British Police foil kidnap plot?

[Phil_tomaselli]

Looking through a book of policeman's memoirs from a British "Special Branch" officer named Edwin Woodhall I came across this brief storey of an attempt to abduct Alexi during an unspecified visit to Britain and how Branch officers foiled it, which I though might be of interest:

"A letter was received at the Yard requesting the police to reinforce their watch on the Czarevitch, as an attempt would be made either to abduct him or to do something worse.

That same afternoon Sweeny was put on the alert from headquarters by telegraph.  While he was in the main street of Southsea, walking behind the Czarevitch and his tutor, he noticed two men following them.  To make sure that his suspicions were correct he whispered to the tutor to go into a shop.  This was done, and Sweeny planted himself outside and appeared to be looking into the window.  In the reflection in the plate glass he could see the two in urgent debate at the far corner of the street.  He decided to act.

He slid unobtrusively into the shop as two women came and looked in the window, and warned the tutor to take his Royal charge home at once by cab, as he had seen something which aroused his suspicions.  The tutor, a Swiss who spoke fluent English, did not want more than one telling....with a promptness that did him credit he removed the Prince out of harms way.

When Sweeny came out of the shop he took the bull by the horns and went straight over to the Nihilists and point blank asked them what business they had in the man accompanying the boy in the sailor suit.  He was of course, playing for time.....His object must have occurred to the Russians, for, without a seconds hesitation, one of them moved off quickly to where Sweeny could see the tutor and Czarevitch waiting for the cab they had just signalled.  He had reckoned, however, without Sweeny for as he strode off two men unobtrusively pulled him into a side street.  They were two extra officers whose job it was to shadow Sweeny, and to act, if they saw him take a white silk handkerchief from his pocket!"

The two men turned out to b Russians armed with knives and they were taken to London under escort where investigations showed a connection to "The Russian Nihilist Movement" and as one was wanted for bankruptcy offences and the other for fraud and arson they were deported back to Russia.

Phil Tomaselli

[etonexile]

WOW...glad things worked out for AN in all this....But it would make an interesting fiction...if AN had been kidnapped....

[Lizameridox]

The Heir went at the age of 5 to Cowes on the Isle of Wight with the IF.  Gilliard was the lad's tutor starting at age 8 or 9.  How reliable is this source?  I am not surprised, however, to hear of attempts to kidnap or harm Alexei Nikolaevich, actual or imagined.

[bluetoria]

If this alleged kidnap attempt took place on the Isle of Wight, it may have been just another mistake. Wasn't there an occasion when the police hurried over in force because there was asupposed threat to Queen Victoria from a group of international terrorists or the like - it turned out they were just a party of day trippers sight-seeing.

[etonexile]

The dear Queen was safely in her tomb....beside "Dearest Albert"...for 8 years by this time....I think this could be a rather funny story about the kidnappers...if they'd grabbed Alexei....how they'd held him in a house in Norwich...no...Loddon...just outside Norwich...Soon AN starts giving orders to his bumbling kidnappers...he makes them take him to the coast...where he goes mad with the freedom...he doesn't want to be rescued...."Baby" writes the notes from the "kidnappers"....as they are illiterate
"Send some clean socks...or we shall have to speak harshly to the little one...Al...erm...'Bill-The-Killer'...."

[Forum Admin]

Can anyone tell me where "Southsea" is located? The only single time Alexei was in England was the visit to Cowes. Spiridovitch makes no reference to this at all, and since HE would have been in charge of Alexei's safety during the visit, I should think he would have known about it.  It doesn't sound actual to me.

[Phil_tomaselli]

Southsea is on the south coast, right next to Portsmouth, opposite the Isle of Wight and close to Cowes.

The source is a book by a former Special Branch officer and was written in 1934 ie a long time after the alleged event by someone who does not even claim to be a witness.  He does say in the preamble to the story that it was " a few years before the outbreak of the Great War.

One problem that I have with this is that Sweeny wrote a memoir himself "At the Yard" in 1904 and serving officers do not generally write memoirs.  He was also around as a Detective Inspector in 1884 when a Fenian bomb just missed killing him so I'm guessing he retired c1904 thus apparently invalidating the story.  On the other hand "retired" police officers frequently carried out undercover work for the Government(s) (i.e. William Melville who worked for the predecessor of MI5 and Detective Inspector Powell left the Branch to work directly for the Okhrana) so it's possible he was called back for this job.  This was at a time when the Branch was fully stretched dealing with, amongst other things, the Suffragette Movement.

On reflection I'm inclined to doubt the stort but it may have a kernel of truth somewhere.

I also have reservations about Spiridovich being "in charge of Alexi's safety" on a visit to the UK.  We get very touchy about these things and were even touchier in those days.  You may recall the fuss that was made about US agents being in charge of George Bush's safety over here a while ago - in those days we were in a position to lay down the law rather than act the poodle as we do these days, so I doubt if any Russian policemen were allowed anywhere near.

Phil Tomaselli

[Forum Admin]

Phil,
Regardless of the precautions taken by local officials, Spiridovitch was ALWAYS in charge of the IF's security for the "Russian side" and worked hand in glove with the locals wherever they went. He was awarded the VC by the British for his participation in that visit.

[AGRBear]

I don't think you understand the so-called "rub" between the British and other agencies at that time.  Spiridovitch might have been present but "once in British lands, you're under British hands".

Since most of you are able to track down Alexei's every move, was he ever in the location Phil mentions in his first post?

AGRBear

[Phil_tomaselli]

Spiridivich was certainly not awarded the VC (Victoria Cross) for anything he may or may not have done.  this is a gallantry medal of the very highest order and all its recipients are well known.  Are you thinking about a KCB or some such, or an MVO (Member of the Victorian Order??)?

I have wondered whether the letter alluded to warning the Branch to be particularly vigilant is a coded reference to a warning by the Okhrana of some kind.  The Russian Royal family were not at all popular in Britain after the Russo-Japanese war (and attack by the Baltic Fleet on our fishing boats) the perceived brutality of the suppression of the 1905 revolution and the long held belief that the Russians were going to attack India.  It would not have been the done thing to admit to cooperating with the Okhrana at all.

Phil T

[Forum Admin]

It wasn't the Cowes visit, I looked it up. It was the visit of the King of England to Reval in May 1908.  He writes that on May 29, 1908 he was taken on board an English naval vessal where he was led to meet an "older important looking" English man who spoke not a word of Russian, and Spiridovitch, not speaking a word of English, understood nothing of what was said. After the man stopped talking "he solemnly handed me the cross of Commander of the Victoria Order, with diploma, letter and status" (my exact translation) the original reads "apres quoi il me remit solennellement la croix de cammandeur de l'ordre "Victoria" avec diplome, lettre et status."
Vol 2, pg 259.