The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1881-07-28

1t was shot was fired which almost stunned
us both, it was SO loud and fired barely sis
PAGES from us. Victoria had just turned to
the left to look at a horse, and could mol
understand why her ears were ringing, as,
from its being SO very near. she could hard.
~ distinguish that it proceeded from shot
having been fred. The horses started and
the carriage stopped. I seized Victoria's
hand, and asked if the fright had not shaken
her, but she laughed at the thing. l then
looked again at the man. who was still
standing in the same place, his arms crossed,
and pistol in each hand. His attitude was
SO theatrical and affected it quite amused
me: Suddenly he again pointed his pistol
also saw the shot and stopped quickly,
drawn down by me. The bali must have
passed Just above her head"
This was not pleasant feature in an
afternoon drive. The queen, however,
continued her course undaunted, with the
cheerful and simple courage natural to her.
and went on to her mother, to carry the
first news of the outrage and to set oil
anxiety to rest upon its effect. Afterward
we took short drive through the park,
partly to give Victoria little air; partly.
also, to show the public We had not lost
confidence in them" The queen at the
time was i'll q state of health such az is Of
ten affected seriously by very small mat.
ter. tut her sound nerves and high spirits
defended her better than armor and mail.
The wretchcd culprit was dissipated lad
of seventeen, apparently moved by moth
ing more serious than depraved vanity md
desire to be notorious. It is not certain
whether there was bullet in the pistol he
fired, and the convenient plea of insanity
was brought in to save Eng land the bother
Of executing such a being for high treason.
Only the other day, during the sitting of
the commission on lunatic Rsylums, it
was mentioned that this pitiful criminal
was still vegetating among the madmen-
more respectable in their real misery than
he-but not insane; ''as sane asany Of us, "
the doctor said who spoke Of him. Thirty
seven years Of imprisonment are perhaps,
on the whole, even to the meanest spirit,
an ha: d punishment as one swift hanging
once for nll.
Two years later, at very nearly the same
place, and the same time of the year, a
still more exciting incident of the same
kind occurred. Prince Albert saw, in the
middle of the day, on Sunday, on the re-
turn from church, "a man step out of the
crowd and present pistol full. He was
some two PAGES from us. heard the trig-
ger snap but it must have missed fire.
turned to Victoria, who was seated on nv
right, and asked: Did you hear that?' She
had been bowling to the people on the
right, and had heard nothing. said: I
may be mistaken, but am sure saw
some one take aim at u.s." Nothing was
said publicly, however, on the subject. No
one among the queens immediate attend
ants had observed it; and the prince. though
he informed the police and the minister.
was half disposed to believe that he had
himself been deceived. However, during
the Sunday afternoon, several cosroborra-
tions turned up. A boy who was among
the crowd had seen the incident, and had
seen and spoken to third spectator who
had also perceived it. This was enough to
set the police and authorities in activity.
and the vague danger thus known to exist
conveyed certain excitement into the
palace. "We were naturally much agitated,
Victoria very nervous and unwe]l," saws
Prince Albert. Notwithstanding, the queen
went out for her daily drive as usual,
though such precautions as could be taken
were adopted. 'You may imagine" con-
tinues the narrative, ''that our minds were
not very easy. We looked behind every
tree, and cast my eyes around in search
of the nscals face. On our
way home, as we were approach
ing tho palace, between tie Green
park and the garden wall, shot was fred
at us about five PAGES off. It was the same
fellow with the same fistol-a little
swartby, Unlocking rascal. We felt as if q
load had been taken off our hearts, and we
thanked the Almighty for having preserved
us for second time from so great dan
ger" Her Majesty lold me sue had ex-
pected it, and it was relief to have it
over, says another witness. "She said
she could never have existed under the un-
certainty of a concealed attack. She would
much rather run the risk at once than have
the presentiment of danger constantly how
ering over her."
The assailant on this occasion was an.
other wretched creature called Francis,
equally without any motive of incentment
which could account for such piece of
cruel and cowardly folly. A still more
wonderful thing, however, remains to be
told. month afterwards, Just after the
the trial of Francis, a third incident of the
same kind occurred, deformed maa called
Bean being the culp1it. The emulation
in itself must have had very painful
effect on the queens mind, since nothing
worse could have occurred to the most hated
deslot than these repeated shootings,
which threatened the most popular and be-
loved of queens. The first of the three
naive]y gave his Interpretation of it after
ward: If had been hanged" said Ok
ford, there would have been no more shoot
ing at the queen" The original criminal
despised his imitators. II was not
at all frightened" the queen wrote
to her uncle, and feel very proud
at dear Uncle Mensdorff calling me
sehr muhtig very courageous), which
shall ever remember with peculiar
pride, coming from SO distinguished
an officer as he is" Thus the
queen gave proof Of her valor
under fire-not less an ordeal that her en-
emies were SO contemplate and all the
greater as without excitement or encourage
ment-a danger encountered not in passion
but in cold blood. The young lady's royal
claim is charnlingly contrasted with the
emotion ct her minister, Sir Robert Peel,
not generally demonstrative man, who,
on seeing her for the first time after this
third attempt, could not restrain his feel
ings, but burst into tears-tears as honor
able to him, in thought of such a dastardly
insult and outrage, as her steady nerves
and bravery we're to the young sovereign,
only %. with all the susceptibilities of q
young mother, and all the happiness Of q
most happy wife endearing her existence
to her.
The Italian committee charged with the
selection Of design for the proposed nat