Aleksei Andreyevich Volkov (1859–1929) was a valet at the court of Tsar Nicholas II. After Russia October Revolution of 1917 he managed to escape a death march at Perm in September 1918 and survived to write his memoirs about his time at court and his escape. These include his experience of events such as the Khodynka Tragedy. Early life Volkov was born in the town of Old-Ioriev, Kozlov District, Tambov Guberniya. As a young adult, he entered the Russian Army and rose through the ranks. He was on guard and witnessed the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Later he was a military instructor to Tsar Nicholas II. From 1886, he was in service to Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia. He became a valet at the court of the Tsar in 1910. He was the Tsarina's personal servant and often pushed her wheelchair. Exile Volkov followed the Tsar's family and household into internal exile following the Russian Revolution of 1917, but was separated from them at Ekaterinburg and imprisoned at Perm. There, he heard that the Tsar had been murdered by Bolsheviks, though he was unaware that the Tsarina and their children had also been shot. Escape from death On 4 September 1918, he was taken from his prison cell in the middle of the night and led to the prison office, where he saw lady-in-waiting Anastasia Hendrikova and the elderly tutor Catherine Schneider. They were joined by eight other prisoners, including the chambermaid from the house where Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia had lived. They had an escort of twenty-two guards, none of whom were Russian. Volkov asked a guard where they were being taken and was told they were being taken "to the house of arrest." Hendrikova, who had been in the washroom, asked a guard the same question when she came out. She was told they were being taken "to the central prison." Hendrikova asked him, "and from there?" The guard replied, "Well! to Moscow." Hendrikova repeated this conversation to her fellow prisoners and made the sign of the cross with her fingers. Volkov took her gesture to mean "they will not shoot us." The sailor at the prison office door kept checking the front door that led to the street to make sure no one was there. After a while another sailor said, "Let's go." They lined the prisoners up in the street