(Continued from page 28)

Alexei admitted to the woman who was his best friend and companion for the last two decades of his anonymous life that there were some secrets he preferred to keep to himself.  That was the story he gave his wife when she asked where he got the very regal-looking jewel that he liked to wear on his dinner jacket.

It is an eight point silver star... the badge of Prussia's Order of the Black Eagle, German equivalent to Britain's Order of the Garter.  Prussia's highest order "Der Shwarze Alder Orden" was founded by Frederick I in 1701 and was an honour only the Kaiser could bestow.  Any recipient automatically received hereditary nobility and it was rarely granted to people outside the ruling houses except for exceptional merit.  There were fifty-five at last count in 1912 and the Kaiser left Germany without officially abdicating as the Great War came to a close in November 1918, so there would be no more.

The Tsar was last seen wearing the Black Eagle at the 1913 wedding of the Kaiser's daughter... the last time that the cream of Europe's royalty were seen together in one place.  The Tsarevich who lived a secret life had himself photographed wearing the badge on the left breast of his tailcoat in 1967.  This rare royal jewel currently resides in its velvet box in a Vancouver area bank vault.

           
   
It is clear from the contradictions and discrepancies in their testimony that the jury of twelve who tried, convicted, and executed the Tsar, all in a matter of seconds, had their secrets as well.  Yakov Yurovsky led the group that included his lieutenant Grigory Nikulin, Commissar Peter Ermakov, Chekists Pavel Mevedev and Mikhail Medvedev-Kudrin, a deserter from the Tsar's Life Guards named Alexei Kabanov, and half a dozen Latvian Cheka guards.  Legend has it that one of the Latvians was Imre Nagy who would later lead the 1956 Hungarian revolution and was shot by Soviet Troops.

Let us review the event that took place in Ekaterinburg during the early hours of July 17, 1918 step by step.  There are twelve conspirators in the room.  Our candidate is struck with a glancing blow to the head and left for dead.  The victims are wrapped in blankets and taken away to a place where they are given an indecent burial.  A helping hand is then provided to resurrect our candidate and he is given a jewel by which he might be recognized.

Members of our society who have been initiated into the Craft of Freemasons will be very familiar with the ritual that I have just described.  Our Alexei was, as the expression goes, quite literally "given the Third Degree"... and no one knows how to keep a secret better than the Ancient, Free, and Accepted Masons.

Let me be quite clear that I am not suggesting for a moment that those who did the deed were "Brothers in the Craft".  Neither do I think it likely that anything of a Masonic nature happened by design.  However, members of  "The Craft" will respond to each other in certain ways and will provide assistance to their "brothers" when it is requested.  One of the reasons for joining the Masons is for the connections that can be made with other members... what might be referred to in today's vernacular as "networking".
© J. Kendrick 1997                                                                                                                                        (Continued on page 30)