Russian monk Rasputin murdered

Petrograd, 6 January 1917 - Endless rumours are circulating in connection with the death of the notorious Russian monk, Rasputin. 

His body was found with 3 bullet wounds, in the head, chest and side. He was killed, it is claimed, in the Petrograd home of an aristocratic Russian family, then transported to the mouth of the River Neva and dropped through the ice.

Artist's interpretation of the end of the 'magic monk' Rasputin as shown on the front page of Austrian newspaper the Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung on 6 Jan 1917. (Image: Austrian National Library)

A Reuters report states that the 'whole of Russia breathes more freely for the removal of a monk of baleful influence'. In recent years, Rasputin was famed for the extent of his influence in Court circles in Russia – this influence was once described as a ‘hideous medieval nightmare’, occasioned by his ‘notorious depravity’.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]