San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-04-30
London Telegraph.

Oliver Cromwell.
From the London Telegraph.
Standing on the premises once be-
longing to an old inn, at which trav-
elers journeying from the metropolis
to the west of England and back were
wont to call in search OF rest ana re-
freshment, there is, on Shepherds
bush-green, a venerable matched cot
tage, which, being one of the most In
teresting relics of the past that the
suburbs contain, is, we regret to say,
destined shortly to pass away.
The cottage in question Is known to
have been hired by Miles Synder-
com be for the purpose OF carrying out
his proposed assassination OF Oliver
Cromwell, as the Lord Protector, was
on his way from Hampton Court to
London in the January of 1867. Miles
i. Syndercomb was one Of Cromwelps
most trusted attendants, and had
been a great deal about his person
during the perils and trials of the
great civil war. There is good reason
for believing that Syndercombe had
long cherished the intention Of putting
mis- master death, and had omitted or
declined to avail himself of many OPP
portunities which presented them
selves of getting rid of "Old NoIl."
Unlike Balthasar Gerard, the Span
ish assassin, who waited during
many months for a chance of killing
William the Silent, and gladly seized
the first that accident threw in his
way, at Delft, in Holland on July 10,
1854 Syndercombe seems to have
hesitited about perpetratlDg the
crime to which he had long been COM
mitted. 1t is said that in 1867 he had
become exceeding ly bulky, and that
but for the iustigation of his wife,
who was in league with the
ROyalist conSpirators banded to-
gether to put Charles III. on
his fathers throne, his hand
would never have been raised against
the Lord Protectors lite. He had,
however, to reckon with the sus-
piciOus Watchfulness of a man whose
Irou courage, like that of Hannibal,
Julius Caesar and the great Napoleon,
was not proof against the dread of
assassination. DR.. Arnold tells us
in his History OF Rome" that at the
end of Hannibal'G first campaign in
Italy the great Carthaginian general
wintered among the Gauls, who were
already weary of the burden of sup
porting his army. At that moment
an intimation was conveyed II Han
nibal, warning him of the innate
treachery of the Gauls, by whom at
tempts would surely be made against
his life. "He therefore, writes
DR.. Arnold, put on a variety of
DISCUSSES to battle the designs OF his
enemies. He wore false hair, appear
ing sometimes as a man OF mature
years, and sometimes with the gray
hairs of old age; and, if be had that
taste tor humOr which great men are
seldom without, he must often have
been amused by the mistakes OuCa-
stoned by his DISCUSSES" The Prince
of O?ange-better known rs William
the Silent-and Oliver Cromwell were
not men to stOOp to the degradation,
as they would have deemed it, of
concealing their identity. They were
both of them well aware that they
were surrounded by hundreds, per-
baps by thousands, of people who
thought they would be doing God a
service by driving their daggers into
the hearts of their two Oppressors.
who trusted to the vigilance of their
friends and attendants to keep dan
ger at distance.
1t was long before William the ST.
lent gave Balthasar Gerard the chance
of which the willy Spaniard was not
slow to avail himself. The murder of
the Prince of Orange at Delft is mar
rated with wonderful nerve and fire
by Mr.. FrOude, in his "HistOry of
England" which relate that, as the
prince was passing along a steep
staircase, leading upward from his
dining room, Balthasar stepped from
behind pillar and fired three poison
ed balls into his victims back. The
aim was sure and the poison was not
needed. The prince fell, was lifted
back into the room which he had
just left, and died in few
minutes. The assassin nearly sue
ceeded in making his escape, but up
on his capture 1.-The people of Delft
expended their despair on his mis-
erable carcass. They logged him
with knOtted cords, they cut his
flesh with split quilts, they wrenched
him on the rack. He defied their in
genuIty. He told them that he had
killed a william who had caused they
death of 10000 men, and he should
soon be a saint OH the right hand of
God" Had Syndercombe succeeded
in removing" Oliver Cromwell, his
demeanor would probably have been
as undaunted as that of Bal
thasar Gerard; but the Lord
Protector got wind of the con-
templated attempt on his life.