The Courier

What Tennyson's Father Knew About
Emperor Paul's Assassination.

Shortly after the assassination of Emperor Paul of Russia Tennyson, the father of the poet, dined with Lord St. Helens, the British ambassador, in Moscow. Several Russian officers of high rank whose names he did not know were also guests. During dinner a guarded reference was made to the emperor's death. "Why do you speak so gingerly about a matter so notorious?" cried Tennyson impulsively, leaning across his neighbor, a Russian whose breast was covered with orders. "We know very well in England that the Emperor Paul was murdered. Count Zuboff knocked him down, and Benningsen and Count Pahlen strangled him." There was a strained silence; then the ambassador abruptly changed the subject. As the guests filed out into an adjoining room Lord St. Helens drew Tennyson aside. "Don't go into the next room," he whispered, "but fly for your life. The man next you, across whose breast you leaned, was Count Pahlen, and Zuboff was also at the table." He gave a few hurried directions, and Tennyson rushed off, threw his clothes into a portmanteau and fled behind fast horses to Odessa, still in evening garb, though the cold was intense. He lay hidden for weeks and at last, in the disguise of a servant, was smuggled on board an English frigate.