the Ministry of Communications and the judiciary, who could not regard the events in the totality of their circumstances and causes.

The author ends the text of his work with regret about the decline of the Ministry of Railways. He sincerely regrets that Count S.Yu. Witte did not revive the activities of the ministry, but reduced its activities, equating its activities to a minimum.

In general, for historical science, this text can be useful for historians of the last quarter of the 19th century. In the context of studying the history of emigration, this text is unique in many respects, because the text contains memories, unusual for emigration, about the days of the reign of Alexander III and directly about the most unusual incident for the royal family in the second half of the 19th century. The text is reproduced with the correction of obvious errors.

The collapse of the Imperial train.
October 17, 1888.
(From the memories of fifty years).

At the beginning of October 1888, I was sent by the Minister of Railways to inspect the ports of the Azov and Black Seas and to investigate the issue of overhead costs for the storage and loading of grain goods on ships. Assuming to start the inspection from the ports of the Sea of ​​Azov, I stopped on the way in Kharkov, where the Office of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov Railway was located. roads, firstly, to obtain some information from the Railway Administration, and, secondly, to see my close relative and friend, Eng. V.A. Kovanko road manager. I found Kovanko in an extremely nervous frame of mind. - When asked what was the matter with him, he replied that the royal train was expected and that there would be no trouble on the occasion of this passage. On many sections of the road, work is being completed on the complete replacement of sleepers, the track has not yet been properly strengthened, and here is a heavy train running with double traction and the devil knows at what speed, often far exceeding the scheduled one.

Knowing that Kovanko was a desperate pessimist who always saw everything in a gloomy way, I, to tell the truth, did not pay attention to the fears he expressed.

Parting with me, he said: “Well, brother, goodbye. I don't know if we'll ever meet. After all, you will have to accompany the Imperial train, and you yourself know how dangerous it is now.

He hinted at assassination attempts by terrorists, who had already tried several times to cause train wrecks on which the Highest Persons were traveling.

After visiting the Azov ports, I ended up in Sevastopol. There, the road manager, walking with me along the sidings of the freight station, pointing to the composition of the Imperial train that had just arrived from St. Petersburg, said that both he and the entire road administration were busy preparing for the passage of these trains along the line. At the same time, although not as frankly as Kovanko, he nevertheless expressed that the passage of trains of "extreme importance" to persons in charge always, in addition to troubles, inspires great anxiety. I quote the statements of the two Governors of the roads in confirmation of the fact that there could be no question of negligence or insufficient manifestation of safety concerns when following any road of the Imperial trains on the part of railway employees. Nevertheless, a crash happened, which in its size turned out to be more terrible than all that had been on Russian roads until that time. 22 people were killed and 41 wounded, of which six were fatal.

Despite the fact that the best technical forces and the most experienced specialists among 15 experts were involved in the investigation of this misfortune, it was not possible to come to a definite and firm conclusion about the real causes of the crash. I will talk about the conclusion of the examination below.

On October 18, I was sitting in the front row of seats at the Odessa City Theatre. The last chair from the aisle in this row was the Mayor's chair. The performance was given by a touring opera troupe and it was either “Mermaid” or “Ruslan and Lyudmila” - I don’t remember exactly. In the middle of the first act, the mayor, the well-known general in the admiralty - Zeleny, entered. Not without surprise, I noticed that instead of a poster, he had in his hands several written telegraph forms, which he defiantly reread, and did not look at the stage at all. The first act is over. The curtain fell. But before the audience had time to get up from their seats, he soared again. The choir appeared on the stage and the orchestra began to play "God Save the Tsar." The puzzled and uncomprehending audience nevertheless demanded, as it should be, the repetition of the anthem. After the anthem was performed three times, accompanied by applause and shouts of “hurrah”, Zeleny, turning to face the audience and shaking the telegrams, shouted:

“Gentlemen, a miracle happened. The Lord saved the Royal Family from inevitable death,” after which the mayor began to read out loud the message about the collapse of the Imperial train near the station. Borok.

The audience froze at first. Deathly silence followed. Suddenly someone shouted: anthem! and the whole crowded theater - it seemed as if one person shouted: a hymn! hymn! Something indescribable happened. After each end of the repeatedly performed anthem, deafening cries of “Hurrah” were heard from the audience, unable to come to its senses.

It is not difficult to imagine my state of mind in these unforgettable moments. The telegram read by Zeleny indicated only the number of victims of the disaster, but not a single name was mentioned. I remembered the ominous words spoken by Kavanko at parting in Kharkov, and there was almost certainty that this was a premonition of imminent death, that he was among the 22 killed.

And then there is the clearly overheard remark of one of the spectators closest to me that "these scoundrels engineers cannot even smuggle their Tsar safely"!

Unfortunately for me, I was in the uniform of a railway engineer, which happened to me very rarely, and it seemed to me that the whole audience paid attention to me and looked far unfriendly.

Five days after the disaster, I was already in St. Petersburg. Only there did he learn that Kovanko was alive, not wounded, but terribly shocked by what had happened, and that, having transferred the new composition of the Imperial train to the neighboring road, he returned home and had been lying in bed for several days.

In the ministry, from doormen who took off their outer dress to the minister, K.N. Posyet, inclusive - everyone looked extremely confused and sad. In particular, K.N. Posyet seemed terribly dejected, and although less than a month had passed since I had my last report with him, during this time he had become very haggard and aged. There were no other conversations between the officials of the ministry, as about the collapse and the consequences that it would inevitably have for the fate of individuals and the entire department. Although daily information was received from the site about the progress of A.F. Horses of the investigation - but nothing definite was known yet.

I will now turn to a description of the crash based on stories that I have repeatedly heard from engineer Kovanko.

He received the imperial train from the Lozovo-Sevastopol railway at the station. Lozova. The duties of the local railway authorities were distributed while escorting these trains as follows: the head of the track section was on the locomotive, and the rest in one of the tail cars of the train. In the carriage, in which Kovanko was, was also the Chairman of the Provisional Directorate of State Railways. dear, Baron K.I. Shernval and road inspector Engineer Kroneberg. Here is what Kovanko said.

- “I was sitting by the window, and on the opposite sofa, much to the left of me, sat Kroneberg. Baron Shernval was in another section of the carriage. I thought that one more run and my heavy duty - escorting the Imperial train - would end, and that, finally, it would be possible to sleep and rest after a series of anxious days and nights spent. It was the second hour of a cloudy and rainy day. The train was moving very smoothly, but, as it seemed to me, at a speed exceeding the schedule (37 miles per hour). Suddenly, to the left, in the upper corner of the compartment, the sound of a broken basket was heard. There was total darkness. With a terrible roar from the sides, from above, from below, some invisible heavy objects were flying. It flashed through my head that one more moment and I would be gone. Many of the most important events in my life were clearly presented to me. What happened to me next, I cannot say. Immediately the darkness turned into light and I found myself on the same sofa, but no longer in the car, but on the edge of the railroad tracks. A few steps away from me - in the direction of the train on the right side of the canvas, Bar was also sitting on the edge. Shernval, holding one hand behind his back, groaned loudly. To the right, on the slope of the embankment, with his head buried in loose, wet earth, lay engineer Kroneberg. Jumping to my feet and, still not fully understanding what had happened, I rushed to Kroneberg, but after taking a few steps, I remembered that I was taking the Sovereign and his whole family. Then I climbed from the slope of the embankment onto the roadbed and looked at the train standing in the way. The carriages, it seemed, were all on the rails; only the front of the two locomotives deviated slightly to the side and apparently went off the rails. It seemed strange to me that the train became much shorter than it should have been in reality. Walking along the carriages, I caught up with the first locomotive. The driver, seeing me walking in one uniform jacket with my head uncovered, began to say something, and, jumping off the steps of the locomotive, took off his hat and put it on my head by force. As soon as I rounded the second locomotive and looked along the line, a picture of a terrible crash presented itself to me. The entire edge and slopes of the high embankment were covered with fragments of broken wagons, among which lay the wounded and the dead in a variety of positions. Somewhere people were walking. The first to meet me was the Sovereign, who was holding a piece of rotten wood in his hands. The emperor obviously recognized me, did not say anything to me and walked without stopping in the direction of the locomotives. I went further and began to dispose of the assistance to the wounded and the extraction from under the broken cars. If I were destined to live another hundred years, I am sure that I will not forget to death the amazing picture that I saw at the crash site.

At first, all attention was paid to the extraction of the wounded from under the rubble, still showing signs of life. They didn't even think about cleaning up the corpses. The Empress herself and members of the Royal Family took part in this work. A stunning impression on me was made by the minister's courier, who seemed to be dead, his whole face and head were covered with blood. The corpse was supported in a standing position by some debris. As it turned out later, the courier was only in an unconscious state and remained alive. By evening, somehow managed to extract the wounded, for the transport of which a special train was filed. The entire Royal Family and the surviving personnel of the Retinue and those who accompanied the royal train returned to Lozovaya. A memorial service for the dead and a prayer of thanksgiving for salvation from death were served here. -

Such, in general terms, is the story of the person responsible for following the Imperial train, who miraculously survived and escaped with shell shock. The uniform jacket in which V.A. Kovanko in many places was as if cut with scissors - obviously flying parts of broken cars. Baron K.I. Shernval was injured in the thigh and a broken arm. As for the engineer Kroneberg, he remained unharmed, although with difficulty, as he later said, he freed his head from the loose earth, where it was thoroughly buried.

At the time of the crash, the Royal Family and the closest ranks of the Retinue were in the dining car. This car was turned into chips. The footman serving the Sovereign's dish was killed on the spot. The dog lying at the feet of the Sovereign suffered the same fate. The heavy cover of the car, torn from its place, was somehow miraculously held back by fragments of the walls, and all those sitting at the table remained unharmed. For many years after the crash, it was said that the disease from which the Sovereign died was caused by a strong blow received by him and taken by a cigarette case in his pocket. They also said that one of the Grand Duchesses was badly bruised… However, now after the crash, the entire Royal Family was on their feet, caring for the wounded, and then there was no question of any blows or bruises.

How could it happen that the imperial train, for the safe passage of which all possible and available technical measures had to be taken, suffered such a terrible wreck?

Here is what A.F., by the way, says about this in his memoirs. Horses.

“A technical study of the causes of the crash, carried out by 15 experts - scientific specialists and practical engineers, led them to the conclusion that the immediate cause of the crash was the derailment of the first steam locomotive, which, with its lateral swings, in sizes dangerous for movement, widened the track. These swings were the result of a significant speed that did not correspond to the schedule, nor to the type of freight locomotive, which intensified when a train of extreme length and weight was moving rapidly downhill. - Further A.F. Koni points out that due to the conclusion of engineer Kirpichev and General N.P. Petrov, who carried out an examination of the sleepers at the Technological Institute and recognized the quality of the sleepers as unsatisfactory, was brought to justice by the judicial investigator, in addition to the management, also the Board of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov Railway. - Finally, in several places in his memoirs, A.F. Koni points out that "the brakes were out of order."

I will try to briefly and understandably for non-specialists consider all the above assumptions about the causes of the crash and find out who, in fairness, should be responsible for the misfortune that occurred.

The direct supervision of both all the carriages and the personnel of the imperial trains was entrusted to a special inspection of the imperial trains, which was headed by an engineer d.s.s. at the time of the train crash. Baron Taube: - The following functions remained on the duties of the railway departments: supply of steam locomotives and care for the serviceability of the track along which the train followed.

The Kursk-Kharkovo-Azov railway was not a train departure road, but an intermediate one. She was forced to accept the train in the form in which it arrived at the transfer station with the neighboring road. Neither the road manager nor the road inspector actually had the opportunity to enter into a discussion of the correctness or incorrectness of the composition of the train, for it is quite clear that it was unthinkable to throw this or that car out of the train. - Since the train had 118 axles, instead of relying on 42, as A.F. Horses, then one locomotive could not pull such a heavy train, and it was necessary to go with double traction, and even two passenger locomotives would not be strong enough, and one had to be put at the head of the train, and one more powerful freight locomotive. With such incorrect traction, it was possible to move safely only if the speed indicated for imperial trains was strictly observed, i.e. 37 miles per hour in autumn. Meanwhile, as was proved by a survey of the Graphio apparatus, with which the imperial train was equipped, the speed reached 67 too versts, i.e. was almost twice as much as planned. Unfortunately, A.F. Koni, not in his memoirs, did not say a word about why the train was moving at such a speed. Meanwhile, all the people who, like me, had to get acquainted with the cases of the investigative proceedings, undoubtedly had to remember what happened during the last stop of the train in front of Borki. - Here, in general terms - as far as I can remember what was in the testimony of V.A. Kovanko. A little explanation is needed here.

The train was running very late. In Kharkov, in addition to the local authorities, various deputations from the nobility, zemstvos, etc., were supposed to present themselves to the Sovereign. acceleration of the train on the remaining stages. Engineer objected to this. Kovanko, stating that the train was already moving faster than the timetable. At st. Taranovka (the last before Borki) - the road manager approached the locomotives and warned the drivers that on the entire stretch to Borki, work had just been completed on the complete replacement of the sleepers, and therefore it was necessary to drive the train carefully - without increasing the set speed. But before he could finish his conversation with the drivers, the bar approached. Taube and turning to them said: “Well done guys - they have already reduced the delay a little. Try to catch up some more to Kharkov. You see, I already have a list of awards in my hands. You, he said to the machinists, will be granted a watch. -

What was the position of the drivers. Whom to listen to - the manager of the road or an important general, how they probably imagined the inspector of imperial trains? And here is the promised reward! - Of course, the general's order took precedence over the orders of the manager, who was far from being a general.

So - the main reason that caused the crash - excessive speed, allowed contrary to the instructions and will of the road administration.

Another reason for the crash, as A.F. Horses, this is that the train was running "with broken automatic brakes." This indication is simply sinning against the truth. In reality, this is what happened. - The emperor, as it was known to those who accompanied him on trains by railroads, did not like the sounds resulting from the braking of cars. Therefore, not wanting to disturb him, the carriage in which the Tsar was located was switched off from the circuit of automatic brakes and went only with a hand brake. Since at the time of the crash the entire Imperial family was in the dining car, it turned out that not only this car, but also all those through which the Sovereign passed to reach the dining room, were deliberately turned off and automatic brakes did not work in them. Responsibility for such a blatant violation of the most elementary safety rules should lie with the inspection of the imperial trains, and by no means with the management. the road, which undoubtedly provided steam locomotives with fully functional automatic braking devices. - No driver will move from a place without checking the operation of their brakes.

I will say a few more words about the notorious examination of sleepers, produced by prof. Kirpichev and engineer. gene. N.P. Petrov.

The sovereign, as I mentioned above, picked up a piece of rotten wood at the crash site, which he then handed over to K.N. Posyet, saying at the same time that obviously the sleepers were rotten, which is why the crash occurred. This piece of rotten wood appeared in the investigative proceedings as material evidence. But since it later turned out that all the sleepers on the section of the track on which the crash occurred were new, quite healthy, the “impartial” experts had the idea to carry out some laboratory tests of the sleepers laid on the tracks. To do this, bars of certain sizes were cut out of pine, as the so-called ore, and the same bars from sleepers lying on the canvas. Crutches were driven into both of them. Then, with the help of special instruments, the force required to pull the crutches out of the bars was determined. At the same time, it turned out that a crutch driven into an ore pine provides almost double resistance against a crutch driven into a sleeper lying on the tracks of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov road. Hence the conclusion of the experts that if the rails on the tracks of the washed road would lie on sleepers made of ore pine, and not floating, ordinary, then there is reason to assume that the crash would not have occurred. Only wise experts - professors lost sight of the fact that ore pine is usually used for carpentry and carpentry work, and by no means for cutting into sleepers, the cost of which in those days on the entire railway network did not exceed forty kopecks apiece.

Persons brought to trial and investigation - up to Adjutant General K.N. Posyet inclusive, about which A.F. Horses - were under investigation for several months. But what the author of the memoirs did not consider it necessary to say is that the whole case of the crash was terminated by special order from the Highest. Everyone involved in the case knew that such a turn was given to him because the real culprits turned out to be persons very, very close to Sovereign Alexander III.

The collapse of the imperial train on October 17 led to the collapse of the entire Ministry of Railways. And before this unfortunate event, the department did not have the importance that it, in such an immense country as Russia, should have, and did not enjoy the sympathy of either society or the press. And with the appointment of a number of unsuccessful ministers, the Ministry of Railways was relegated over the years to the level of an ordinary main department. Tariff matters and commercial ports were torn away from the ministry, and it lost its decisive voice in the construction of new railways. One, however, the minister could return to him the lost nerve of the entire railway business - tariffs. It was the future Count S.Yu. Witte. But this great statesman in the post of Minister of Railways remained only a few months. After his appointment to the post of Minister of Finance, he used all his enormous influence in order to further weaken the department of communications.

Notes.
Unforgotten graves: Russian abroad: obituaries 1917-2001: in 6 vols. T. 3. I - K. / Ros. state b-ka; comp. V.N. Dude; Ed. E.V. Makarevich. M., 2001. S. 63.
Renaissance. No. 2680. October 3, 1932

Russian Emperor Alexander III the Peacemaker (1845-1894) ascended the throne on March 2, 1881 after the death of his father Alexander II. He was killed as a result of a terrorist act committed in the center of St. Petersburg. Having come to power, the new sovereign began to implement a completely different policy, directly opposite to that pursued by his father.

The activity of the previous autocrat was assessed negatively, and the reforms carried out by him were called "criminal". Before the reign of Alexander II, peace and order reigned in the country. The population lived prosperously and quietly. However, general liberalization and thoughtlessly carried out reform to abolish serfdom plunged the country into chaos. A huge number of beggars appeared, drunkenness began to flourish, the nobles began to express sharp discontent, and the peasants took up pitchforks and axes.

Portrait of Alexander III

The situation was aggravated by mass terror. Feeling impunity, the radical intelligentsia created many revolutionary circles in which bloody terrorist acts became the norm. But during the commission of criminal acts, not only those who wanted to be killed, but also absolutely strangers, who happened to be at the scene of the tragedy, died. All this undisguised cynicism had to be resolutely combated.

The new emperor gathered extremely intelligent and strong-willed people around him. What is only Sergei Yulievich Witte (1849-1915). He was an ardent opponent of the liberal economy, which gave rise to the collapse of industry and corruption. The Chief Prosecutor of the Governing Synod Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev (1827-1907) took a tough and ruthless policy towards terrorism.

He was the author of the "Manifesto on the inviolability of autocracy". He saw the light on April 30, 1881 and caused general rejoicing in the country. With the direct participation of Pobedonostsev, the terrorists who killed the previous emperor were sentenced to death, although many liberal-minded gentlemen demanded that the death penalty be replaced by imprisonment. Additional measures were taken in the country to combat revolutionary unrest.

All this has borne fruit. By the middle of the 1980s, the terrorist activities of the revolutionary elements had practically come to naught. During the entire reign of Alexander III, the Narodnaya Volya committed only one successful bloody action. In 1882, prosecutor Strelnikov Vasily Stepanovich was killed in the center of Odessa.

The perpetrators of the terrorist act Zhelvakov and Khalturin were arrested. They committed the crime on March 18, and on March 22, by the highest order, they were hanged. Vera Nikolaevna Figner (1852-1942) was later arrested in connection with this crime. She was also sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.

All these harsh, uncompromising measures, of course, frightened the terrorists. And yet in 1887 they attempted to assassinate the new emperor. But the death of Alexander III came much later, and 1887 can be considered the last year of the 19th century, when the revolutionaries tried to carry out a bloody action in the country.

Assassination attempt on Alexander III

The attempt was organized by members of the "Terrorist faction". It was created in December 1886 in St. Petersburg and was formally part of the People's Will party. Its organizers were Pyotr Shevyryov (1863-1887) and Alexander Ulyanov (1866-1887). They planned to kill the sovereign on the anniversary of the death of his father. That is, they decided to date the murder to March 1.

But it should be noted that the terrorists are no longer the same. They did not know the elementary foundations of conspiracy. They told their friends about the planned terrorist act. In addition, many of them were under the supervision of the police as unreliable. And yet, the young people managed to make bombs, but they never made a clear plan for the assassination.

The main organizer of the terrorist act, Pyotr Shevyryov, already in February was frightened of what he had planned. He urgently left the capital and went to the Crimea, informing his accomplices that he had tuberculosis and needed urgent treatment. After that, Alexander Ulyanov took over the functions of the head. He marked the site of the assassination attempt on Nevsky Prospekt not far from the Admiralty.

From February 26 to 28, the conspirators, having hung themselves with bombs, went there in a crowd and waited for the sovereign. But he never showed up. All these walks aroused close interest from the police. One of the conspirators, Andreyushkin, detailed the plan of the assassination attempt to his comrade in a letter. And this comrade had nothing to do with the organization.

It all ended in the most sad way for the members of the "Terrorist Faction". March 1, 1887, when the terrorists again appeared on Nevsky Prospekt, they were arrested, and Shevyryov was detained in the Crimea on March 7. A total of 15 people were involved in the case. Of these, 5 people were sentenced to death, and 8 were given hard labor with subsequent exile.

The trial of the conspirators began on April 15, 1887 and lasted 5 days. The verdict was read out on April 19, and already on May 8, Shevyryov, Ulyanov, Andreyushkin, Osipanov and Generalov were hanged in the Shlisselburg fortress.

Death of Alexander III

The death of Alexander III was preceded by the collapse of the imperial train on October 17, 1888. It should be noted that the sovereign had an athletic physique and possessed great strength. At the same time, his height was 1 meter 90 cm. That is, this man was a real Russian hero with a strong-willed strong character.

On the specified date, the royal family was returning from the Crimea to the capital of the empire. Before reaching Kharkov, near the Borki station, near the village of Chervonny Veleten, a tragedy happened. The cars were pulled by 2 steam locomotives, and the train raced at a speed of almost 70 km / h. On the embankment, the height of which reached 10 meters, there was a derailment of wagons. At the time of the tragedy, there were 290 people on the train. Of these, 21 people died and 68 were injured.

Imperial train crash

At the time of the crash, the sovereign and his family were sitting in the dining room, as it was lunch time - 14 hours and 15 minutes. Their wagon was thrown onto the left side of the embankment. The walls collapsed, the floor collapsed, and everyone who was in the car ended up on the sleepers. The situation was aggravated by the collapsed roof. But the mighty emperor saved people from injuries. He put his shoulders up and held the roof on them until all the victims got out.

Thus, Empress Maria Feodorovna, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the third son of the sovereign Georgy Alexandrovich, daughter Xenia Alexandrovna, as well as representatives of the royal court, who dined with the crowned family, were saved. All of them escaped with bruises, abrasions and scratches. But if the emperor had not held the roof, people would have received much more serious injuries.

The train consisted of 15 wagons. But only 5 of them remained on the railway track. All the others have turned over. Most of all went to the car in which the attendants rode. Everything turned into a mess there. Terribly mutilated corpses were pulled out from under the rubble.

The dining room was not the youngest daughter Olga Alexandrovna and the 4th son of Mikhail Alexandrovich. They were in the royal carriage. When they crashed, they were thrown onto an embankment and sprinkled with debris. But the 10-year-old boy and the 6-year-old girl did not receive any serious injuries.

An investigation was carried out after the accident. It concluded that the cause of the tragedy was the poor quality of the track, as well as the high speed at which the train was traveling.

However, there was another version. Its supporters claimed that the disaster occurred as a result of a terrorist act. Allegedly, in the royal servants there was a person associated with the revolutionaries. He planted a bomb equipped with a clockwork, and he left the train at the last station before the explosion. However, no facts confirming the authenticity of this version were provided.

Alexander III with his wife and children

Emperor's death

The railway accident that happened was fatal for the emperor. The enormous physical and nervous tension provoked kidney disease. The disease began to progress. Soon this affected the health of the sovereign in the most deplorable way. He began to eat poorly, there were problems with the heart. In 1894, the autocrat became very ill, as acute inflammation of the kidneys began.

Doctors strongly recommended to go south. In September of the same year, the royal family arrived at their southern residence, Livadia Palace, on the Black Sea coast. But the healthy Yalta climate did not save the emperor. Every day he got worse and worse. He lost a lot of weight and ate almost nothing. On October 20, 1894, at 2:15 pm, the All-Russian autocrat died of chronic nephritis, which caused complications in the heart and blood vessels.

The death of Alexander III caused nationwide despondency in the country. On October 27, the coffin with the body was delivered to Sevastopol, and from there it was sent by rail to St. Petersburg. On November 1, the remains of the monarch were exhibited for farewell in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, and on November 7, a funeral liturgy and funeral service were held. Thus ended the life of the 13th emperor and autocrat of all Russia.

The parishioners of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos carefully keep the tradition of two icons located in the right side of the temple, which is consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. They were written in gratitude for the miraculous salvation of Emperor Alexander III (father of the holy royal martyr Nicholas II) and his entire family during the wreck of the royal train, which occurred on October 30, 1888 near Borki station. The eldest son Nikolai, sons George and Mikhail, daughters Xenia and Olga, Alexander III himself and Maria Feodorovna were in mortal danger. Their salvation was truly miraculous: the royal family remained unharmed among the wreckage of the broken car.

On the same day, the future Sovereign Nicholas II would write in his diary: “We all could have been killed, but by the will of God this did not happen. During breakfast, our train derailed. The canteen and carriage were smashed, and we came out of everything unscathed. However, there were 20 people killed and 16 wounded... there was a prayer service and memorial service at the Lozovaya station.” During the crash, the roof of the carriage fell on Emperor Alexander III. He was able to hold her on his back, so everyone in the dining car survived. The Grand Duke's wagon turned across the track and lurched over the slope. The force of the blow was so powerful that Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was thrown onto a slope. Six-year-old Olga was saved by a nanny who managed to push her out before the walls and ceiling of the car began to collapse. In the next car, the servants were killed.

Immediately after the crash, Emperor Alexander III, who received a severe bruise in his leg (the dog lying at the feet of the Sovereign at the time of the disaster was killed) and Empress Maria Feodorovna, not paying attention to the wounded hand, assisted the victims. It is significant that among the destruction and debris, the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, located on the train, was found untouched in its original place.

All of Russia was shocked by the possible terrible consequences of the crash. A temple was erected at the site of the disaster in Borki, thanksgiving prayers were served throughout the country, chapels were built, and icons were created.

In the Khomutovo Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, two icons dedicated to this event were ordered at once. One for the Church of the Intercession, and the other - more expensive, in a gilded metal riza, decorated with enamel, was intended as a gift to Sovereign Alexander III himself. At the bottom of the icon is a dedicatory inscription: “In memory of the miraculous deliverance of their Imperial Majesties by the Emperor Alexander III, Empress Maria Feodorovna, their entire august family during the crash of the royal train near the Borki station on October 17, 1888, from the owners of the peasants of the village of Khomutovo, Bogorodsk district, was presented as a gift by the parishioners of the village Khomutov Church. According to legend, the icon was delivered to the Emperor, who was grateful to his subjects for the gift, prayed to the holy saints of God depicted on it, and ordered that the icon be left in the Intercession Church. So in the temple there were two almost identical icons.

They depict the heavenly patrons of members of the royal family - the Right-believing Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, the Holy Prince Michael of Tverskoy, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga, the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious, the Monk Xenia - and the saints whose memory falls on October 30: Prophet of God Hosea and Saint Andrew of Crete. The donation icon also depicts: the unmercenary martyrs Cosmas and Damian (patrons of the royal family), the martyrs Leonty and Eutropius, the holy righteous Lazarus, and at the top - the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands.

A month after the disaster, Alexander III recalled: “Through what the Lord was pleased to lead us, through what trials, moral torments, fear, longing, terrible sadness and, finally, joy and gratitude to the Creator for the salvation of all those dear to my heart, for the salvation of my entire family, from small to large! This day will never be erased from our memory. He was too terrible and too wonderful, because Christ wanted to prove to all of Russia that He still works miracles to this day and saves those who believe in Him and in His great mercy from obvious death.

We are reminded of this today by two icons on the right side of the Intercession Church.

In the centuries-old history of the Imperial House of Romanov, there are many events that, in popular works, have acquired myths or differ significantly from reality. For example, the catastrophe of the royal train at the 277th verst, not far from the Borki station on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway on October 17, 1888, when Emperor Alexander III allegedly held the collapsed roof of the car on his mighty shoulders, thereby saving his family. This statement is present in many historical works.

In the book of our compatriot L.P. Miller, who grew up in exile and now lives in Australia, states: “The Emperor, who possessed incredible physical strength, held the roof of the car on his shoulders when the imperial train crashed in 1888, and allowed his family to crawl out from under the wreckage of the car to safety. place" .

A more impressive and distorted picture of the collapse of the royal train is reproduced in the book of the famous English writer E. Tisdall: “The imperial dining car was in the shadow of a recess. Suddenly the car swayed, shuddered and jumped. There was an infernal thud of colliding buffers and couplings. The bottom of the car cracked and fell under their feet, a cloud of dust billowed up from below. The walls burst with a creak, the air was filled with the roar of cars colliding with each other.

No one understood how it all happened, but the next moment Emperor Alexander III was standing knee-deep in rubble on the railway track, holding the entire middle part of the metal roof of the car on his mighty shoulders.

Like the mythical Atlas, propping up the sky, blinded by dust, hearing the cries of his family, who were among the rubble at his feet, and knowing that at any second they could be crushed if he himself collapsed under a terrible weight.

It is hard to imagine that in a matter of a split second he guessed to turn his shoulders and thereby save the others, as is often said, but the fact that he got to his feet and that the roof collapsed on him may have saved several lives.

When several soldiers came running, the Emperor was still holding the roof, but he was groaning, barely able to bear the strain. Ignoring the screams from under the rubble, they grabbed pieces of planks and propped them up on one side of the roof. The emperor, whose feet were sinking into the sand, let go of the other side, which was resting on the rubble.

Stunned, he crawled on all fours to the edge of the recess, then struggled to his feet.

Such a free statement can be explained only by an insufficiently critical attitude towards historical sources, and sometimes by fictions of writers. It is possible that their use of unverified information about Alexander III came to some extent from the emigrant memoirs of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (1866–1933). He wrote them at the end of his life from memory, since his personal archive remained in Soviet Russia. In particular, these memoirs stated: “After the assassination attempt in Borki on October 17, 1888, the entire Russian people created a legend that Alexander III saved his children and relatives by holding the roof of the destroyed dining car on his shoulders during the revolutionaries’ assassination attempt on the imperial train. The whole world gasped. The hero himself did not attach much importance to what had happened, but the enormous stress of that incident had a detrimental effect on his kidneys. Was it really so? Let us turn to archival documents, eyewitness accounts and other historical sources. Let's try to compare their content in order to reconstruct real events.

In the spring of 1894, Emperor Alexander III fell ill with influenza, which gave complications to the kidneys and caused Bright's disease (kidney nephritis). The first cause of the disease, obviously, was the bruises received during the railway accident near Kharkov (not far from the Borki station) on October 17, 1888, when the entire royal family almost died. The sovereign received such a strong blow to the thigh that the silver cigarette case in his pocket was flattened. Six years have passed since that memorable and tragic event. Let's replay the course of events.

In the autumn of 1888, the family of Emperor Alexander III (1845–1894) visited the Caucasus. Empress Maria Fedorovna (1847-1928) was in these places for the first time. She was struck by the natural, virgin beauty and originality of this wild land. She admired the hospitality and sincere enthusiasm of the meetings of the local population.

Everything good, known to everyone, flies by quickly, like one moment. Finally, the long and tedious, albeit fascinating, journey through the south of Russia came to an end. The royal family set off on their way home to St. Petersburg: first by sea from the Caucasus to Sevastopol, and from there by rail. There seemed to be no sign of trouble. The royal train was pulled by two powerful locomotives. The train consisted of more than a dozen wagons and in some sections went at an average speed of 65 miles per hour.

Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (1868-1918) continued in these October days of 1888, as usual, to regularly keep his diary entries. Let's look into them:

The weather was perfect all day today, perfect summer. At 8½ we saw Ksenia, Misha and Olga. At 10 o'clock we went to lunch on the ship "Chesma". Checked it out after that. Were also on "Catherine II" and "Uralets". We had breakfast on the "Moscow" with the Turkish ambassador. We visited the Naval Assembly in the city and the barracks of the 2nd Black Sea crew. At 4 o'clock we left in the Nikolaevsky train. We passed the tunnel before dark. Dined at 8 o'clock.

A fatal day for everyone, we all could have been killed, but by the will of God this did not happen. During breakfast, our train derailed, the canteen and 6 cars were smashed and we got out of everything unharmed. However, 20 people were killed. and wounded 16. Transferred to the Kursk train and drove back. At st. Lozovoi had a prayer service and a memorial service. They ate right there. We all got off with light scratches and cuts!!!”

Emperor Alexander III wrote the following in his diary for this tragic day: “God miraculously saved us all from inevitable death. A terrible, sad and joyful day. 21 killed and 36 wounded! My dear, kind and faithful Kamchatka is also killed!

October 17, 1888 from the very morning was an ordinary, no different day spent by the royal family while traveling by train. At noon, according to the established court order (although a little earlier than usual), they sat down to breakfast. The entire August family gathered in the dining car (with the exception of the 6-year-old youngest daughter Olga, who was left with an English governess in a compartment) and a retinue - only 23 people. At a large table sat Emperor Alexander III, Empress Maria Feodorovna, several ladies of the retinue, the Minister of Communications, Adjutant General K.N. Posyet, Minister of War P.S. Vannovsky. Behind a low partition, at a separate table, the royal children and the Imperial Court Marshal Prince V.S. Obolensky.

The meal was to be over soon, since it was less than an hour to go to Kharkov, where, as usual, a solemn meeting was expected. The service, as always, was impeccable. At that moment, when the last dish was served, Guryev's porridge, beloved by Alexander III, and the footman brought cream to the Sovereign, everything suddenly shook terribly and instantly disappeared somewhere.

Then Emperor Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna will remember this fateful incident an infinite number of times, but they will never be able to restore it in all the smallest details.

Much later, the youngest daughter of the Tsar, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882–1960), shared her impressions about the railway accident in her memoirs, retold on her behalf in the entry of Canadian journalist Ian Vorres: “October 29 ( October 17, old style. – V.Kh.) the long royal train was in full swing towards Kharkov. The Grand Duchess remembered: the day was overcast, it was snowing wet. At about one o'clock in the afternoon the train drove up to the small station of Borki. The emperor, empress and their four children dined in the dining car. The old butler, whose name was Lev, brought in the pudding. Suddenly the train rocked sharply, then again. Everyone fell to the floor. A second or two later, the dining car exploded like a tin can. The heavy iron roof had collapsed, missing a few inches from the passengers' heads. All of them were lying on a thick carpet that had fallen on the canvas: the explosion cut off the wheels and the floor of the car. The emperor was the first to crawl out from under the collapsed roof. After that, he lifted her, allowing his wife, children and other passengers to get out of the mutilated car. This was truly a feat of Hercules, for which he would have to pay a heavy price, although at that time no one knew this yet.

Mrs. Franklin and little Olga were in the children's carriage, just behind the dining carriage. They waited for the pudding, but it never came.

“I remember very well how, at the first blow, two pink glass vases fell off the table and shattered. I got scared. Nana sat me on her lap and hugged me. There was another blow, and a heavy object fell on both of them. - Then I felt that I was pressing my face to the wet earth ...

It seemed to Olga that she had been thrown out of the car, which had turned into a pile of rubble. She rolled down the steep embankment, and she was seized with fear. Hell raged all around. Some of the cars at the rear continued to move, colliding with the front ones, and fell sideways. The deafening clang of iron hitting iron, the screams of the wounded, frightened the already frightened six-year-old girl even more. She forgot both about her parents and about Nana. She wanted one thing - to run away from the terrible picture that she saw. And she rushed to run wherever her eyes look. One lackey, whose name was Kondratiev, rushed after her and lifted her up in his arms.

“I was so frightened that I scratched the poor fellow’s face,” the Grand Duchess admitted.

From the hands of a footman, she passed into her father's hands. He took his daughter to one of the few surviving carriages. Mrs. Franklin was already there, with two broken ribs and severely damaged internal organs. The children were left alone in the carriage, while the Sovereign and the Empress, as well as all the members of the Retinue who had not received injuries, began to help the life physician, caring for the wounded and dying, who lay on the ground near huge fires, lit so that they could warm up.

“Later, I heard,” the Grand Duchess informed me, “that my mother behaved like a heroine, helping the doctor, like a real sister of mercy.

So it really was. Convinced that her husband and children were alive and well, Empress Maria Feodorovna completely forgot about herself. Her arms and legs were cut with pieces of broken glass, her whole body was bruised, but she stubbornly insisted that she was all right. After ordering her personal luggage to be brought in, she began to cut her underwear into bandages in order to bandage as many of the wounded as possible. Finally, an auxiliary train arrived from Kharkov. Despite their fatigue, neither the emperor nor the empress wanted to get into it before all the wounded had been put on, and the dead, decently cleaned, were loaded onto the train. The number of victims was 281 people, including 21 killed.

The railway accident in Borki was a truly tragic milestone in the life of the Grand Duchess. The cause of the crash was never established by the investigation. /…/

Many of the retinue died or became crippled for life. Kamchatka, the favorite dog of the Grand Duchess, was crushed by the rubble of a collapsed roof. Among those killed was Count Sheremetev, the commander of the Cossack convoy and personal friend of the emperor, but an intangible, but terrible sense of danger was mixed with the pain of loss. That gloomy October day put an end to a happy, carefree childhood, the snowy landscape, dotted with the wreckage of the imperial train and black and scarlet spots, crashed into the memory of the girl.

Of course, these notes of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna are more the fruit of the memories of others, since she was only 6 years old at that time and she could hardly have known about some of the details of the tragic event that were retold in her memoirs on her behalf. In addition, the information given here about the death of the commander of the Imperial convoy V.A. Sheremetev (1847–1893) do not correspond to reality. This is how myths appear, which begin to live an independent life, having migrated to many popular works.

Reporting on the incident, the official press organ Government Gazette indicated that the car “although remained on the canvas, but in an unrecognizable form: the entire base with wheels was thrown out, the walls flattened, and only the roof, curled up on one side, covered those in the car. It was impossible to imagine that anyone could survive such destruction.

In turn, we should note to readers that it was still difficult to talk about the causes of the crash, but the government immediately declared: "There can be no question of any malicious intent in this accident." The press reported that 19 people were killed, 18 were injured.

In addition, we also note from ourselves that the car in which the royal family was located was saved from complete destruction only by the fact that its bottom had a lead gasket, which softened the blow and did not allow everything to fall apart.

The investigation found that the royal train was traveling in this dangerous section with a significant excess of speed (64 versts per hour, as it made up for a delay on schedule), and the disaster occurred 47 versts south of Kharkov - between Taranovka and Borki stations. The locomotive and four carriages derailed. It was not a terrorist act, as some initially assumed. Even before the trip, experts warned the emperor that the train was composed incorrectly - a light car of the Minister of Railways K.N. was inserted into the middle of the very heavy royal cars. Posyet. Engineer S.I. Rudenko repeatedly pointed this out to the inspector of the Imperial trains, engineer Baron M.A. Taube. He, as always, answered that he knew everything well, but could not do anything, so P.A. controlled the speed of movement. Cherevin, regardless of the timetable or the unsatisfactory condition of the railway track. The weather was cold and rainy. A heavy train pulled by two powerful locomotives, descending from a six-yard embankment that went through a wide and deep ravine, damaged the track and derailed. Some of the wagons were destroyed. 23 people died, including the footman who served the cream to the Sovereign, and four waiters who were in the dining car (behind the partition) did not escape. There were 19 wounded. (According to other sources: 21 people died, 35 were injured.) As we can see, the number of victims in the sources is always indicated differently. It is possible that some of the victims later died from their wounds.

Members of the royal family remained practically unharmed, only the king himself received such a strong blow to the thigh that the silver cigarette case in his right pocket was badly flattened. In addition, he received a severe back bruise from a massive tabletop that fell on him. Perhaps later this injury contributed to the development of kidney disease, from which Emperor Alexander III died six years later. The only witnesses from the outside of this railway crash were the soldiers of the Penza Infantry Regiment, petrified with horror, who stood in a chain along the line of the canvas in this area for protection during the passage of the royal train. The sovereign, having looked at the whole picture of the catastrophe and realizing that there was no other real opportunity to provide proper assistance to the injured people with the forces and means of only the surviving persons of the broken train, ordered the soldiers to shoot into the air. An alarm was raised throughout the security chain, the soldiers fled, and with them was a military doctor of the Penza regiment and a small amount of dressings.

Immediately after the crash and the evacuation of the wounded, at the nearest station Lozovoy, the rural clergy served a memorial service for the dead and a prayer of thanksgiving on the occasion of deliverance from danger to the survivors. Emperor Alexander III ordered dinner to be served for all who were and survived on the train, including servants. According to some testimonies, he ordered to transfer the remains of the dead to St. Petersburg and provide financial support for their families.

On the basis of the materials of the investigation of the state commission, appropriate conclusions were made, according to which appropriate measures were taken: someone was dismissed, someone was promoted. However, they revised the entire previously established article of the movement of the royal train. In this field, S.Yu., now known to many, made a dizzying career. Witte (1849–1915). Thanksgiving prayers were served throughout the country for the miraculous salvation of the August family.

It is interesting to compare the memoirs of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna we quoted with the diary entries of General's wife A.V. Bogdanovich (1836–1914), who kept a high-society salon and was aware of all the events and rumors of the capital: “In recent days, there has been a terrible accident on the Kharkov-Oryol road on October 17th. One cannot listen to the details of the wreck of the tsar's train without shuddering. It is incomprehensible how the Lord preserved the royal family. Yesterday Salov told us the details given to him by Posyet when they were returning yesterday from Gatchina, upon the arrival of the Sovereign. The royal train consisted of the following cars: two locomotives, followed by an electric lighting car, a car where the workshops were located, a Posyet car, a class II car for servants, a kitchen, a pantry, a dining room, a car led. princess - letter D, letter A - the carriage of the Sovereign and the Queen, letter C - the crown prince, ladies' retinue - letter K, ministerial retinue - letter O, convoy No. 40 and luggage - B. The train traveled at a speed of 65 miles per hour between Taranovka and Borki. We were late for 1½ hours according to the schedule and caught up, since a meeting was supposed to be in Kharkov (here is a little darkness in the story: who ordered to go faster?).

It was noon. Earlier than usual, they sat down to have breakfast in order to finish him as far as Kharkov, which had already defended only 43 versts. Posiet, getting out of his carriage to go to the royal dining room, went into the compartment to Baron Shernval, called him to go along, but Shernval refused, saying that he had drawings that he needed to consider. Posyet left alone. The entire royal family and retinue gathered in the dining room - a total of 23 people. Little led. Princess Olga remained in her carriage. The dining room was divided into 3 parts: in the middle of the car there was a large table, on both sides the dining room was fenced off - on one side there was an ordinary table for snacks, and behind the other partition, closer to the pantry, there were waiters. In the middle of the table, on one side, was the Sovereign, with two ladies on the sides, and on the other side, the Empress, Posyet sat on her right, and Vannovsky on the left. Where there was a snack, the royal children sat there: the Tsarevich, his brothers, sister, and Obolensky with them.

At that moment, when the last dish was already served, Guryev's porridge and the footman brought cream to the Sovereign, a terrible pitching began, then a strong crack. All this was a matter of a few seconds - the royal carriage flew off the carts on which the wheels were held, everything in it turned into chaos, everyone fell. It seems that the floor of the car survived, the walls flattened, the roof was torn off from one side of the car and covered those who were in the car with it. The Empress captured Posyet in a fall by the sideburns.

Posyet was the first to get to his feet. Seeing him standing, the Sovereign, under a pile of rubble, not having the strength to rise, shouted to him: “Konstantin Nikolaevich, help me get out.” When the Sovereign got up and the Empress saw that he was unharmed, she cried out: “Et nos enfants?” (“What about the children?”). Thank God, the children are all safe. Xenia stood on the roadbed in one dress in the rain; the telegraph official threw his coat over her. Mikhail was found, buried in the rubble. The Tsarevich and George were also unharmed. When the nanny saw that the wall of the car was broken, she threw little Olga onto the embankment and threw herself after her. All this happened very happily. The car was thrown across the dining room and stood between the buffet car and the dining room across. They say it served as a salvation for those in the dining room.

Zinoviev told Posyet that he saw how a log crashed into the dining room, two inches from his head; he crossed himself and waited for death, but suddenly it stopped. The man who served the cream was killed at the feet of the Sovereign, and the dog that was in the carriage was also a gift from Nordenschild.

When the whole royal family gathered, and they saw that the Lord had saved them, the king crossed himself and took care of the wounded and killed, who turned out to be many. Four waiters who were in the dining room behind a partition were killed. Posyet's car was the first to derail. The guards who stood along the track say that they saw something dangle around the wheel of one of the cars, but, due to the speed of the train, they cannot indicate in which car it was. They think that the bandage on the wheel burst. In the first, electric, car, the people who were there were hot - they opened the door. Three of them, therefore, were saved - they were thrown onto the road unharmed, but the others were killed. In the workshop, where there were wheels, and various accessories in case of breakage, everything was killed. Posyet's carriage shattered into dust. Shernval was thrown onto the slope, he was found sitting. When asked if he was badly wounded, he did not answer, only waved his arms; he was morally shaken, not knowing what had happened. The Empress and the Sovereign approached him. She took off her cap and put it on Shernval so that he would be warmer, since he did not have a cap. He had three broken ribs and bruised ribs and bruised cheeks. In Posyet's car there was also the road inspector Kronenberg, who was also thrown onto a pile of rubble, and his whole face was scratched. And the manager of the road, Kovanko, was also thrown out, but so successfully that he didn’t even get his gloves dirty. The stoker was killed in the same car. In the class II carriage, where there were servants, few people survived - everyone received severe wounds: those who were not killed on the spot, many were crushed by the front benches. In the kitchen, the cooks were injured. The wagons lay on both sides. From the retinue of the Sovereign, all more or less received bruises, but all were light. Posyet's leg was hurt, Vannovsky had three bumps on his head, Cherevin's ear was hurt, but Sheremetev, the head of the convoy, suffered the most: the second finger on his right hand was torn off and his chest was severely crushed. It is hard to imagine that with such destruction, the damage is still negligible. The Empress's left hand, which she still keeps on a leash, was crumpled, and her ear was also scratched, that is, near the ear. In other carriages, the people who were there did not suffer any damage. Under the royal carriage, where the bedrooms of the king and queen were located, the wheels of other carriages rolled up, and the crown prince's carriage was braked so much that they turned its wheels into a sleigh. Baron Taube, who always accompanies the tsar's trains, was at Shirinkin's in the retinue carriage. When he learned about what had happened, he rushed to run into the forest; the soldiers guarding the path nearly killed him, thinking he was an intruder. Shirinkin sent escorts to catch up with him and bring him back. Posyet lost all his belongings during the crash, remained in one frock coat.

When everyone got into the carriages again, that is, when they again set off from Lozovaya to Kharkov, the Sovereign and the Empress visited Posyet in his compartment. He lay undressed. The queen sat next to him on the bench where he lay, and the Emperor remained standing. She consoled him and stayed with him for 20 minutes, not allowing him to get up from his seat. When Posyet got out of the car, Salov says that he had an earthy complexion, he was very haggard. The emperor is very cheerful and even fatter. The Empress is also cheerful, but she has grown old. It is understandable what she went through during this terrible time.

Today it is printed that the Sovereign handed over to the gendarmerie officer a piece of wood - a rotten sleeper. I asked Salov on the phone if this message was true. He replied that Vorontsov, however, picked up a piece of wood and said that it was a rotten sleeper, handed it over to the Sovereign, who immediately gave this piece to the gendarme. But Salov is sure that this is not a sleeper, that they were all changed two years ago on this road, but that this is a fragment of a wagon. Young Polyakov, the owner of this road, says that Posyet's carriage, which was very dilapidated, is to blame. Posyet made it clear to Salov that it was as if they were driving so soon on the orders of the Sovereign himself. Now the investigation will find out everything. Koni and Verkhovsky from the Ministry of Railways went there to the place. There are a lot of victims: 23 killed and 19 wounded. All are royal servants.

It is curious to note that the gendarmerie general V.F., known to many, paid great attention to this incident. Dzhunkovsky (1865-1938), who before the First World War held the post of Assistant Minister of the Interior, and who was listed in the Retinue of Emperor Nicholas II. During his life he left extensive diaries and handwritten memoirs, still largely unpublished. In particular, he wrote: “Emperor Alexander III was returning with his entire family from the Caucasus. Before reaching Kharkov, near the Borki station, several cars derailed and, at the same time, there was a crash, the dining car, in which at that time the emperor was with his whole family and the closest retinue, collapsed, the roof of the car covered everyone sitting at the table, two cells The footmen who were serving buckwheat porridge at that time were killed on the spot by a fallen roof. Alexander III, who possessed incredible strength, somehow instinctively held the roof and thereby saved everyone sitting at the table. With terrible efforts, he supported the roof until he managed to pull out from under it all those who were sitting. This effort forever affected the health of Alexander III, damaged his kidneys, which was the reason for his premature death 6 years later. Several more carriages of the Imperial train were smashed to pieces, there were many victims, both killed and wounded. The sovereign and the empress did not leave the crash site until an ambulance train arrived from Kharkov, bandaged all the wounded, placed them on trains, transferred all the dead to the same place and into the baggage car and served a memorial service for them. With the help of her daughters, the maid of honor, the Empress herself bandaged the wounded and comforted them. Only when everything was over, the ambulance train moved to Kharkov, taking the victims with it, the royal family with the faces of the Retinue in an emergency train followed them to Kharkov, where Their Majesties were enthusiastically greeted by Kharkovites, proceeded straight to the Cathedral among the jubilant crowd that flooded all the streets. A prayer of thanksgiving was served in the Cathedral for the inexplicable miracle that had been accomplished - the salvation of the royal family. As never before, God's providence has come to pass...

On Sunday, October 23, the Sovereign returned to the capital. A solemn entry of Their Majesties took place in St. Petersburg... Countless crowds of people stood all along the way. The sovereign drove straight to the Kazan Cathedral, where a prayer service was served. Here on the square were students, not excluding students of the university and many educational institutions. There was no limit to the applause, all this youth greeted the royal family, their hats flew up, “God save the Tsar” was heard in the crowd, here and there. The Emperor rode in an open carriage with the Empress.

The closest witness to all this, the mayor Gresser, told me that he had never seen anything like it, that it was an element, an element of enthusiasm. Students and youth literally besieged the Tsar's carriage, some directly grabbed hands and kissed. At one student's hat, thrown by him, fell into the carriage of the Sovereign. The Empress says to him: "Take your hat." And he is in a fit of delight: "Let him stay." A dense crowd fled from the Kazan Cathedral to the Anichkov Palace behind the carriage of the Sovereign.

For several days the capital celebrated the miraculous salvation of the Sovereign, the city was decorated, illuminated, educational institutions were dissolved for 3 days.

Of course, everyone was interested in the cause of the crash. There was a lot of talk, talk, they talked about the assassination, they just didn’t come up with anything ... In the end, it was definitely confirmed that there was no assassination attempt, that the fault lay solely with the Ministry of Railways ... ".

A day later, i.e. October 24, 1888, another entry in the diary of General's A.V. Bogdanovich regarding the clarification of the details of the wreck of the royal train: “There were a lot of people. Moulin said that he saw the artist Zichy, who accompanied the Sovereign on a trip and was in the dining room. He was doused with porridge during the disaster. When he found himself outside the carriage, the first thing he remembered was his album. He entered the ruined dining room again, and the album immediately caught his eye. It is said that two days before the catastrophe the Emperor made a remark at the table to Posiet that stops are very frequent. To this Posyet replied that they are made to take water. The sovereign said sternly that it was possible to store it, not so often, but in larger quantities at a time.

You hear a lot of interesting details about the crash. All more or less got scratches, but all are healthy. Obolenskaya, born Apraksina, had her shoes torn off her feet. Rauhfus (doctor) is afraid that there will be consequences for the led. Princess Olga from the fall. Vannovsky strongly scolds Posyet. The whole retinue of the king says that his carriage was the cause of the crash. It is surprising that everyone, when they talk about the danger that threatened the royal family, exclaims: “If they died, then imagine that then Vladimir would be Sovereign with Maria Pavlovna and Bobrikov!” And these words are spoken with horror. E.V. [Bogdanovich] says that he did. book. Vladimir makes a bad impression with his trips around Russia.

However, as often happens, the memories of indirect witnesses of the events of those days do not always coincide with what those who were involved in this incident told about it. There are many examples of this.

On November 6, 1888, Empress Maria Feodorovna wrote to her brother Wilhelm, the Greek King George I (1845-1913), a detailed and emotional letter about a terrible incident: “It is impossible to imagine what a terrifying moment it was when we suddenly felt next to us the breath of death, but at the same moment we felt the greatness and power of the Lord when He extended His protective hand over us ...

It was such a wonderful feeling that I will never forget, like the feeling of bliss that I experienced when I finally saw my beloved Sasha and all the children safe and sound, emerging from the ruins one after another.

Indeed, it was like a resurrection from the dead. At that moment, when I got up, I did not see any of them, and such a feeling of fear and despair took possession of me that it is difficult to convey. Our car was completely destroyed. You probably remember our last restaurant car, similar to the one in which we traveled together to Vilna?

Just at the very moment when we were having breakfast, there were 20 of us, we felt a strong push and immediately after it a second one, after which we all ended up on the floor, and everything around us staggered and began to fall and collapse. Everything fell and cracked like on Judgment Day. At the last second, I also saw Sasha, who was opposite me at a narrow table and who then collapsed down along with the collapsed table. At that moment, I instinctively closed my eyes so that they would not get shards of glass and everything that was falling from everywhere.

There was a third push and many others right below us, under the wheels of the wagon, which arose as a result of a collision with other wagons that bumped into our wagon and dragged it further. Everything rumbled and rattled, and then suddenly there was such a dead silence, as if no one was left alive.

I remember all this clearly. The only thing I don't remember is how I got up, from what position. I just felt that I was standing on my feet, without any roof over my head and I didn’t see anyone, since the roof hung down like a partition and made it impossible to see anything around: neither Sasha, nor those who were on the opposite side, since the most a large common car turned out to be right next to ours.

It was the most terrible moment in my life when, you can imagine, I realized that I was alive, but that none of my loved ones was near me. Oh! This was really scary! The only people I saw were the Minister of War and the poor conductor, begging for help!

Then all of a sudden I saw my dear little Xenia appearing from under the roof a little further away from me. Then Georgy appeared, who was already shouting to me from the roof: “Misha is here too!” and, finally, Sasha appeared, whom I put into my arms. We were in a place in the car where there was a table, but nothing that had previously stood in the car survived, everything was destroyed. Nicky appeared behind Sasha, and someone shouted to me that Baby was safe and sound, so I could thank Our Lord with all my heart and soul for His generous mercy and mercy, for keeping everyone alive for me, not losing a single hair from their heads!

Just think, only one poor little Olga was thrown out of her car and she fell down a high embankment, but she did not receive any injuries, nor did her poor fat nurse. But my unfortunate waiter suffered leg injuries as a result of a tiled stove falling on him.

But what grief and horror we experienced when we saw the many killed and wounded, our dear and devoted people.

It was heartbreaking to hear screams and moans and not be able to help them or just shelter them from the cold, since we ourselves had nothing left!

All of them were very touching, especially when, despite their suffering, they first of all asked: “Is the Sovereign saved?” - and then, being baptized, they said: “Thank God, then everything is in order!”

I have never seen anything more touching. This love and all-consuming faith in God really amazed and was an example for everyone.

My dear old Cossack, who had been by my side for 22 years, was crushed and completely unrecognizable, as he was missing half of his head. Sasha's young rangers, whom you probably remember, also died, as did all those poor fellows who were in the car that was driving in front of the dining car. This car was completely smashed to pieces, and only a small piece of the wall remained!

It was a terrible sight! Just think, to see the broken cars in front of you and in the middle of them - the most terrible - ours, and realize that we are still alive! It's completely incomprehensible! This is a miracle that our Lord has created!

The feeling of regaining life, dear Willy, is indescribable, and especially after those terrible moments when I called my husband and five children with bated breath. No, it was terrible. It was possible to go crazy with grief and despair, but the Lord God gave me the strength and calmness to endure this and with His mercy returned them all to me, for which I will never be able to thank Him properly.

But the way we looked - it was terrible! When we got out of this hell, we were all with bloody faces and hands, partly it was blood from wounds due to glass fragments, but mostly it was the blood of those poor people that got on us, so in the first minute we thought that we were all also seriously injured. We were also in the ground and dust, and so much that we could finally wash off only after a few days, it stuck to us so firmly ...

Sasha severely pinched his leg, so much so that they managed to pull it out not immediately, but only after a while. Then he limped for several days, and his leg was completely black from hip to knee.

I also pinched my left hand quite badly, so that for several days I could not touch it. She, too, was completely black, and it was necessary to massage her, and blood was flowing heavily from the wound on her right arm. Besides, we were all bruised.

Little Xenia and George also hurt their hands. Zinoviev's poor old wife had an open wound from which blood flowed very profusely. The children's adjutant also injured his fingers and received a severe blow to the head, but the worst thing happened to Sheremetev, who was half crushed. The poor fellow has been injured in his chest, and has not fully recovered to this day; one of his fingers was broken, so that it dangled, and he badly hurt his nose.

All this was terrible, but this, however, is nothing compared to what happened to those poor people who were in such a deplorable state that they had to be sent to Kharkov, where they are still in the hospitals in which we they were visited 2 days after the incident ...

One of my poor waiters lay under the car for 2 and a half hours, continuously crying for help, since no one could pull him out, the unfortunate one, he had 5 broken ribs, but now, thank God, he, like many others, is recovering.

Poor Kamchatka also died, which was a great grief for poor Sasha, who loved this dog and who is now terribly lacking.

Type ( nickname of the dog of Empress Maria Feodorovna. – V.Kh.), fortunately forgot to come to breakfast that day and thus at least saved his life.

Now three weeks have passed since the incident, but we still think and talk only about this, and you imagine that every night I dream about everything, that I am on the railway ... ".

It is worth noting that Emperor Alexander III, like his father, had his own “personal” favorite hunting dog. In July 1883, the sailors of the cruiser "Afrika", which returned from a long voyage from the Pacific Ocean, presented him with a Kamchatka white husky with tan on the sides, which was called Kamchatka. Laika became a favorite in the royal family, as evidenced by the many entries in the children's diaries of the grand dukes and princesses. Kamchatka accompanied her master everywhere, even spent the night in the imperial bedroom. Laika was taken with them on sea voyages on a yacht. The image of the dog is also preserved in family photo albums. The emperor buried his beloved husky Kamchatka, who died in a railway accident, under his own windows of the palace in Gatchina in His Imperial Majesty's Own Garden. She was erected a monument of red granite (in the form of a small quadrangular pyramid), where it was carved: “Kamchatka. 1883-1888". In the emperor's study, a watercolor by the artist M.A. hung on the wall. Zichy with the inscription "Kamchatka. Crushed in the crash of the Tsar's train on October 17, 1888.

Secretary of State A.A. Polovtsov (1832-1909) learned about the circumstances of the railway accident of the royal train, and also, according to the words of Empress Maria Feodorovna, wrote down a story about this incident in his diary on November 11, 1888: “At 10½ o'clock. I go to Gatchina and, having met Posyet at the station, I sit down with him alone in the carriage prepared for him. Of course, the story of the crash begins with the first words. Posyet is trying to prove to me that the cause of the crash is not the state of the railway, but the senseless composition of the royal train on the orders of Cherevin as the chief head of the guard. The security inspector Taube, appointed from among the engineers, could do nothing but obey. To this I object to Posyet that he himself should have demanded that the Sovereign obey reasonable demands of caution and, in case of refusal, ask for dismissal from duties, and by no means accompany the Sovereign on a trip. Posyet agrees with this, saying that he exclusively considers himself guilty of this. Regarding his resignation, Posyet claims that, returning to St. Petersburg, he said to the Sovereign: “I am afraid that I have lost your confidence. In such conditions, my conscience forbids me to continue the service of the minister. To this the Sovereign seemed to answer: “This is a matter of your conscience, and it is better for you than for me to know what you should do.” Posyet: "No, Sovereign, you give me an order, either to stay, or to retire." The Sovereign did not answer such a phrase. “Having returned home and, having thought it all over again, I wrote a letter to the Sovereign, asking for his dismissal. To this, in response, an order was issued for my dismissal.

Upon arrival at the Gatchina Palace, I go to the rooms of the Empress below, where I find many military and civil officials looking forward to performances. /…/.

The Empress receives me extremely kindly. She can't talk about anything but her railway misfortune, which she tells me in detail. She sat at the table opposite the Sovereign. Instantly everything disappeared, collapsed, and she found herself under a pile of rubble, from which she got out and saw in front of her one pile of chips without a single living being. Of course, the first thought was that both her husband and children no longer exist. After some time, her daughter Xenia was born in the same manner. “She appeared to me like an angel,” the Empress said, “she appeared with a radiant face. We threw ourselves into each other's arms and wept. Then from the roof of the broken carriage I heard the voice of my son George, who shouted to me that he was safe and sound, just like his brother Mikhail. After them, the Sovereign and the Tsarevich finally managed to get out. We were all covered in mud and covered in the blood of people killed and wounded near us. In all this, the hand of providence, which saved us, was tangibly visible. This story went on for about a quarter of an hour, almost with tears in his eyes. It was evident that until now, at a distance of almost a month, the Empress could not think about anything else for a long time, which, however, she confirmed by saying that every night she constantly sees railways, wagons and wrecks in her dreams. Having finished my performance on the ground floor, I went upstairs to the Tsar's reception room./…/

From a conversation with Obolensky, I understood the reason for the dissatisfaction that was shown to me in a rather rude form. The point is that on led. Princes Vladimir and Alexei are indignant in Gatchina because they did not immediately return to Petersburg after the Boron misfortune, but continued to live in Paris, and the hunts there, in which I took an active part, were described in unbearable French newspapers as a series of some extraordinary holidays. Obolensky, indulging in indignation at such behavior led. book. Vladimir Alexandrovich, he concluded as follows: “After all, if we were all killed there, then Vladimir Alexandrovich would have ascended the throne and for this he would immediately come to St. Petersburg. Therefore, if he did not come, it was only because we were not killed.” It is difficult to give a serious answer to such original logical conclusions. I answered in general places and realized that indignation was poured out on me, as the first representative of the Parisian holidays, probably he would not dare to show his brothers at all.

A few years later, Emperor Alexander III recalled in a letter to his wife: “I fully understand and share everything that you experience at the crash site in Borki, and how this place should be dear and memorable to all of us. I hope someday we will be able to go there together with all the children and once again thank the Lord for the wonderful happiness and that He saved us all.

A beautiful chapel was erected on the site of the wreck of the royal train, where every time the Sovereign passed, a prayer service was served in it. The last such prayer service in the Russian Empire in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II took place on April 19, 1915.

Recall that already on October 23, 1888, the Highest Monarchal Manifesto was promulgated, in which all subjects were informed about what had happened in Borki: to the end the great service to which we are called by His will.

Since then, all members of the royal family had icons of the Savior, specially made in memory of the experienced railway accident. Every year under Emperor Alexander III in St. Petersburg, the anniversary of “the miraculous appearance of the Providence of God over the Russian Tsar and all His Family, during the collapse of the Imperial train near the station. Borki. On this significant day, the capital of the Russian Empire was decorated with flags and illuminated. In St. Petersburg, in memory of this event, a chapel was consecrated at the Church of the Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos on Zagorodny Prospekt.

Some time later, at the site of a railway wreck, near the town of Borki (Zmievsky district, Kharkov province), 43 versts from Kharkov, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was laid. It was built during 1889-1894. in memory of the deliverance of the royal family from danger. In addition, the Church of the Epiphany of the Lord (1892-1899) was built in St. Petersburg on Gutuevsky Island. The Day of the Miraculous Salvation (October 17) during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II forever remained a day of remembrance for the royal family and members of the Imperial family, when every year everyone was present at the church service and, perhaps, involuntarily many thought about the frailty of everything earthly, and sometimes about an accident and unpredictability of events.

There is a well-known replica of Sovereign Alexander III after the railway crash of the royal train on October 17, 1888 in Borki, when, accepting congratulations on the miraculous salvation of the royal family, he caustically remarked: “Thank God, both I and the boys are alive. How disappointed Vladimir will be!” However, let's not judge strictly. Perhaps this is just an idle fiction of "evil tongues", which, as you know, are "more terrible than a gun." Although, obviously, the rumors were stubborn. So, for example, the youngest daughter of Alexander III, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, in her declining years dictated her memoirs, which emphasized: “The only thing that united the brothers - Alexander and Vladimir Alexandrovich - was their Anglophobia. But in the depths of the soul of Grand Duke Vladimir lived envy and something like contempt for his elder brother, who, according to rumors, said after the disaster in Borki: “I can imagine how disappointed Vladimir will be when he finds out that we all escaped!”

But Empress Maria Feodorovna managed to maintain - at least outwardly - good relations between both families.

“I know that Mama2 treated the Vladimirovichs no better than the rest of us, but I never heard a single unkind word from her about them.”

For our part, we should emphasize that in the event of the death of the royal family, the history of Russia could go in other, unknown ways. The reality of this is confirmed by the diary entry of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich (better known to many under the name of the poet “K.R.”) dated October 19, 1888: “God saved the Sovereign from terrible danger: on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway. etc., the second locomotive and four wagons derailed. The dining car, in which the Tsar and his family were having breakfast at that time, was completely smashed, but everyone remained, miraculously unharmed. The Minister of War, Cherevin and Sheremetev were slightly wounded, of the rest accompanying 21 people were killed and 37 were wounded. It all happened, they say, because of a broken rail. Yesterday morning, a telegram with this news appeared in the supplements to the “Governmental Bulletin”, but nothing was said about the dead and wounded ... It becomes scary when you think that the Sovereign, Empress and all the children could die, and the throne passed to little Cyril, since Vladimir, married to a Lutheran, cannot reign.

This circumstance, regarding the hereditary rights to the throne of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847–1909) and his sons, still causes different (often mutually exclusive) interpretations both among contemporaries of those events and modern Russian historians. It should be noted that Vladimir Alexandrovich himself somehow remarked on this occasion to his uncle, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich (1832-1909), that under certain circumstances, Maria Pavlovna would immediately convert to Orthodoxy "in the name of the state."

By the way, for our part, we note once again that Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the eldest) remained a Lutheran for a long time, she converted to Orthodoxy only on April 10/23, 1908. According to the law on succession to the throne, the path to the throne was closed to the Grand Duke, who was married to a non-Orthodox, as well as his offspring from this marriage.

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich (1858–1915) soon made another entry in his diary:

« Friday 21[October].

Yesterday many of us went to Gatchina to meet the Sovereign... Yes, it was a miracle of miracles. We have heard countless stories about this crash, both from the Sovereign himself and from all those who were with him. They unanimously say that they have, as it were, risen from the dead and entered into a new life. As if they were returning from the war with their hands and heads bandaged ... The sovereign still seems to be extremely agitated, dejected and sad. And He, and all his companions, did not talk about anything else, but about the crash. ”

Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, after arriving in Gatchina, still under the vivid impression of the catastrophe of the royal train, wrote a letter in response on October 25, 1888 to his uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857-1905). It details all the tragic events:

"My dear uncle Sergei,

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your lovely, long, and full of lively interest letter, which I received just yesterday at the same time as your telegram. You probably know about the terrible misfortune that happened to us already on the way back from this magnificent journey through the Caucasus and almost cost us all our lives, but thanks to a true miracle of God we were saved! ..

On October 17, the next day after leaving Sevastopol, at 12 noon, we had just finished breakfast, when we suddenly felt a strong point, then another much stronger than the first, and everything began to collapse, and we fell from the chairs. I also saw how a table with everything that was on it swept over my head, and then disappeared - where? Nobody can understand. In my life I will not forget that terrifying cod. Resounding from all the breaking things, glasses, chairs, the clinking of plates, glasses, etc. I involuntarily closed my eyes and, lying down, waited all the time for a blow to the head, which would immediately end me; before that I was sure that the last hour had come, and that probably many of us had already been killed, if not all. After the third push, everything stopped. I lay very comfortably on something soft and on my right side. When I felt cold air from above, I opened my eyes, and it seemed to me that I was lying in a dark and low dungeon; above me, I saw a light in the hole and then began to rise, without much difficulty I climbed out into the light of God and pulled Xenia out of there. It all seemed like a dream to me, so it all happened soon. When I was still climbing out, I thought with chilling horror of dear Papa and Mama, and I will never forget that divine joy when I saw them standing on the roof of the former dining room a few steps from me. I assure you, we all had that feeling that we had risen from the dead and all thanked inwardly and prayed to God in such a way that it can be rare or never in our lives. But when I saw that all those who were sitting at breakfast crawl out one by one from under the rubble, I comprehended the miracle that the Lord performed on us. But immediately all the horrors of the catastrophe began: from the right, from below and from the left, groans and cries for help from the unfortunate wounded began to be heard; one by one they began to carry these unfortunates down the embankment. There was nothing to help them, poor Chekuver was killed on the spot, and his camp pharmacy was broken, and there was nowhere to get water from. In addition, it was raining, which froze to the ground, and the slush was large - here's a faint idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthis amazing picture. There was nothing left of the dining room, the carriage of Xenia, Misha and Baby completely jumped off the track and hung halfway over the embankment. It is terribly damaged, the floor and one wall are torn off and through the open space Baby and Nana ( Mrs Elizabeth Franklin. – V.Kh.) were thrown onto the slope, also unharmed. The big car Papa and Mama is badly dented, the floor is very crooked, and in general its interior is a chaos, since all the furniture and all things have been thrown out of their places and fallen into the corners into a common heap. The carriages - the kitchen and the buffet, and the carriage of the 2nd class are badly mangled, and the main horrors took place in them. Nearly all of those in them were killed or seriously wounded. Whom I first stumbled upon was poor Kamchatka, which was already dead; I felt inexpressibly sad [for] poor Papa, how he would later miss this good dog; although it is somehow ashamed to talk about it when 21 bodies of the best and most useful of people lay nearby. There were only 37 wounded. Mom all the time, without ceasing, went around the wounded, helped them with everything she could and comforted them in every possible way, can you imagine their joy!

But I can’t write everything, God willing, when we see each other again, we will tell you a lot more. An ambulance train came from Kharkov and took our wounded to the clinic.

It was already completely dark when we boarded the Kursk train and drove back. At st. Lozovaya was served a prayer service, and then a memorial service. Two days later there was a touching meeting in Kharkov, where they visited all the wounded. The next day, in Moscow, we were at the Mother of God of Iveron, in the Assumption Cathedral in the Chudov Monastery. We arrived in Gatchina on the 21st with great joy to be at home at last. Until then, goodbye. My dear uncle Sergei. I hug you three tightly.

A month after the railway accident, that is, on November 17, 1888, Emperor Alexander III wrote to his brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich: “Forgive me, dear Sergei, that I have not yet answered your two letters; the first is long and very interesting from Jerusalem, and the second from Athens. Upon returning here, I was overwhelmed with work and letters and could not find the time. – After our so happy and magnificent journey through the Caucasus and the Black Sea, we were glad to return home, and left Sevastopol happy, cheerful and in a better mood after such gratifying impressions. - The evening was marvelous, summer; Sevastopol with its marvelous bays and the whole squadron on the roads, consecrated by the rays of the setting sun and the smoke from the salute is also pink from the sunset, presented a wonderful picture, and under this wondrous impression we left our wonderful south! But God, what was in store for us tomorrow! Through what the Lord was pleased to lead us, through what trials, moral torments, fear, longing, terrible sadness and, finally, joy and gratitude to the Creator for the salvation of all those dear to my heart, for the salvation of my entire family, young and old! What we felt, what we experienced and how we thanked the Lord, you can imagine! This day will never be erased from our memory. He was too terrible and too wonderful, because Christ wanted to prove to all of Russia that He still works miracles and saves those who believe in Him and in His great mercy from obvious death.

After the tragic incident with the royal family, many talked about the problem of the succession of rights to the Russian throne. The law on succession to the throne, adopted by Emperor Paul I in 1797, established a number of mandatory conditions for applicants for the crown of the autocrat. First, the monarch must be Orthodox. Secondly, the monarch must be only male as long as there are males in the Imperial House. Thirdly, the mother and wife of the monarch or heir had to convert to Orthodoxy even before their wedding, if they professed another faith. Fourthly, the monarch or heir must enter into an "equal marriage" with a woman from another "ruling house"; otherwise, "unequal marriage" closed the path to the royal throne not only for this married couple, but also for their heirs. In addition, there was another mandatory condition that the future pretender to the throne could marry only with the permission of the reigning emperor.

In connection with these events, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich told the Secretary of State A.A. Polovtsov about a conversation with Emperor Alexander III, which took place on January 18, 1889. Polovtsov wrote in his diary:

“Vel. book. Mikhail Nikolaevich says that last Wednesday the Tsar spoke with him for a long time about what he was leading. princes should marry exclusively Orthodox, and as evidence of the inconvenience of the contrary, he referred to what could happen in the event of a different outcome of the Bor catastrophe. If all of them were killed, then, in the opinion of the Sovereign, not Vladimir Alexandrovich, who renounced the throne when he married a Lutheran, should take the throne, but his eldest son, Kirill. What confusion all this would produce! Vel. book. Mikhail Nikolaevich is going to talk about all this with the Minister of the Court Vorontsov, but I earnestly ask him to keep this conversation with the Sovereign in deep secrecy.

However, if this opinion is treated strictly enough, it is clear that it did not meet all the above requirements of the law on succession to the throne. If the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich was married to a Lutheran, which blocked his path to the throne, then the children (born in such a marriage) were also deprived of these rights.

As for the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich (1876-1938), during his marriage he violated the law on succession to the throne on two counts. Against the will of the Sovereign and the canons of the Orthodox Church, on October 8 (September 25), 1905, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich married in Bavaria his divorced cousin, Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna (1876–1936), born Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Emperor Nicholas II stripped him of his title and titles, banning him from entering Russia. However, after a short time, the title of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich was returned. The marriage was recognized by the Imperial family only on July 15, 1907.

On this occasion, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich on July 15, 1907, indignantly wrote in his diary: ““ Condescending to the request of Vladimir ...”, - as stated in the decree to the Senate, - the Sovereign recognized the marriage of Cyril. His wife was ordered to be called the Grand Duchess Victoria Fedorovna, and their daughter Maria of the princess imperial blood. All this is strange! What does Vladimir's request have to do with it? And how can this request legitimize what is illegal? After all, Cyril married his cousin, which is not allowed by the church ... Where do we have a firm government that acts meaningfully and consistently? The future is getting scarier and scarier. Everywhere arbitrariness, indulgence, weakness.

Here's another piece of evidence. In 1912, when the tsar's younger brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (1878–1918), contrary to the sovereign's ban, arbitrarily married N.S. Brasova and the question arose of his deprivation of his title and rights to the throne, Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich (1859–1919) intervened in this matter. On November 16, 1912, he sent a letter to Emperor Nicholas II, very interesting in content: “I have thought a lot about the position that is created from Misha's marriage. If he signed or will sign the act of renunciation, then this is very fraught with consequences and not at all desirable. After all, Cyril, as married to a cousin, has also already lost his rights to the throne, and Boris will appear as heriticr presomptif. If this is so, then I really consider the situation in the dynastic sense to be oppressive.

I dare to express this judgment: You, as the Sovereign and the head of the family, are entrusted with the fate of our family laws, which You can change at any time. But I go even further. At any time, equally, You also have the right to change the law on succession to the throne ... So, for example, if You wished to transfer the right of inheritance to the family of Your elder sister Xenia, then no one, not even lawyers with their Minister of Justice, could present You any or arguments against such a change in the law of succession. If I allow myself to speak and put down such considerations on paper, it is solely because I consider the possible abdication of the Throne of Misha to be simply dangerous in terms of the state.

All yours Nikolay M[ikhailovich]» .

Historian G.M. Katkov cites information that Mikhail Alexandrovich's aunt, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1854–1920), believed that the tsar's younger brother stood in the way of her own children, of whom the eldest, Kirill Vladimirovich, could be the next heir to the throne.

In addition, one should not forget that Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich was one of the first to violate the oath to the emperor in the rebellious days of February 1917, when he brought the Guards crew and recognized the supremacy of the State Duma. Although many of the supporters of Kirill Vladimirovich (who proclaimed himself emperor in exile) tried to challenge or justify his "shameful behavior", which was outraged by many of the Romanov dynasty, including at one time the royal couple. However, this is a topic for a separate detailed discussion, to which we will return later.

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847–1909) himself claimed that he had not signed any papers “on the abdication of the throne”, and his younger brother Alexei Alexandrovich (1850–1908) supported him, stating that the Sovereign was wrong in this case. We think that the autocrat Alexander III had good reasons and knew what he was talking about, and his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, repeated his words after the February Revolution, in exile, in connection with the claims of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich to the Russian throne. Isn't it true that this "little secret" of the last representatives of the ruling Romanov dynasty to some extent resembles the "secret of the testament" of Emperor Alexander I (1777-1825). In this will, the rights of the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich (1779–1831), were transferred in favor of his younger brother Nikolai Pavlovich (1796–1855). All this, as you know, later served as a pretext for the Decembrist uprising on Senate Square in St. Petersburg in 1825.

October 17, 1888 (October 30). – Miraculous rescue of Sovereign Alexander III with his family in a train accident near Kharkov

Royal train disaster

On October 17, 1888, at noon, near the Borki station, a train derailed, in which a Russian with the whole Family traveled from Livadia to St. Petersburg. 23 people died and 19 were injured; no one from the Royal Family was seriously injured.

The Taranovka-Borki section of the track was put into operation just two years before the crash. The road was built in excess of the permissible angle of inclination of the track, the rails were laid on sand ballast. It was poured less than the existing norm. Therefore, the embankment was constantly washed away by rains and settled. In the summer of 1888, this haul was declared emergency, and the drivers were advised to drive quietly. The road withstood ordinary trains, although minor accidents occurred quite often. But the heavy royal train at a speed of 60 miles per hour and with a strongly swinging steam locomotive created strong lateral pressure on the rails. Before the passage of the government train, the ballast was added, and the sleepers were replaced, but not with new ones, but taken from another section of the track.

“The imperial train, which left Taranovka station, crashed at noon at a distance of 49 miles from Kharkov. The train rushed at a speed of 58 miles per hour along the embankment, which runs through a deep beam. Their Majesties with the august family and the faces of the retinue at the time of the crash were in the dining car. This car turned into a mass devoid of any form: it was flattened, the cart was thrown far to the side, and the torn off roof covered the remains of the former car. People, tools, luggage, utensils, the bodies of the dead all mixed up in one terrible heap. The groans of the wounded and the dying, pressed down by the rubble, filled the air, making the picture even more terrible. And the Sovereign, Empress and persons of the August family remained unharmed. Their Imperial Majesties refused to enter one of the surviving carriages, and devoted themselves to caring for the wounded, ”the newspapers of that time described what happened.

Eyewitnesses from the imperial retinue reported that the Emperor himself rescued his family from under the wreckage of the car. The iron roof of the car had collapsed, missing a few inches from the passengers' heads. All of them lay on a thick carpet, which was on the canvas: the wheels and the floor of the car were demolished by the crash. With an incredible effort, the emperor raised the roof, allowing his wife, children and other passengers to get out of the mutilated car.

She wrote to her brother that she could not express in words the feelings that had taken possession of her when, among the ruins and groans, she was convinced that her relatives were alive and unharmed, that an invisible force had protected them. A month after the catastrophe, the Emperor wrote to his brother: “Through what the Lord was pleased to lead us through, through what trials, moral agony, fear, longing, terrible sadness and, finally, joy and gratitude to the Creator for the salvation of all those dear to my heart, for the salvation of my entire family from small to large!.. This day will never be erased from our memory.It was too terrible and too wonderful, because Christ wanted to prove to all of Russia that He still works miracles and saves those who believe in Him and in His great mercy from obvious death ".

For an oversight, the Minister of Railways K. Posyet and the Chief Inspector of Railways, Baron Sherval, were dismissed. And the manager of the South-Western Railways S.Yu. Witte, who had unsuccessfully warned the minister of the possibility of a catastrophe, was offered the position of director of the department of railway affairs in the Ministry of Finance - this was the beginning of his public career.

The happy deliverance of the Imperial family loved by the people from death was perceived by the people as a miracle. This happened on the day of memory of the venerable martyr Andrew of Crete and the Old Testament prophet Hosea (the Redeemer). In their name, dozens of churches were built throughout Russia. (Then no one knew that from the bruises received that day, Alexander III would develop kidney disease, from which he would die in six years.)

At the site of the train crash, in memory of this event, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Chapel of the Savior Not Made by Hands were erected according to the project of the academician of architecture Marfeld. The chapel was erected on the site where the dining car was located, from the wreckage of which members of the royal family emerged unharmed. It consisted of two tiers - at the top a tetrahedral tower with a golden dome and a cross, at the bottom, going deep into the railway embankment, a room for worship.

Later, the temple and the chapel were transferred to the Ministry of Communications. A special guardianship was created to take care of the state of the temple. At the expense of railway companies, at the expense of donations from employees and private individuals, a hospital and a nursing home for the elderly railway workers were built, a parochial school, and a public free library named after Emperor Alexander III were opened. Subsequently, for many years the Emperor came here during the Easter festivities.

In Soviet times, the temple was blown up, and the chapel was damaged and stood without a dome for more than 50 years. And now it's time to restore it. “Two residents of Pervomaisky came to see me,” says the head of the Southern Railway, V. Ostapchuk, “they asked me to help somehow strengthen the chapel so that it would not collapse at all. They began to raise the archives in order to find out who owns it, and made sure that it is on the balance sheet of the railway. The highway stretches for many hundreds of kilometers, there are many churches along it, we helped build or restore some of them. But none of them is directly in such proximity. It can be said that God himself ordered us to restore it... This is our past, our history... We also restored the platform, which is also part of this historical place. We hope that this chapel will not only remind passengers of the event that took place 115 years ago, but also protect all people who come here, passing by this holy place.” The Pervomaiskaya platform was returned to its original name Spasov Skete.

Fully restoration of the chapel of the Holy Savior has not yet been completed, there are still works on the painting of the chapel. Now, from the outside, the chapel looks about the same as it did over a hundred years ago, when it was built. But already now, believers and non-believers often come to this place. On October 17/30, 2007, Kharkiv residents made a procession from the town of Merefa to Spasov Skit.

Sources:
http://gortransport.kharkov.ua
and a message from Gennady Maiduk, head of the Kharkiv group of the RNC