<P> The noise of the guns had been heard by households all around, and had awakened many people . The executioners were ordered to proceed with their bayonets, a technique which proved ineffective and meant that the children had to be dispatched by still more gunshots, this time aimed more precisely at their heads . The Tsarevich was the first of the children to be executed . Yurovsky watched in disbelief as Nikulin spent an entire magazine from his Browning gun on Alexei, who was still seated transfixed in his chair; he also had jewels sewn into his undergarment and forage cap . Ermakov shot and stabbed him, and when he failed, Yurovsky shoved him aside and killed the boy with a gunshot to the head . The last to die were Tatiana, Anastasia, and Maria, who were carrying a few pounds (over 1.3 kilograms) of diamonds sewn into their clothing, which had given them a degree of protection from the firing . However, they were speared with bayonets as well . Olga sustained a gunshot wound to the head . Maria and Anastasia were said to have crouched up against a wall covering their heads in terror until they were shot down . Yurovsky himself killed Tatiana and Alexei . Tatiana died from a single bullet through the back of her head . Alexei received two bullets to the head, right behind the ear . Anna Demidova, Alexandra's maid, survived the initial onslaught but was quickly stabbed to death against the back wall while trying to defend herself with a small pillow which she had carried that was filled with precious gems and jewels . While the bodies were being placed on stretchers, one of the girls cried out and covered her face with her arm . Ermakov grabbed Alexander Strekotin's rifle and bayoneted her in the chest, but when it failed to penetrate he pulled out his revolver and shot her in the head . </P> <P> While Yurovsky was checking the victims for pulses, Ermakov went back and forth in the room, flailing the bodies with his bayonet . The execution lasted about 20 minutes, Yurovsky later admitting to Nikulin's "poor mastery of his weapon and inevitable nerves". Future investigations calculated that a possible 70 bullets were fired, roughly seven bullets per shooter, of which 57 were found in the basement and at all three subsequent gravesites . Some of Pavel Medvedev's stretcher bearers began frisking the bodies for valuables . Yurovsky saw this and demanded that they surrender any looted items or be shot . The attempted looting, coupled with Ermakov's incompetence and drunken state, convinced Yurovsky to oversee the disposal of the bodies himself . Only Alexei's spaniel, Joy, survived to be rescued by a British officer of the Allied Intervention Force, living out his final days in Windsor, Berkshire . </P> <P> Alexandre Beloborodov sent a coded telegram to Lenin's secretary, Nikolai Gorbunov . It was found by White investigator Nikolai Sokolov and reads: </P> <P> Inform Sverdlov the whole family have shared the same fate as the head . Officially the family will die at the evacuation . </P>

The last czar of russia and his family