The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-23 00:00:00

SATURDAY, NOV. ts, 1878.

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE
KING OF ITALY.

The Times of Monday gives the following, from their
Correspondent at Rome, under date November 17
"An attempt was made at Naples this morning to
assassinate King Humbert. As the Royal carriage,
in which were their Majesties the King and Queen and
the Prince of Naples, accompanied by Prime Minister
Cairoli, was entering Naples to-day from the railway
station, an individual who was among the trade asso-
ciations which were drawn up with their banners, and
who also carried a flag, suddenly lowered it and made
a thrust at the King, wounding him slightly on the
arm with a dagger with which he had armed the head
of the staff. The King instantly drew his sword and
struck the assassin on the head, and at the same
moment Signor Cairoli sprang to the ground and
caught hold of the man, receiving at the same time a
wound on the thigh. The captain of the Royal
Cuirassiers secured the assassin, and, dragging him on
to his horse, rode with him out of the crowd. The
King afterwards appeared on the balcony of the Royal
Palace, and finally, in answer to the enthusiastic cries
of the people, rode, wounded as he was, through the
principal streets of the city. The assassin is a cook by
profession, aged twenty-nine, and a native of Potenza."

Writing from Rome on Monday, the Correspondent of The
Times says :--

"I may complete the particulars of the attempt
upon King Humbert's life which I sent last night with
the following more exact details :—The affair occurred
as the Royal carriage was entering the Via San
Giovanni from the Strada Carbonara. The assassin,
whose name is Giovanni Passanante, came up to the
side of the carriage as some persons were pre-
senting petitions. He had the dagger hidden in the
folds of a small red flag on which it is said were
the words, "Viva la Repubblica Universale," but it is
so torn that they are now no longer recognizable. The
man struck at the King with the dagger concealed as
it was in the flag, and His Majesty instantly swung
round his sheathed sword and struck his assailant
with the scabbard over the head. Nothing daunted,
the assassin returned to the attack. The Queen, who
showed admirable courage, cried out to Cairoli to save
the King, and as the man aimed a second blow the
Prime Minister threw himself between him and the
King, caught him by the hair, and received
the dagger in his thigh, but held firmly on to
his capture until he was fast secured by a Municipal
Guard named TelemAco Giannettini, who was
promoted •by the Syndic the same evening to the
rank of sergeant. The struggle between Signor
Cairoli and the assassin is described as desperate. It
is evident the blow was aimed at the King's heart,
but, as he had time to start aside, it merely scratched
his left arm. Signor Cairoli was struck above the knee,
but, fortunately, the wound, though a long one and
causing considerable loss of blood, was not deep. The
whole affair occupied but a few moments. As the
cortege proceeded on its way, the King's aspect was so
calm and Signor Cairoli's countenance so smiling that
no one suspected what had happened. On reaching the
Palace the Prime Minister was immediately placed
in bed, his wound bound up, and ice and leeches
applied. Later the King went down to visit him, and
remained some time. In a telegram which Signor
Cairoli dictated in reply to one from the Syndic of
Rome, he said his slight wound was most amply corn-
pensated for by his having helped to turn aside the
dagger of an assassin. The assassin has confessed his
crime, making at the same time a kind of declaration
connecting him with the International. He
said he detested all kings and emperors, and
desired to see monarchies, ministries, authorities
and misery abolished; that he had committed
the crime with a calculated deliberation and
had sold a jacket to obtain means to buy the
knife; that he always had bad masters, who spent too
much on themselves, and he wanted to make an ex-
ample. His bearing showed most revolting cynicism.
It is stated that letters from Internationalists were
found upon him, and at his lodging many others were
sequestered, which have led to a number of arrests
being made. It is a somewhat curious circumstance
that the surgeons declare the knife found is not that
with which the King and Cairoli were wounded. The
assassin obtained greater facility for carrying out his
design through the King's objecting to Cuirassiers
riding on each side of his carriage according to cus-
tom, or to be attended by any police agents in plain
clothes."

A telegram from Rome says that on Sunday night the
city of Rome presented an imposing spectacle. Fifty
thousand persons, with flags and bands of music, assembled
on the Corso for the purpose of manifesting the public joy
at the escape of the King, and there was another popular
demonstration at the house of the Syndic, who addressed
the crowd in a patriotic speech. The cry everywhere was
for prompt justice to the would-be assassin. The palace of
the Austrian Embassy, situate in the Piazza Colonna, was
splendidly illuminated, and the crowd having cheered the
Ambassador. his Excellency appeared at the window and ex-
pressed his thanks.

ROME, November 18.

Ths Pope has addressed a congratulatory telegram to King
Humbert, and Herr von Kendall, the German Ambassador,
all doyen at the diplomatic body, has also sent a despatch to
his Majesty felicitating him upon his happy escape. All the
members of the diplomatic body went to-day to the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs to express their congratulations on the
fortunate issue of the attempted assassination —lt is said
that as many as 1,000 telegrams have already been received
by King Humbert.

Writing from Rome on Tuesday, the Correspondent of
The Timrs says :—" Giovanni Passanante manifested the
most perfect unconcern and brutal self-assurance while
undergoing the preliminary examination. It was evident
that he had calmly meditated the commission of the act
and fully made up his mind to the consequences. At
one point, when the magistrate expressed horror
of the deed he had attempted to commit, he said,
'lt seem, to me you are getting too excited.' On
being asked if he had not observed that the people
would have torn him to pieces but for the police, he
replied,'The people are fools; they always act that
way.' To the question whether he had intended to kill
the King or merely wound him, he answered, 'My
Intention was to finish him; and if I had had money
enough to buy a revolver, I should not have failed.' He de-
clared that he had no ill-feeling towards King Humbert as
an individual, nor the slightest sentiment of rancour. From
the Italian Government he had never suffered any wrong;
he sought to kr. s King as a means towards an end—the
attainment of ari aniv ra 31 Republic, which he described as
his ideal. He said he was r..eitter an Internationalist nor
a Socialist; he did not know what the words meant. Being
asked where be obtained the Internationalist code found at
his lodging, he replied he had written it himself out of his
own head; but on being questioned as to the meaning of some
of the more recondite words in the document, ha could not
explain them. His profession of faith was, he said, inscribed
on the red flag he carried—' Viva la Bepubblica
He desired it should be noted in the proves verbal that he had
also written Viva Orsini' on the flag. It appears that he
was arrested at Salerno in 1870 for affixing placards bearing
the words 'Death to all Kings and Sovereigns.' The people
were he lived had noticed nothing unusual in his habits or
sinlster in his manner. They had not the slightest suspicion
their lodge; quid be such a man as he has turned out."

The correspondent of the Daily News writes :—" The
Popular superstition that the overfl ,w of the Tiber portends
a national disaster was verified in Naples when for the first
time in the annals of the FOUND of Savoy a dagger was
Pointed at the breast of the Xing."

The Prussian military weekly journal, which is edited by
the military authorities (sap; the Berlin Correspondent of
the Standard), publishes in a prominent position the fol-
lowing noteworthy declaration :—" The whole civilised
Universe is filled with horror at the attempted assassination
of the King of Italy, but particularly the Prussian army,
which is loyally attached to Jto)aity, and pays homage to
Pang Humbert as the Chief of the Ist Hessian Hussars."

Her Majesty Queen Victoria, immediately on the news
reaching her, telegraphed direct to Naples expressing her
horror at the attempt made upon the King's life, and con.
gratulating him on his escape, and at the same time Sir
Augustus Paget received instructions to repair at once to
Naples and convey personally to the King and Queen of Italy
the tallest expressions of Her Majesty's regard.