ABSTRACT
Gregory Rasputin was a Siberian peasant, born in 1873 in the Government of Tobolsk, and the surname by which he is known is said not to have been his father's, but a nickname given to him in his earliest youth. Rasputin's first acquaintance with certain people connected with Court circles dates back to nearly ten years before the present war. The Empress Alexandra was a believer in spiritualism, and a Frenchman named Philippe, with several others, used to organize seances for her before Rasputin had been heard of. Rasputin convinced the Tsaritza that Heaven had shown him the way to cure her son, and the Grand Duke actually began to recover as a result of medicine which was evidently supplied by Badmaeff, and administered to the boy in his food by Rasputin's accomplices. Whether Stuermer was one of Rasputin's proteges it is impossible to decide, but his whole conduct while Prime Minister justifies one in suspecting it.
