Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-03-16
Alistellaueuns &eadiug.
VICTORIA,S ESCAPES.

who is more worthy of affection and respect
than the Queen of England, and there is nc
country in Europe where there is so little ex.
cuse for regicide in the organization and ad'
ministration of public affairs. Yet scarcely a
sovereign of modern Europe-not even the
much plotted against Napoleon III-has been
so frequently attacked, though it should be
added that in but few instances was her death
really compassed, and that without exception
her assaiants were more or less weak minded.
Two years after her accession-May 10, 1859
a mad-man was arrested on the garden-stepso Of
Buckingham Palace who announced his inten-
tion of killing her because no Protestant should
be suffered to sit on the throne OF England.
A few days later lunatic, like those who fire.
quently turn up at our own White House, was
caught clamoring over the Enclosures at Wind
sor to take possession of the Castle as rightful
King of England, and on the 18th of July a
commercial traveller was sent to prison for two
months for persisting in getting in the Queen g
way in Hyde Park, blowing kisses to her and
shifting his heaving bosom with all the passion
| professed for the young sovereign by Dickens
in well-known playful letter.
On June IL, 1910, a pot-boy of seventeen,
Edward Ox.ord by name, attempted to shoot
the Queen and Prince Albert as they were
passing in low carriage by the garden gate
opening from Constitution Hill. Oxford fired
pistol directly at the Queen, then drew a
second weapon from his breast, and resting 1t
on that he had already discharged, fired it also
with deliberate aim before the bystanders
could rush on him. The Queen rose in the
carriage, but was pulled down by her husband,
but so soon as Oxford had been secured she
stood up again, composed, though very pale, to
show that she was unhurt. Oxford, who was
calm and collected, admitted his act when
taken before the Privy Council. Powder and
shot were found at his lodgings with the rules
of the alleged Young English Society, terri
BILE secret organization whose members were
pledged to meet EARNED with a brace of pis-
tolls and a sword and with black Grape cap
to cover the face" Some of the Irish Catho-
lie papers claimed that Oxford WAS agent of
"Orangeism and Cumberland" employed to
bring the Queens odious uncle, the King of
Hanover, to the throne, but as a sensible his
torian says "The trial showed that he was
the agent of nobody and was impelled by moth
ing but his own crack-brained love of notorie-
ty" He was brought to trial on the 9th of
July, when, we are told, he wore listless
smile, and played with the herbs strewn in
front of the dock, which with the Judges
nosegays are survivals of the good old days of
Jail fever. The defense showed that Oxford's
grandfather and father had been Of weak mind
and he was found mot guilty on the ground
of insanity" and turned over to an insane
asylum for life. Unless we are in error he was
released some ten or twelve years ago on con-
dition of his leaving the country. DR.. Samuel
Warren, who had an interview with Oxford In
jail came to the conclusion that he was per-
fectly sane, and Oxford told him "a good
horse-Whipping was what I wanted" Sir
Theodore Martin, in his Life of the Prince
Consort," thinks it would have been we'll had
Oxford been dealt with in the ordinary way,
and adds 1.-THE best commentary on the leni-
ty thus shown was pronounced by Oxford HIM
self on being told of the similar attempts of
Francis and Bean, in 1912, when he declared
that if he had been hanged there would have
been no more shooting at the Queen" The
Oxford affair made great sensation at the
time, and the members of Parliament compe-
ted furiously for locks of his hair when he un-
derwent the prison crop.
On the I'd of December, William Jones, a
boy whom the wits dubbed "In-I-go" Jones,
because of his pertnacity, was routed out
from under a sofa in Buckingham Palace and
sent to jail for three months as rogue and
vagabond. He had been concealed in the pal
ace for several days March Is, 1S41, Jones
was caught in the palace again, but this time
the magistrates induced him to ship on man.
of-war.
On May 30, 1912, John Francis, the son of
machinist at Drury Lane Theatre, young
man who had been out of employment for
some months, fired at the Queen as she was
driving rapidly down Constitution Hill, and
missed her, being promptly seized by police
man and a soldier The Queen behaved with
her usual calmneS and came in for an enthu-
siastic reception at the opera in the evening.
firoa q 0ron
and sent up an address of congratulatiOn Oh
Her Majesty's escape from "Popish machina-
tions." Francis, who remained doggedly
silent as to his motives was convicted and
sentenced to death on the 18th of June by
Chief Justice Tirdal. He tainted on hearing
the sentence couched in the terrible old
terms-dragging on hurdle, hanging, draw
ing and quartering-but his sentence was
commuted to transportation for life 1t is by
no means certain that the pistol was loaded
and it is probable that it was Francis who on
the night before the attempt was seen by the
Queen-so, at least she thought-tO present a
pistol at the carriage, circumstance which
had prepared her for the events of the 17th
Francis ambition was that Of the mounte-
bank rather than of the assassin. Prince
Albert was opposed to carrying out the capi-
tai sentence as judicial murder, and the Queen,
| tacks would he continued until the law was
changed and sharp and degrading punish
ment was substituted for the penalties for
high treason which the offender incurred and
coveted. Her Majesty was right, for on the
3rd of July, a half-witted hunchback named
Bean, snapped loaded pistol at her as 'he
was passing to the Chapel Royal. L %as
punished by eighteen months imprisonment
in Milbank for misdemeanor, and few days
later Peel introduced the 'sbill for the better
protection of the Queens person against mi
nor offenders" " making such attempts punish
able ''by transportation for seven years, OF by
imprisonment for term not exceeding three
years, the culprit to be publicly or privately
whipped as often and in such manner as the
Court shall direct, not exceeding thrice"
On May 10, 1S49, all Irish bricklayer, named
Hamilton, fired a pistol loaded with gun pow
der at the Queen as she was driving down
Constitution Hill. He subsequently pleaded
guilty and was sent over seas for seven years.
May 81, 1850, as the Queen was passing out Of
the gate of the Duke of Cambridge's residence
in Piccadilly, al ex-Leutenant of the Tenth
HusSars, Robert Pate by name, who thought
himself injured by the War Office, struck her
on the head with a cane, crushing her bonnet
and bruising her cheek. He was seized by a
bystander, and on the 18th of July sentenced
to seven years. transportation, Baron Alder
son emitting the whipping, as he believed the
man was insane. There was some talk about
a mysterious Fenian plot to abduct and assas-
sinate the Queen during her visit to Switzer-
land in 1868, and on the 29th of February,
1872, lad of seventeen, Arthur O'Connor by
name, presented pistol at her as she was en-
tering Buckingham Palace after drive. The
pistol was harmless weapon, with bro
ken tlint-lock and nothing in the barrel
but a bit of red rag. O'Connor had in the
other hand some sort of petition in favor