The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-06
DAGGERS FOR RULERS
ALL OTHER METHODS OF ASSASSIN
ALTON LARGELY ABORTIyE.
Interesting Record of Attempts on
the Lives of Prominent Men,
and What They show.

| New York Herald.
| Why do would-be assassns so seldom
succeed in carrying out their viIlainous de-
| signs@ Why especially do would-be political
| assassins signally fail to kill the objects
of their wrath? Was it merely good luck
| that recently preserved Premier Crispi, of
| Italy, and President Faure, of France
| when they were murderously attacked by
| fanatics? These are questions often asked,
| and to which plausible answers are here
| given.
More than any other persons sovereigns,
| presidents of republics and prominent
| statesmen are exposed to attacks of this
| kind. Happily, circumstances independent
| of the will of the fanatics or fools who
make such attacks render them very often
entirely futile. Scarcely one out of every
| ten attempts at assassination is successful.
| Much, however, depends on the weapon
used by the assailant. The presence or abb
| sence of accompices also makes a great
difference. The dagger is unquestionably
the surest weapon. AS for accomplices, no
| determined assassin ever dreams of encum-
bering himself with them.
The dagger docs its deadly work at least
one time out of every three. Jacques
| Clement stabbed Henry III. of France, to
! death. while pretending to hand him let
| ter: Henry " fell beneath the knife of
| Ravaillac; in our time president Carnot
/ was struck down by the Anarchist Caserio.
| Again, the Duke of Berry poignarded
| by Louvel. and the Duke de Parma came
to his death in the same manner.
Other Dotentates have been more fortu-
| nate. Louis XIV escaped the knife of
| was not strange, the weapon being a PEN
| knife. and Napoleon I in like manner, and
thanks to the presence of mind of grena-
| der OF his guard. escaped the dagger of
| Frederic Stebs. Napoleon III also miracu-
! lousiy escaped Greppo dagger. Emperor
| Francis Joseph. of Austria equally
| fortunate. as was King Humbert of Italy
| who was saved by Minister Carroll at Ma
| pies from Parsanante's dagger.
pistol a revolver, a gun is far less
| dangerous. So many things may happen to
| spoil the aim; sometimes even the assas-
celebrated personages murdered in this
| way were President Lincoln. who was shot
| In the head, and President Garfield, whose
! death was the result of two wounds in
| ficted by Guiteau's revolver
| FORTUNATE ESCAPES.
On the other hand, Bergeron missed
| Louis Philippe Nov. 49, 1892; Alibaud
| made another unsuccessful attempt with
| gun on June %, 1885; and a few months
! later Meunier equally successful with
| his pistol. On Oct. Is, 1910, BARNES fired at
| the King with shotgun, which burst and
| grievously wounded the assassin. Some
years afterward Paniori and Bellamore
| fired in vain at Napoleon III.
| Solowski fired four shots from a revolver
| at Car Alexander II on Feb. II. $780, Kora-
| kosoff fired at him with a pistol April
| 16, 1866; Berosowski fired at him in Paris
| June 9, 1867, and yet on no occasion did his
Majesty S receive any injury. Queen Vic
notably in 1910, when a young man,
| eighteen years of age. fired two pistol shots
lf hoY PING IL 10 ali
| dow in the Quirinal in 1S49, escaped the
| gunshot of an assassin, who had taken aim
| from behind the Horses of Phidias.
The other soveraigns who in this century
| have escaped death by assassination are
| William | of Germany, who was attacked
| by Nohling; Amedee and the Queen of
| Spain, who were attacked at Madrid in 1872,
| and Prince Ferdinand, husband of Queen
| Maria de Gloria who was attacked in Por-
tugal in 1887. Among the numerous states
| men who have escaped death we may men,
| ton Crispi, who was attacked by Lecca;
| Jules Ferry who was attacked by Auber-
| tin in 1887; Freycinet, Lockroy and Floquet.
An assassin named Perrin fired a revolver
of the opening OF the exposition OF 1889,
| but failed to hit him.
If we reckon the attacks made by means
| of bombs, internal machines and explosives
| in general we find that Gar Alexander II
was killed by bomb on March 13, 1881. On
| a previous occasion he escaped a bomb
which killed thirteen persons near him, and
he also escaped an attack on Dec l, 1879.
which took place in his palace Feb. II,
1885, and which killed fifty-three persons.
While receiving the br Mai Iona Gnard
Fieschi's Internal machine, which carried
| off forty victims. among them being Mar
| persons were hurt and eight killed by the
| three bombs which Orsin and his three ac-
! it drew up at the opera, house, but the EN-
peror himself was un1nJured
LITTLE CHANCE OF SUCCESS.
Finally the discovery of numerous plots
| such as those of Damerville in 1s00-he
| with twenty-five accomplices had conspired
to assassinate Napoleon I-of Moreau, of
Pichegru and of Campion, who was ar
rested a few hours before he had planned
to blow Louis Philippe to eternity, seems
to show that it is rather inconvenient than
beneficial to have accomplices.
This CHASTITY list of perpetrated and in
tended assassinations shows clearly that
an assassin who is determined to remove
a sovereign or a president of a republic
should always act alone, should use a dag
ger as a weapon. should be fully prepared
to sacrifice his own life and should wait
patiently for a favorable opportunity. If
ne acts thus, he may succeed once out of
every ten times If he uses gun or re-
volver, he has scarcely one chance out of
twenty; the contrary: there are nine
chances to ten that he will be hung. gull
lotined or, electrocuted This, then may De
considered as an original method of indi-
rectly committing suicide. AS for bombs
and dynamite, while they kill a great
MANY persons, the persons at whom they
are aimed almost invariably escape.
Those who have been studying this sub
iect have two objects in view: First they
desire to convince would-be assassins that
even their best directed and most carefully
planned efforts extremely likely to
prove utterly futile, and second, they de-
sire to impress upon the authorities the
great necessity of guarding the persons of
the chiefs of state with the utmost vigil
lance II a sovereign or president is well
guarded no dagger can reach him. and,
though a gunshot may the chance that it
viii is very slight. Sovereigns and presi-
dents it is claimed, should always have a
good escort when they appear in public,
and the utmost pains should be taken to
prevent suspicious persons from approach
ing them.
AS regards prominent statesmen, who
may have become objects of popular hat
red the case is different 1t would be i'm
practicable for them to have always a mill
tary escort All they can do is to follow
the example of Crispi. Gambetta and Ferry
and wear strong coats of mail. Ferry
would have been killed by Aubertin in 1887
If it had not been for his of mail
In conclusion, it may be well to point out
that political crimes of this kind have al
ways produced results Numerically oppo-
site to those which the aSsassinS intended.
This fact alone ought to show the utter
senselessness and futility pf such crimes.
OYSTERS TO TEMPT ANY PALATE.