Whaaaat?

[GDSophie]

I found this on Tumblr.


TRIED TO KILL CZAREVITCH?

Nurse’s Attempt Said to Have Been Balked by the Czarina

PARIS, May 13 – The rumor on the Bourse to-day of an attempt on the life of the Russian Emperor was apparently the outgrowth of a dispatch to the Petit Journal from St. Petersburg saying:

“Society is agitated over a mysterious drama which has occurred at Tsarskoe-Selo. It is alleged that a nurse was about to put the infant heir to the Russian throne into a bath of boiling water when the Empress intervened in time to save the child.”

The dispatch adds that all the domestic servants of the household have been dismissed.

(From The New York Times, May 14, 1905)

[Sanochka]

This reads like an emission from today's National Enquirer, or even respected newspapers rushing an article to print without confirming facts.  It's clearly a rumor, one of many constantly swirling about the Imperial Family - especially during the turbulent year of 1905.  Whether it be 1905 or 2016, the publication of such unsubstantiated drivel is irresponsible at best.  Take it with a grain of salt.

[GDSophie]

That's why the title is 'Whaaat?' because 1) never heard an attempted assassination attempt on the Tsarevich happened so early and 2) could be false.

[TimM]

Yeah, there were tabloids, even back then.