The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-07-01
PISTOL, BOMB, KNIFE
SOME OF THE WORLDS GREATEST
MEN HAVE BEEN THEIR VICTIMS.
sententious Expression by Which
George HI Summed Up All the PHI
Iosophy of AssassinatiOn.
New York Herald.

Ine lie or King, SAID GeOrge III,
when bullet lodged in the ceiling Of his
box in Drury Lane Theater. belongs to any
man who will pay his own" In that SEN
tence the King of England summed up all
the philosophy of assassination.
The attempts and successes of those who
have raised their hands against the heads
of nations fill many dark pages in modern
history. In earlier times these attempts
were born chiefly of religious fanaticism.
More recently the plotted assassnations of
kings and emperors have been political in
nature.
Peg Nicholson, the woulG-be assassin,
whose poorly-aimed bullet drew from
George III the epigram quoted above, was
mad. Indeed, up TO the time of the French
revolution madmen and fanatics monopo-
lized the business of regicide.
Strange and terrible are the deaths which
have fallen upon the rulers of nations, full
of mystery oftimes, oftimes marked only
by the open brutality Of murderers or ia
matte determination. To ALL or nearly all,
the English Kings epigram is applicable,
notably in the instances with which Amer
lea has had to do-the murderers of Lin
coin and Garfield.
The great Napoleon, when his glory was
at its full. was near to death at an as
sassin's hands on four occasions. Even
good Queen Victoria's life has been at
tempted three tlmes-by Edward oxford,
weak-minded boy; by. Francis, also ire
sponsible, and by the idiot hunchback,
Bean.
Attempts at regicide have been frequent
in all quarters of the globe since 1SiS. In
the thirty years following-up to 1S7S-there
were twenty-eight attempts upon the lives
of md laro
centage of which were successful
Large as that percentage has been, "the
divinity which doth hedge a king" has
been much in evidence as armor
against the dirk and bullet of the regicide
The third Napoleon was shot at quite as
frequently as Louis Philippe, and, like the
Citizen King, he died in his bed. Once a
bomb destroyed the royal equippage and
killed fourteen persons, but the Emperor
escaped.
In Russia. most of all countries in the
world, the life of the nations head is in
Jeopardy.
DEATH OF ALEXANDER II.
Alexander of Russia was assassinated in
the streets of his capital on March Is, 1881
The Emperor was returning from a parade
in the Miched Manege, at o'clock in the
afternoon. 1t was Sunday In the streets
there was no sign of unusual stir. Sud-
denly man stepped into the street down
which the royal carriage was moving and
threw a bomb after it. The bomb fell
short, but it exploded near enough to tear
out the back of the carriage The as
sasslns-there were two of them-were dis
guised as peasants, and had not attracted
the attention OF the Cossacks who guarded
the carriage, which contained the Car and
the Grand Duke Michael
The latter was wounded by the first ex-
plosion, but the Emperor escaped unhurt
and Immediately alighted from the shat
tered carriage. The driver mplored him
to re-enter the carriage, but he paid no
heed and stepped a few PAGES from it. AS
he did so one of the assassins pointed
pistol at him, but a Cossack struck it
down just as the second murderer threw
another bomb. 1t exploded at the Cars
feet, SCATTERING both his legs and inficting
other terrible injuries. l4'1
Alexander fell, crying for help Colonel
Dorjibky, who himself greatly in
jured and at whose side two Cossacks lay
dead, raised the Gar in his arms and
placed him in sleigh, which was then
driven at a gallop to the Winter Palace
An hour and a half later, while a troop
of Cossacks kept back the frenzed crowd
which pressed upon the royal palace, Alex
ander III expired, with the name of the
Czarewitch upon his lips He was partial
ly conscious at the last, and motioned
away the surgeons, who wished to ampu-
tate his legs.
The assassns were arrested on the spot
Both were NihilistS. .E.
The shot which killed President Lincoln
was fired on the night of Friday April a.
1865. The President, with Mrs Lincoln
Miss Mary Harris and Major Rathbun of
Albany, visited Ford's Theater, In Wash
American Cousin They occupied a box
on the second tier. The scene was bril-
| liant and the performance merry until the
close of the third act. when a pistol shot
rang out. A man leaped from the Presi-
dents box to the stage struck a tragic at
| ttude, brandished long dagger above his
head and cried, dramatically, "Sic semper
tyrannisn
Before anyone could move, before the par
haH ba i'm
of the screams which issued from the
| Presidents box, where Mrs Lincoln knelt
by the side of her dying husband, the as
| sassin crossed the stage, escaped through
| rear window, leaped upon a horse which
| had been in waiting and was away.
A hurried examination showed that Pres
ident Lincoln had been shot in the head
| He was quickly removed to a private house
| opposite the theater, and after further
examination there the surgeons pronounced
his wound mortal.
| AT LINCOLN'S BEDSIDE.
While the doctors were busy at the Pres
ident's bedside picked up the
| stage of the theater, where the assassin
had alighted after his spring from the box,
| hat and a spur, and both were recog-
| nized as the property of J. Wilkes Booth.
| A few moments later came the news that
| an attempt had been made to assassnate
Secretary of State Seward
| Despite all the efforts with which skill
| ana sorrow StrOVe 10 ald the stricken Pres
| ident, it was soon recognized that it was
| only question as to how long he would
| linger. Friends, relatives and members of
| his Cabinet were with him all through the
| weary hours of the night and morning. He
| lay unconscious from the moment the shot
| was fired.
/ In an adjoining room Mrs. Lincoln, in the
| agony of grief and horror, exclaimed con-
| tinually, "Why did he not shoot me instead
| of my husband?'
| She took her last leave of the President
| twenty minutes before he died. At the end
| only the surgeons, the Cabinet officers,
| Capt. Robert Lincoln. General Todd, Mr..
| pulse steadily declined, despite all efforts
| to rally him. and at twenty-five minutes
| past on the morning of April 10 the looked
| for and dreaded end came, and the patriot
| President was dead His last moments were
| peaceful and painless.
| 1t was some days afterward before pub
| lie indignation was Gained in measure
| by the news that those implicated in the
| assassination of the President and the at
| tempts upon the lives of the Seward fam
ily had been arrested. reward of S0,-
| 600 was offered for the arrest of Booth,
| $4,000 for the arrest OF AtZerot and like
| sum for that of ID. G. Harold.
| Lewis Payne was arrested on April IL
| in the house of Mrs. Suratt, in Washing
| ton and was at once recognized the
man who had attempted to Kill Secretary
Seward Atzerot was taken on April e
| near Middlebury, Nd, and on April %, j.
| Wilkes Booth was overtaken by party OF
| detectives sent out by Col. l.. Q. Baker,
| special detective of the War Department.