As mentioned previously, when Nicholas abdicated in 1917, there were fifty two living Romanovs. Seventeen (eighteen if one counts the quasi-Romanov, Vladimir Paley) were murdered by February of 1919. Those murders took place in or around four different cities: St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Perm, and Alapaevsk, as shown in the above map. Below, an account of the Alapaevsk murders as described by Vassily Ryabov, the principal assassin at that site, as well as the actual mine shaft. Shown also is Sister Varavara (Barbara) Yakaleva, who was Ella's spiritual advisor. She was thrown down the shaft along with the others.
