(Continued from page 18)

Once the assumption has been made that our Alexei was the missing Prince then all of these pieces start to fall into place.  As it was explained earlier, this man was stone deaf in his right ear.  His doctors had determined that the inner ear had been destroyed by some sort of concussion accident during his early years, but there was no visible sign of there ever having been any physical damage from anything like a bullet.

There are doubts to be raised about bullets bouncing off corsets and there are questions about the number of shots that were fired and the lack of supporting physical evidence.  Again, there is one possibility that might explain these things.  Some of the guns may have been partially or fully loaded with blanks.

Blanks might well give the impression of bullets bouncing off the corsets of the young Grand Duchesses.  It could also explain how a fusillade of shots leaves only a few bullets in the bodies and too few holes in the walls.  It could certainly explain how two or three shots in the right ear would make a boy deaf and cause him to black out... but still allow him to survive.  So, how could Yurovsky ensure that no one else shoots the boy who would make the best hostage because he would be the next Tsar?

Twelve men walked into the room to assassinate seven Royals and their retainers.  If Yurovsky did step out of the way then eleven men with guns were facing eleven victims.  Practically every account says Yurovsky gave each of his men a specific target.  Knowing before he stepped into the room which gunman was going shoot each victim would allow Yurovsky to load each of the guns he handed out in a way that would achieve the desired result. 

When Peter Ermakov (the assassin known as Comrade Mauser) was interviewed by Richard Halliburton back in the 1930's he said something else that fits very neatly into our story.  "There were to be just we three executioners", he said, "If there were to be more than just three of us, we would be in each other's way".  If three guns were loaded and nine were not then it might be possible that those armed with ineffective weapons were there to be witnesses rather than executioners.  Their real purpose may have been to tell what they had seen... and what they had seen may have been a sleight of hand trick designed to create the impression that the heir to Russia's throne had been shot in the head when, in fact, he was still alive.  Careful planning could easily cut the number of Royal prisoners to a single manageable hostage and give Yurovsky a handful of witnesses eager to tell the world that the Romanov dynasty is dead.

What about the curriculum vitae of the man who took command during the final days at the Ipatiev House?  Yakov Yurovsky was placed in charge of a family which included a son in need of medical attention and five women who did a lot of sewing and possessed a considerable amount of jewellery.  All of the family's members were keenly interested in photography.

©  J. Kendrick 1997                                                                                                                                              (Continued on page 20)