«The venerable painter Victor Vasnetsov has been shot. Lappo-Danilevsky, member of the Academy of Sciences, died of starvation. The Academician Smirnov, Prof. Vesselovsky, Prof. Shliapkin, the Academician Radlov, Prof. Fortunatov, the famous botanist Fomintsin, the famous pianist Zilotti, and a number of other eminent men have suffered the same fate. […] Balmont, the splendid poet, such writers as Merezhkovsky and Remizov, are perishing. What does it all mean?»