The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-03-11
ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION Of
QUEEN VICTORIA.
I,orDos. March ..

Late this afternoon, as tue NoceHi WIS.
Princess Beatrice, was entering her carriage a.
the Windsor railway station, to drive TO TINS
castle. she was fired at b. anan In the cfo"a,
happily without harmful result. The station
was crowded tn Elton boys and townspeo-
pie. who, til their hats raised, were heartily
cheering her as she crossed the crinso i-car-
peted platform to the royal carriage. She had
lust entered the carriage and the aged John
Brown had aaken his seat beside the coach
men, who started the horses. While the air
WAS still res,unding with the cheers,
shabby, f1l-looking man, about thirty
five or forty years old, standing at
the entrance of the staton-yari among
the other spectators, about thirty PAGES
from the carriage. deliberately raised
PISTOL and fred at the Queen. lie
seemed about to s loyt again when the re-
volyer was struck from his hand by James
Burnside a pho ograp her Of Win lsor. Others
seized lin, an the police rushe In and took
him into custody Meantime the queens
coachman drove on as though nothing han
happened and reached the castle IN sa'e1y
The crowd attempted to take the man from
the police The Eton boys cried Lynch
him! Lynch him. and rush was made to-
ward the spot where a handful OF police pro
tie ted the would-be-assassin, but a cab was
sent for, an the man WAS got safely away,
though severely Istled.
The prisoner who to all appearances, is
thorough crank" gave his name as Roder-
lex MacLean, aged thirty-two. He stated
that he was a clerk, ont of nployment. He
was native of London, AMI w-s born in Ok
ford street.
The weapon used was q six -chambered Colts
revolver, of American make. MacLean said
he would not have done what he did had he
not been hungry. 1t appears, however that
he took hearty meal at Windsor coffee
house shortly before the attempt No bullet
marks were found on the Queens carriage.
MARcH3
From later accounts it appears that Mac
Lean fired the shot after the carriage was in
motion. Princess Beatr ce and John Brown
7 saw him point the pistol at the carriage He
was exactly thirty PAGES distant when he
fired Two of the four loaded chambers of
the revolver contained only blank cartridges.
After searching the yard at the railway sta
ton for an hour this morning, the police
found a small bullet Undecided In the ground.
It bore the marks of having first struck come
other object. 1t was right in the direction of
the spot over which the Queens carriage was
passing, having probably passed over the
horses heads,
| The prisoner who fired at the Queen was
| driven to the town-hall in an open fly at half
/ past one In charge of Superintendent HAYES.
/ He has wretched look, and is a man very
| much of the Guiteau type. He was unclean
| ard unshaYen He has slight mustache. He
| was Immediately taken before the Magistrates,
| the Mayor OF Windsor presiding. Mr. Steven
| son Sol ;citor for the Treasury, prosecuted In
{ 49, %1nn . he
/ most off-hand manner and firm voice that his
/ name was "MacLean-Roderick MaeLean."
! Superintendent HAYES then swore to the facts
! of the shooting, and also testified to the
| letter found on the prisoner. The letter was
| read. Tt said that the prisoner would not
! have done the crime had ten shillngs been
/ given him instead Of the insultingly small
/ sum of six shillings. He was compelled to
| commit the crime against the "bloated arts
/ tocraey,'' he added, by 'that old lady Mrs.
/ Vic" The witness further said that this
/ morning the prisoner wished to make writ
| ten state nent, saying: ~ have a complete
| answer to the charge He then wrote letter.
! In it the prisoner said he was not guilty of
| shooting at the Queel with the intention of
/ doing her grievous bodily harm. His object
/ was only to cause public alarm, with the OBJ
| iect of having his grievances redressed. His
/ pecuni airy straits and circumstances tended to
/ prove the truth of this statement. Had he
| cared to have injured the Queen, he would
/ have fired at her when she was getting out of
/ the carriage. As it was, he shot at the
/ wheels, but the pistol kicked and the bullet
m ght have hit the carriage-door. The pris-
/ oner was remanded
/ All the London morning papers have lead
/ ing articles on the attempt on the life of the
/ Queen The Times saws -
/ 1.-The intention we prefer to think was no
! more than desire to create alarm and gain
nororiety at whate ser cost. There is kind
/ Of Infamous notorietY much coveted by some
f djsordered minds, which can be cas- ly and GER
/ tain y earned by such deeds as that of Mac
+ Lean yesterday. To have fired pistol at
+ woman, and that woman the Queen of En-
/ gland, confers on the culprit the most unen-
I yiable distinct on, but distinction none the
/ less. But the cost has yet to be considered.
| We are glad to learn no harm has been suf-
fered by her Majesty, but the. case might cas-
| lily have been otherwise We trust, however,
| that the cost of MacLean's n0toriety will be
| borne only by himself. 1t may chance to be
| q somewhat heavy one II all other re-
| straints fail, and If there men with
| whom decency and ma Illness count for moth
| ing. some strong deterrent must be brought
| to bear. If MacLean proves to be a mailman,
| there is no more to be done than to have good
care taken that he shall play no more mad
But there must be some good evidence that he
| is mad before such a plea can be admitted.
| The mere fact that he has been guiltyof mo-
tiyeless crime may be enough in the opinion
o. professional experts in insanity but 1t will
satisfy nobody else. II no more can be said
for MacI can than could be said for Gu teau
or Leroy, he can as little expect to escape the
punishment he has brought upon himself"
FORMER ATTEMPTS.
The first attempt upon the life of the
| Queen was made June 10, 1910, when she was
not yet twenty-one years of age. The would
| be assassin, Edward oxford, half crazy lad
of seventeen, deliberately fred two shots at
the Queen as she was passing in a carriage on
Constitution Hill Oxford was found insane
by jury, and as is the English custom where
an acquittal is rendered on that ground, was
ordel cd to be confined at her Majestys pleas
ure. Some fifteen years ago he was released
from the asylum on condit on that he would
60 to Australia.
John Francis fired at the Queen Nav 30
1912, from the very spot where Oxford had
stood He was but few feet from the car
condemned to death, but the sentence was
commutei to Imprisonment for life.
The next attempt was made the day after
the mitigation of Francis punishment was
announced, aud was the werk Of bunch
backed boy named Bean. He presented a
pistol at the Queens carriage, but did not get
chance to IRE 1t. The pistol was loaded with
| powder, paper tightly rammed down, and
some pieces of a clay pipe Bean was i'm
prisoned for eighteen months