Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-07-10
POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS.

teInptS On the lie OF the GERMAN anu
Russian emperors, the World gave a very
full account of the regicidal attempts of
modern times, beginning about the period
of the French revolution, when the
theory of the divine right of kings was
so effectively assailed, and the horrible
punishments employed in the case of the
assailants of royalty went out. Some
notes on the political assassinations of
modern English life, excluding attacks on
royal or princely personages, may not be
devoid of interest at this time. May II,
1872, Mr.. Spencer Perceval, the premier,
was assassinated in the lobby of the house
of commons by John Bellingham. Bel
bingham was a resident of Liverpool,
shipbroker and merchant in the Russia
trade, and had been at London for four
months, endeavoring to have righted
wrongs which he claimed to have suffered
at the hands of the Russian government.
He had been dining for some weeks at
the coffee room of the house, and had
hung about the Hobbies and galleries
till his face was familiar to
the attendants. 1t was an inter
csting face, ''strikingly composed and
mild, though haggard' says Wilberforce,
and the people with whom he lodged
found him considerate and geltle-he
roamed the streets in search of one of the
children of his landlady when it was lost,
and on the morning of the fatal day took
them to the European museum, pointed
out to them what they ought to observe,
and spoke to them of his own wife and
children; then spent some time in the
court of chancery, and then went to the
house. where he placed himself in the re-
cess of the doorway of the lobby, stand
ing with his right hand in his breeches
pocket He was most DESTROYS, he said,
of seeing the late ambassador to Russia,
Lord George Leveson Cover, but it was
Mr.. Perceval who first of all his supposed
enemies appeared at the door. The hand
with small pistol in it was withdrawn
from the pocket, and the minister was
shot through the heart He staggered
forward, gasping, "Murder!" or "Mur-
dered!'' and in ten minutes q was
corpse. Mr.. Jordan, who was in his
company, said: ~ saw small curling
wreath of smoke rise above his head as if
the breath of cigar; 1 saw him reel
back against the ledge on the inside of
the door; heard him exclaim, MY God!'
or ooh, my God!' the exclamation was
faint, and then making an impulsive rush
to reach the entrance to the house for
safety; I saw him totter forward, not
half way, and drop dead with slight
trace of blood issuing from his lips"
There was great confusion, during which
Bellingham might easily have escaped,
but made no motion to fly, and when
clerk pointed him out went slowly to
bench near the fireplace and sat down,
when he was seized and searched without
violence or resistance. His agitation,
however, was 'sfrightful to behold" He
spoke incoherently of his wrongs and
justified his revenge, and when some one
came out from the room to which the
body had been removed and sald Chow
could you destroy so good man
and make his twelve children or
phans?'' He replied mournfully: 81
am sorry for it, The man was mad; he
had been in an insane asylum IN Russia;
there had been insanity in his family be-
fore, and his son, who with the rest of
the family took another name, went mad
as he approached his fathers age, but be-
tween the miserably slow communication
of those times, and the panic of the au-
thorities when the shooting was made the
occasion of demonstration by the dis
orderly classes and those opposed to the
government at the time of distress, the
unfortunate man was hanged. He fired
the fatal shot on Monday at O'Clock; he
was tried on the Friday, and on the Mon
day was executed and given to the sur
geOns for dissection, "his heart still faint
~ beating" This assassination is fur
ther noteworthy from the fact that the
next night and long before the news had
reached that section of the country Mr..
John Williams, of Scorrier House, Red
ruth, Cornwall, saw the whole tragedy
thrice repeated in dream, with the very
dresses of the actors in it, and noted the
surroundings so accurately that
on going to London he pointed out
the scene though he had never before
been in the house. (See Savile's cap
partitions" p. l56, ct seq.)
Lord Palmerston had narrow escape
from similar fate six years later On
April s, 1918, Davis, mailman, who had
been an officer in Spain and who had
claims against the government, fired at
Lord Palmerston, then secretary for war,
in the war Office The ball penetrated
his coat and walstcoat about the middle
of the spine and glanced off. Lord Pal
merston walked on to the room where his
secretary was sitting and told him he had
been shot at, but did not know what in
jury he had received. An eye witness,
Rev A. Harris, wrote: "Astley Cooper
and Lynn, the surgeon, came immediate
ly and found the flesh upon the backbone
confused, but that the ball had not
penetrated the skin. The ball was found
upon the staircase. The surgeons con-
veyed Palmerston home Meanwhile
Davis was seized by two messengers and
placed in custody. Palmerston told me
that he knew him to be
mailman, and for that reason had
declined seeing him." In letter which
he wrote to Lord Malmesbury few days
afterwards Lord Palmerston said: CATER
all L am not half so sore as either Don
Quixote or Sancho upon many occasions
in their adventures. One comfort is that
l shall be recorded in illustrlous company
as having had the same narrow escape as
the duke of Wellington and the regent,
but have so far the advantage of the
latter that my bullet has been found,
though luckily not y me-"
The story of the Cato street conspiracy
of 1920 was told in the World of February
20, 1881, at the time of the death of Lord
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